Cop Cleared of Rape Considers Lawsuit Against Prosecutor

Cop cleared of rape weighs suit 
The New York Post by Brad Hamilton  -  May 20, 2012

He was cleared of raping a drunken woman while on duty, and now he wants his pound of flesh. Disgraced ex-cop Kenneth Moreno is eyeing a potentially multimillion-dollar civil suit against the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and HBO, which filmed the DA’s sex-crime unit as it prepped its case against Moreno and his ex-partner Franklin Mata, Moreno’s lawyer said. “It’s a civil-rights action,” said attorney Eric Sanders. A jury cleared the two cops of sexually assaulting the passed-out fashion exec in 2008, but found them guilty of official misconduct for repeatedly returning to her East Village apartment and lying about it. But Moreno feels he was wronged, said Sanders, who claims prosecutors tried to frame his client by planting evidence. The evidence, he said, was a red Bic lighter that the DA team said was found under the accuser’s bed. “They claimed the lighter was Moreno’s and his DNA was on it but none of that is true,” Sanders said. “He doesn’t even smoke.”