Bail Hearing Set for Sussex Man Convicted, Then Acquitted of Rape

A judge is scheduled to decide Friday whether bail should be lowered for a Vernon man convicted of raping a 19-year-old woman in 2007, but had the decision overturned in 2013 with a new trial pending.

According to dailyrecord.com, Andrew Pena, 46, has been in prison since December 2009 for a sentence of 27 years and nine months. A state appeals court, however, overturned the ruling in December. Pena was transferred to Morris County Correctional Facility this week, the report said.

The appellate court reversed convictions for aggravated assault, sexual assault, criminal restraint, criminal sexual contact and burglary, the report said. Pena was originally convicted for raping the 19-year-old woman in her car outside a bagel store on Rt. 23 in Butler in 2007, the report said.

The appellate court’s decision was based on the trial judge allowing too much information be given to jurors during pretrial hearings regarding Pena’s conviction of exposing his genitals to a woman in 2002, the report said.