In a rare move, the NYPD will internally try two Brooklyn cops accused of raping a prisoner before their criminal trial takes place, the Daily News has learned.
Police Officers Edward Martins and Richard Hall are charged with raping and kidnapping an 18-year-old woman they picked up for drug possession in Brooklyn on Sept. 15.
Martins, 37, and Hall, 32, who have already been demoted from the rank of detective, say they had consensual sex with the teenager.
Typically, the NYPD holds off on taking disciplinary action until the conclusion of any criminal proceeding.
That's done because when a cop is grilled by Internal Affairs, they are compelled to answer all questions under threat of termination, and anything the cop says can't be used in a criminal case.
But Martins and Hall refused to answer any questions in their Internal Affairs interviews so the NYPD set a Tuesday date in the departments trial room.
The officers could conceivably quit before then or not even show up for their trial.
They know they're f----d, one source said.
Their lawyers, who advised them not to talk to Internal Affairs, refused comment, though they previously questioned the validity of the victims account.
The womans attorney Michael David said the department cant get rid of Martins and Hall soon enough.
NYPD Officer Richard Hall was also demoted from the rank of detective and also faces rape charges after having sex with a woman in custody. (Jesse Ward/for New York Daily News)
We've always called for their firing from the time this thing happened, David said. We felt they should have been fired immediately.
(My client is) upset they are still out on bail, he added. She thinks this whole thing sends a very bad message."
Prosecutors said Martins and Hall broke away from a buy-and-bust operation in Brighton Beach and drove to a Gravesend park, where they pulled over the victims car.
After she admitted there was marijuana and two anti-anxiety pills in the vehicle, the officers told her she was being arrested.
Once she was handcuffed, prosecutors said, Martins forced her into oral sex and raped her while Hall, a married father of two, drove and watched in the rearview mirror.
The pair switched places in Bay Ridge, with Hall allegedly forcing the woman to perform oral sex.
They later drove her to Coney Island, dropped her off, gave her back her pills and told her to keep her mouth shut, prosecutors said.
The officers, who were both assigned to Brooklyn South Narcotics at the time, pleaded not guilty to a 50-count indictment that includes rape, criminal sex act, kidnapping and official misconduct charges.
Martins is free on $250,000, Hall on $150,000 bail.