Metro

Rape-monster cop finally admits it

Security video (above) shows him stalking his rape victim Aug. 19

Security video (above) shows him stalking his rape victim Aug. 19

SCUM: Disgraced cop Michael Pena in Manhattan Supreme Court yesterday. Security video (left) shows him stalking his rape victim Aug. 19. (T Parisienne / Splash News)

She won’t have to face him again.

Disgraced sex-assault cop Michael Pena pleaded guilty to rape yesterday in a deal that will allow his schoolteacher victim to avoid a retrial for rape-related charges.

But he had more than contrition on his mind.

Pena, who finally admitted to the brutal rape of a teacher on her way to her first day on the job Aug. 19, is hoping that the sentence he has accepted — of just 10 years to life, to be served concurrent with the 75-to-life sentence he’s already received — will be a low benchmark that will catch the attention of appellate judges, his lawyer explained yesterday.

The fact that a state judge agreed to yesterday’s 10-year sentence will be a part of Pena’s argument, on appeal, that the 75-to-life sentence is excessive, said defense lawyer Ephraim Savitt.

“The strategy is to knock down the punishment time,” Savitt said. “This low benchmark can’t hurt. Plus that he has now accepted responsibility — and that prosecutors had originally offered him 20 years to life if he’d pled guilty and not gone to trial.”

Pena’s appeal will argue that the disgraced ex-cop deserves as little as 10 years behind bars in total, he said.

A morose-looking Pena, cuffed and wearing an orange prison shirt and pants, mumbled, “Guilty,” four times to two counts of rape and two counts of predatory sexual assault.

He had to cop to his monstrous conduct in open court.

“Is it true you engaged in sexual intercourse with the complaining witness and did [so] with forcible compulsion?” Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Richard Carruthers asked.

Pena mumbled, “Yes,” to that and other queries about the gunpoint rape. He admitted that he penetrated his victim’s vagina.

All the while, his courageous victim sat in the second row, wearing a smart, cream-colored sleeveless dress as she stared down her attacker. She never shed a tear and looked confident but relieved to end the proceeding.

“Michael Pena took responsibility for his violent criminal actions and will serve up to life in prison,” Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr. said.

“This plea spares the victim from testifying again about the crimes committed against her, and it is my hope this resolution brings a brave young teacher a measure of justice and closure.”

A jury last March convicted Pena of oral and anal sodomy but deadlocked on two counts of first-degree rape and two counts of predatory sexual assault after two jurors held out on those charges.

Additional reporting by David K. Li