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NYC Drops Rape Charges Against Ex-Cops Accused of Assaulting Woman in Custody

HeadlineMar 08, 2019

In New York City, prosecutors have dropped rape charges against a pair of officers accused of assaulting a woman they’d arrested and handcuffed in their police van in 2017. Prosecutors initially said former NYPD detectives Eddie Martins and Richard Hall raped 18-year-old Anna Chambers after stopping her car and finding a small amount of marijuana and a few anti-anxiety pills in her purse. Testing shows the DNA of both officers was found on the teenager—who testified she was raped. The former police officers claimed the acts were consensual as their defense. At the time, it was not unlawful for New York police officers to have sex with someone in their custody, although the law has since been changed to define such an act as rape. Prosecutors now say they’ll seek to charge the men with official misconduct and bribery.

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