Disgraced East Village ex-cop Kenneth Moreno — the lead officer in last year’s notorious “Rape Cops” trial — finally turned himself in this afternoon to serve a year sentence for official misconduct.
“The defendant will now begin to serve his sentence, and sentence is executed,” Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro said in ordering the cuffs go on.
Moreno looked angry but resigned as he was led off to protective custody at Rikers. In the audience, his beautiful brunette ex — with whom he has been embroiled in a heated custody battle — watched with mixed satisfaction.
“It’s bittersweet,” Maria Cruz, a bus driver from Staten Island, told The Post. “I feel my daughter is going to be hurting for her father being away,” she said of their 16-year-old daughter.
Acquitted of on-duty rape and burglary but convicted of three counts of official misconduct, Moreno had been sentenced 16 months ago, but has been allowed to remain free as first the Appellate Division and then, earlier this month, the state Court of Appeals has rejected his bids to stay free.
Moreno’s jailing this afternoon followed a stunning courtroom reprimand by Manhattan Federal Court Judge Richard Sullivan, who noted the defendant’s “chutzpah” in asking to remain free pending a last-ditch federal appeal.
“Mr. Moreno should go to jail like anyone else who’s been convicted and whose post-conviction arguments have been denied,” Manhattan Federal Court Judge Richard Sullivan said earlier in refusing to issue a stay.
Moreno’s appellate lawyer, Stephen Preziosi, had insisted in oral arguments this afternoon that his client’s Constitutional right to due process had been violated because there had been insufficient evidence for conviction.
The trial judge, Carro, had also erred in not issuing a curative instruction to jurors after prosecutors mis-instructed jurors on the law for official misconduct, Preziosi argued.
“I have to say I don’t even think this was a close call,” the federal judge said in rejecting Preziosi’s stay request, which would have required “extraordinary circumstances.”
“Frankly, I think it took a certain amount of chutzpah to even bring it.”
Earlier today, Morena’s former; partner, Franklin Mata, turned himself in, wordlessly, to serve his own sentence, 60 days jail.
Both Moreno and his ex-partner, Franklin Mata, had been acquitted in May, 2011 of raping a drunken young fashion executive who they’d been dispatched to help into her East 13th Street apartment.
But both were convicted of three counts each of official misconduct — one for each time the pair were caught on surveillance video using the woman’s keys to re-enter her apartment.
Mata, who prosecutors said played a more minor role of lookout, will likely serve 40 days with good behavior, said his lawyer, Edward Mandery.
Moreno, a married father of two who prosecutors accused as the actual rapist, will serve closer to eight months with good behavior.