Two former members of the NYPD who are accused of raping a Brooklyn teen who they took into custody in 2017 have gotten off with just five years probation and no jail time.
In a case that prompted New York to pass a law prohibiting police officers from having sex with someone in custody, two officers avoided jail time after allegedly took advantage of a teenage girl. The girl, identified as Anna Chambers, came forward with the allegations in 2017 after she claims Eddie Martins and Richard Hall took turns raping her in the back of a police van after they arrested her for marijuana possession.
Chambers claimed the two officers repeatedly sexually assaulted her while she was in handcuffs. However, the cops claimed that the sex was consensual and resigned from the department shortly after they were accused. As a result of the case, the NY state legislature voted to pass a law classifying a police officer having sex with someone in custody as rape in the third degree, Rolling Stone reports.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez hoped the two cops would serve jail time, but a judge agreed to their plea deal, giving them just five years probation. While the two officers were initially charged with rape, sexual assault, and kidnapping, back in March, their charged were reduced to official misconduct and accepting a bribe after authorities found inconsistencies with Chambers testimony.
“These defendants engaged in a shocking abuse of power which they finally acknowledged,” Gonzalez said in a statement. “While I would have preferred to see them serve prison time, they are no longer members of our police department and with today’s plea are convicted felons.”
The victim’s lawyer, Michael David, responded to the outcome as “outrageous,” and said he wants to launch a civil rights investigation into the case.
“It’s sending the worst message to victims of police sexual misconduct in America, that police could kidnap someone, rape her, and throw her on the street, and get away with it,” he told Politico.
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