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The 42-year-old is accused of kidnapping a woman in 2019 and raping her for three days before police found her in his Charlestown apartment.
Police, prosecutors, and the victim have all said that Pena found her on the street in January 2019 and lured her back to his house. But he said they had a relationship, and their encounter was consensual.
Pena testified he met the 23-year-old woman on the street when she asked him to help her cross the road, according to CBS News. He said he thought she was intoxicated, but she refused to go to a hospital or a police station when he offered. Instead, Pena said she insisted they go back to his apartment, CBS said.
Surveillance video shown during the trial does not corroborate this, however. It showed Pena approaching her on the street and almost immediately throwing his arms around her.
Prosecutors said she was very intoxicated, and Pena held her up as he walked her back to his apartment and at times carried her, Boston 25 reported. Pena testified that she had faked being drunk and intentionally turned off her cell phone and hid it, CBS said.
"The love grew," he said on the stand, per the news outlet. "We liked one another."
But the victim testified last week that Pena threatened to kill her if she tried to leave.
"He wouldn't let me leave, and then, after I was like, 'No, I have to leave,' he threatened to kill me," she said, per WCVB. "I think he just said, like, you can't leave. Don't get up, or I'll kill you."
She told police Pena forced her to drink alcohol and fed her only canned pineapple, the news station reported last week. Prosecutors called the ordeal "three days of hell."
“A night out with her twin sister and some friends turned into almost three days of hell, three days of fear, three days of isolation,” Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Ian Polumbaum told the jury during his opening statement, the Boston Globe reported.
Monday was Pena's first time in the courtroom during the trial. He elected to only appear on a video monitor since his trial began last week and listen through a Spanish interpreter, WCVB reported.
Even though he's not been in the courtroom, he's caused several disruptions. Once, he appeared naked in the feed during jury selection and "performed an obscene act" before jail officials cut the broadcast, Boston.com wrote. The judge excused those jurors.
Closing arguments are set to begin on Tuesday, the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office said.
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