Jose Lacerna Pena loses rape conviction appeal

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Jose Lacerna Pena’s rape conviction appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeal in a judgment delivered on 1 February 2022. The conviction followed the rape of a woman on Wicklow Street, Dublin, in 2017.

Pena had been convicted by a Central Criminal Court jury after pleading not guilty to orally raping the woman. He was sentenced to six years in prison in April 2020.

The appeal argued that the trial judge had not properly directed the jury on consent. The Court of Appeal said the jury had been clearly directed that the issue was whether the woman consented, and dismissed the appeal.