The $250 million lawsuit was filed more than a
decade ago on behalf of five black and Hispanic defendants convicted in 1990 of
raping and beating a white woman jogging in the park a year earlier.
Each served
six to 13 years in prison. Their convictions were tossed in 2002 after evidence
emerged linking someone else to the crime.
New York City has agreed to a $40 million settlement
in a civil rights lawsuit filed against police and prosecutors by the five men
exonerated in the 1989 Central Park jogger attack, a city official said Friday.
The attack on 28-year-old investment banker Trisha
Meili was one of the most notorious crimes in New York City history and it
mesmerized the nation, serving as a lurid symbol of the city’s racial and class
divide and its rampant crime. On April 19, as cops heard reports of “wolf
packs” of black and Latino teens “wilding” through Central Park, the jogger was
viciously attacked. It gave rise to the new and scary term “wilding” for urban
mayhem by teenagers.
When Meili was found in the brush, more than 75
percent of her blood had drained from her body and her skull was smashed. She
was in a coma for 12 days, left with permanent damage, and remembers nothing
about the attack. The AP does not usually name victims of sexual assault, but
Meili later went public as a motivational speaker and wrote a book.
 |
| Central Park Five |
Raymond Santana and Kevin Richardson, both 14 at the
time, Antron McCray and Salaam, 15, and Korey Wise, 16, were rounded up and
arrested. After hours of interrogation, four of them recorded confessions on
video, in some cases with the boys’ parents in the room. At the trials, their
lawyers argued the confessions were coerced. At the time, DNA testing was not
sophisticated enough to make or break the case.
In 2002, a
re-examination of the case found that DNA on the victim’s sock pointed to
Matias Reyes, a murderer and serial rapist who confessed that he alone attacked
the jogger. Then-District Attorney Robert Morgenthau stopped short of declaring
the five innocent, but withdrew all charges and did not seek a retrial. The
statute of limitations for charging Reyes had run out; he is serving a life
sentence for other crimes.
Defendants Michael Briscoe, Steve Lopez, Antron
McCray, Kevin Richardson and Yusef Salaam, known as the Central Park Five, had
been locked in a bitter battle with the city since filing civil rights lawsuits
following their exoneration in 2002. Their convictions were vacated after
career criminal Matias Reyes confessed to the brutal crime and DNA evidence
backed up his claim.
The Bloomberg administration fought to get their
lawsuits dismissed, arguing the city had acted with probable cause. Then-
mayoral candidate Bill De Blasio made a campaign promise last year to put the
divisive issue to rest if elected. Neither the Mayor’s office nor the city's
Law Department would comment on the deal, first reported by The New York Times.
But many others expressed their delight.
 |
| Ken Burns |
“Tonight I see 5 young boys resting proudly on the
shoulders of 5 grown men. A long time coming my friends,” tweeted Ken Burns,
who co-directed a 2012 documentary about their case.
 |
| Rev. Al Sharpton |
The Rev. Al
Sharpton, who was sharply criticized, along with many other community activists
for standing by the boys during their trials, hailed the settlement.
“We took a
lot of abuse. The toll on these men and their supporters was terrible. I want
to know we have things in place so that this doesn't happen again,” he said.
“I'm happy
for them, but you know… money doesn't give them those years back. It doesn't
give them their youth back," Sharpton added.
IFCFilmsTube via YouTubeThe movie, 'The Central ParkFive,' depicted the story of the five men's trial and wrongful convictions.
Central Park Five...Settle with City, the Daily News
NYC Reaches $40 Million Settlement, USA Today
Settlement Reached: Central Park Five, The Grio
0 comments:
Post a Comment