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Defense lawyers Juan A. Campus (l.) and Martin B. Goldberg (r.) for Michael Pena appear outside court. Police have confirmed that Pena, who is being held in protective custody at Rikers Island on $1 million bond on the alleged rape of an Inwood schoolteacher, is now being investigated in possible connection with a number of unsolved rape cases.
Story and photos by Cynthia Magnus
Michael Pena, the off-duty cop accused of raping a 25 year-old Inwood schoolteacher on Fri., Aug. 19th, is in protective custody at Rikers Island, held on $1 million bond.
Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said this past Thurs., Aug. 25th that Pena, who was suspended without pay, is being investigated in possible connection with a number of unsolved rape cases.
It is standard procedure, said an NYPD spokesman, to compare the DNA sample collected from a current detainee to evidence collected in unsolved crimes.
Prosecutors have also asked for a toxicology report and a blood sample from Pena, to be tested for HIV among other things, said one of his defense attorneys.
Defense counsel Juan A. Campos said Pena is a peaceful individual, and that the allegations, if true, would be “a complete aberration.” He said that alcohol, while not an excuse, may explain certain aberrant behavior.
Co-counsel Martin B. Goldberg said Pena is “not an aggressive monster.”
Campos, with 32 years experience, says he has handled many rape trials. He was retained by the defendant’s father, Persio Pena, after a referral by a Pena family member. Goldberg, a seasoned trial lawyer and former Assistant District Attorney in the Bronx, joined the defense team the day before Pena’s second hearing in Manhattan Criminal Court on August 24.
Pena was in the court building on the 24th but did not appear in the courtroom because he did not want to be photographed by the media in his orange prison jumpsuit. Pena said through his attorneys that he would attend the hearing if the judge would order the photographers to leave. The judge declined.
“We brought him a suit to wear, but [the Department of] Correction wouldn’t allow him to change,” said Campos.
DOC spokeswoman Sharman Stein confirmed that arrested police officers fall into a special category. She said, “We want to ensure he is always under the strictest kind of surveillance. Keeping such an individual in a jail uniform ensures that they are recognized every step of the way.”
Pena joined the NYPD in July 2008. He graduated Humanities High School on West 18th Street and worked for six years as a union-member doorman, before completing a computer programming course at the now-closed Katharine Gibbs School. He recently moved to an apartment in Yonkers after living in Washington Heights with his father for ten years. He began working at the 33rd Precinct this January; the NYPD would not say where he worked before that.
Pena spoke to a news reporter at Rikers Island the day after his August 20th arraignment.
“I wasn’t happy,” said defense lawyer Campos of Pena’s decision. “I was surprised that he spoke to the press after I admonished him not to.”
Asked if he thinks Pena is impulsive, Campos, said, “No. I think it was just frustration.”
In the jailhouse interview, Pena allegedly accused the Manhattan District Attorney of targeting him because he is a cop. A spokeswoman for Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance said that the office evaluates every case based on its own merits.
Pena allegedly said that before August 19th , everything was “perfect” in his life.
Dr. Louis B. Schlesinger, Professor of Forensic Psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice said that this is unlikely. He also said that alcohol intoxication cannot explain sexual assault.
“Most sex offenders don’t have a great deal of empathy for others, most think only of themselves,” said Schlesinger.
Pena was indicted by a Grand Jury, but the charges will remain sealed until the next hearing on September 21st.
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