Central Park jogger case

Template:Short description Template:Redirect Template:Use mdy dates Template:Use American English Template:Infobox civilian attack The Central Park jogger case (sometimes termed the Central Park Five case) was a criminal case concerning the assault and rape of Trisha Meili, a woman who was running in Central Park in Manhattan, New York, on April 19, 1989.<ref name="nyTeditorial">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="BBC True">Template:Cite news</ref> Crime in New York City was peaking in the late 1980s and early 1990s as the crack epidemic surged.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Karmen 2000">Template:Cite book</ref> On the night Meili was attacked, dozens of teenagers had entered the park, and there were reports of muggings and physical assaults.<ref name="BBC True"/>

Six teenagers were indicted in relation to the Meili assault. Charges against one, Steven Lopez, were dropped after Lopez pleaded guilty to a different assault. The remaining five—Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise (known as the Central Park Five, later the Exonerated Five)—were convicted of the charged offenses and served sentences ranging from seven to thirteen years.<ref name=NYTimes12.26.02>Template:Cite news</ref>

More than a decade after the attack, while incarcerated for attacking five other women in 1989, serial rapist Matias Reyes confessed to the Meili assault and said he was the only actor; DNA evidence confirmed his involvement.<ref name=AP6.16.14>Template:Cite news</ref> The convictions against McCray, Richardson, Salaam, Santana, and Wise were vacated in 2002; Lopez's convictions were vacated in July 2022.

From the outset the case was a topic of national interest. Initially, it fueled public discourse about New York City's perceived lawlessness, criminal behavior by youths, and violence toward women. After the exonerations, the case became a prominent example of racial profiling, discrimination, and inequality in the legal system and the media.<ref name=NYTimes1989>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Pitt">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":1"/> All five defendants sued the City of New York for malicious prosecution, racial discrimination, and emotional distress; the city settled the suit in 2014 for $41 million.

Attacks

File:Central Park May 2019 80.jpg

North Woods, one of several places where crimes were reported

At 9:00Template:Spacesp.m. on April 19, 1989, a group of an estimated 20<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> to 32 teenagers who lived in East Harlem entered Manhattan's Central Park at an entrance in Harlem, near Central Park North.<ref name="dwyer.flynn">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Some of the group committed several attacks, assaults, and robberies against people who were either walking, biking, or jogging in the northernmost part of the park near the reservoir, and victims began to report the incidents to police.<ref name="Ryan Affirmation">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Within the North Woods, between 102nd and 105th Street, assailants were reported attacking several cyclists, hurling rocks at a cab, and attacking a pedestrian, whom they robbed of his food and beer and left unconscious.<ref name="dwyer.flynn"/><ref name="Ryan Affirmation"/> The teenagers roamed south along the park's East Drive and the 97th Street transverse, between 9:00 and 10:00Template:Spacesp.m.<ref name="dwyer.flynn"/> Police attempted to apprehend suspects after crimes began to be reported between 9:00 and 10:00Template:Spacesp.m. Michael Vigna, a competitive bike rider, testified that, at about 9:05 p.m., he was hassled by a group of boys, one of whom tried to punch him.<ref name="dwyer.flynn"/> At about 9:15 p.m., Antonio Diaz, who had been walking in the park near 105th Street, was knocked to the ground by teenagers, who stole his bag of food and bottle of beer.<ref name="dwyer.flynn"/> And Gerald Malone and Patricia Dean, riding on a tandem, said that a group of boys tried to block their path on East Drive south of 102nd Street at about 9:15 p.m.; Malone said that he and Dean sped towards the boys, causing them to scatter, though Dean said that a few grabbed at her; the couple called police after reaching a call box.<ref name="dwyer.flynn"/>

At least some of the group of teenagers traveled farther south to the area around the reservoir, and, there, four male joggers were "set upon" between 9:25 and 9:50Template:Spacesp.m.<ref name="Ryan Affirmation"/>Template:Rp David Lewis testified that he was attacked and robbed about 9:25–9:40Template:Spacesp.m.<ref name="dwyer.flynn"/> Robert Garner said he was assaulted at about 9:30Template:Spacesp.m.<ref name="dwyer.flynn"/> David Good testified he was attacked at about 9:47Template:Spacesp.m.<ref name="dwyer.flynn"/> And, between 9:40 and 9:50, John Loughlin was "knocked to the ground, kicked, punched, and beaten with a pipe and stick"; he sustained "significant but not life-threatening injuries".<ref name="Ryan Affirmation"/>Template:Rp At a pretrial hearing in October 1989, a police officer testified that when Loughlin was found, he was bleeding so badly that he "looked like he was dunked in a bucket of blood".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Rape of Trisha Meili

Template:Maplink Patricia "Trisha" Ellen Meili,<ref name="Burns Book">Template:Cite book</ref> a 28-year-old,<ref name="cnn.com1"/><ref name="post-gazette.com"/> was going for a regular run in Central Park shortly before 9:00Template:Spacesp.m.<ref name="Ryan Affirmation"/><ref name="nytimes.com3">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> While jogging, she was knocked down, dragged nearly Template:Convert off the roadway,<ref name="Ryan Affirmation"/>Template:Rp and violently physically and sexually assaulted.<ref name="dwyer.flynn"/><ref name="stephenrobinson">Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref> About four hours later at 1:30 am, she was found naked, gagged, tied, and covered in mud and blood in a shallow ravine about 300 feet north of the 102nd Street Crossing, a wooded area of the park.<ref name="dwyer.flynn"/><ref name="nymag.com"/><ref name="stephenrobinson"/> The first policeman who saw her said: "She was beaten as badly as anybody I've ever seen beaten. She looked like she was tortured."<ref name="cnn.com1">Template:Cite interview</ref> Meili was so badly injured that she was in a coma for 12 days, not awakening until May 1, according to a May 3 interview with her doctor.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

She had severe hypothermia, severe brain damage, severe hemorrhagic shock, loss of 75–80 percent of her blood, and internal bleeding.<ref name="post-gazette.com">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="usatoday.com">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="post-gazette.com1"/><ref name="PhillyDN">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Her skull had been fractured so badly that her left eye was dislodged from its socket, which in turn was fractured in 21 places.<ref name="post-gazette.com"/><ref name="usatoday.com"/>

Meili was not identified for about 24 hours, and it took days for the police to retrace her movements of that night. By the time of the trial of the first three suspects in June 1990, The New York Times characterized the attack on the jogger as "one of the most widely publicized crimes of the 1980's".<ref name="NYTimes.com2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Arrests and investigation

Arrests of Lopez, McCray, Richardson, Salaam, Santana and Wise

Police took custody of Raymond Santana and Kevin Richardson, both 14 years of age, at approximately 10:15Template:Spacesp.m. on Central Park West and 102nd Street.<ref name="dwyer.flynn"/><ref name="Ryan Affirmation"/><ref name="nymag.com"/> Steven Lopez, 15,<ref name="Ryan Affirmation"/>Template:Rp was also arrested within an hour of several other attacks being reported to police.<ref name="sullivan">Template:Cite news</ref> He was also interrogated.<ref name="kunen"/>

Antron McCray and Yusef Salaam, both 15 years of age, were brought in for questioning later that day (April 20). They had been identified by other youths as participants in, or present at, attacks on other victims in Central Park.<ref name="Ryan Affirmation"/> Korey Wise (then known as Kharey Wise), 16, accompanied Salaam for questioning, because they were friends, but was questioned himself.<ref name="nymag.com"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Four of the six suspects, Salaam, Wise, Richardson, and Lopez, lived at the Schomburg Plaza, a mixed-income housing complex at the northeast corner of Central Park; two lived further north of there.<ref name="TimesTalks">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="burns">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Analysis indicated that none of the suspects' DNA matched either of the two DNA samples collected from the crime scene (from the jogger's cervix and running sock), but results were reported as "inconclusive" by the police.<ref name="timeline">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Schanberg"/>

Confessions

The videotaped confessions started on April 21, after the detectives finished unrecorded interrogations during which the suspects were in custody for at least seven hours.<ref name="dwyer.flynn"/> Santana, McCray, and Richardson made video statements in the presence of parents.<ref name="dwyer.flynn"/> Wise made several statements unaccompanied by any parent, guardian or counsel.<ref name="dwyer.flynn"/> Lopez was interviewed on videotape in the presence of his parents on April 21, 1989, beginning at 3:30Template:Spacesa.m. He named others of the group by first names in the group attacks on other persons but denied any knowledge of the female jogger.<ref>Audio Statement nyccpjstorage</ref> None of the six had defense attorneys during the interrogations or videotape process. McCray, Richardson, Salaam, Santana and Wise told police they had been part of a makeshift group of about 30 people, some of whom had committed various crimes, some of who had merely observed those crimes.<ref name="dwyer2019">Template:Cite news</ref> According to a later statement by District Attorney Nancy Ryan, "[a]ll five implicated themselves in a number of the crimes which had occurred in the park."<ref name="Ryan Affirmation"/>Template:Rp

While the accounts offered of the crimes beside the rape were accurate, their accounts of the rape contained discrepancies as to "when, where and how it happened."<ref name="dwyer2019"/><ref name="Ryan Affirmation"/>Template:Rp Only Wise made any statement about the different times and locations of the jogger attack, and detectives had taken Wise to the park to observe the crime scene before he made his videotaped confession.<ref name="Ryan Affirmation"/>Template:Rp None of the five said that he had raped the jogger, but each confessed to having been an accomplice—each youth said that he had only helped restrain the jogger, or touched her sexually, while one or more others had raped her.<ref name="Ryan Affirmation"/>Template:Rp Their confessions varied as to who they identified as having participated in the rape, including naming several youths who were never questioned.<ref name="Ryan Affirmation"/>Template:Rp In his untaped confession, Salaam went the furthest in admitting some culpability, claiming to have struck the jogger with a pipe at the beginning of the incident.<ref name="Ryan Affirmation"/>Template:Rp

Although four suspects, all except Lopez and Salaam, confessed on videotape in the presence of a parent or guardian (who had generally not been present during the interrogations), each of the four retracted his statement within weeks. Together they claimed that they had been intimidated, lied to, and coerced by police into making false confessions. While the confessions were videotaped, the hours of interrogation that preceded the confessions were not.<ref name="Schanberg">Template:Cite news</ref>

When taken into custody, Salaam told the police he was 16 years old and showed them identification to that effect. If a suspect had reached 16 years of age, his parents or guardians no longer had a right to accompany him during police questioning, or to refuse to permit him to answer any questions.<ref name="Conlon">Template:Cite news</ref> After Salaam's mother arrived at the station, she insisted that she wanted a lawyer for her son, and the police stopped the questioning. He neither made a videotape nor signed the earlier written statement, but the court ruled to accept it as evidence before his trial.<ref name="Ryan Affirmation"/> Detective Tom McKenna falsely told Salaam that his fingerprints had been found on the victim's clothing; McKenna reported that Salaam subsequently confessed to being present at the scene of the rape.<ref name="nymag.com">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Years later, Salaam said, "I would hear them beating up Korey Wise in the next room", and "they would come and look at me and say: 'You realize you're next.' The fear made me feel really like I was not going to be able to make it out."<ref name="GdnDemagogue">Template:Cite news</ref>

Two weeks after their confessions, each of the suspects recanted.<ref name="Bordone & Wright">Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp They argued that their statements were coerced by police and that their rights to counsel and Miranda warnings had been violated.<ref name="Bordone & Wright"/>Template:Rp

April 21 press conference

On April 21, senior police investigators held a press conference to announce having apprehended about 20 suspects in the attacks of a total of nine people in Central Park two nights before and began to offer their theory of the attack and rape of the female jogger. Her name was withheld as a victim of a sex crime. The police said up to 12 youths were believed to have attacked the jogger.<ref name="Pitt"/>

New York City senior detectives said the term "wilding" was used by the suspects when describing their actions to police.<ref name="Pitt"/> This account of the term "wilding" was soon disputed by investigative reporter Barry Michael Cooper, who said that it originated in a police detective's misunderstanding of the suspects' use of the phrase "doing the wild thing", lyrics from rapper Tone Loc's hit song "Wild Thing".<ref name="Voice">Cooper, Barry Michael (May 9, 1989) "The Central Park Rape" in The Village Voice.</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Media coverage

At a time of concern about crime in general in the city, which was suffering high rates of assaults, rapes, and homicides, these attacks provoked great outrage, particularly the brutal rape of the female jogger. It took place in the public park that is "mythologized as the city's verdant, democratic refuge".<ref name="nymag.com"/> New York Governor Mario Cuomo told the New York Post: "This is the ultimate shriek of alarm."<ref name="Didion">Template:Cite news This essay has also been published in Didion's non-fiction collection After Henry (1992).</ref>

Normal police procedures stipulated that the names of criminal suspects under the age of 16 were to be withheld from the media and the public. But this policy was ignored when the names of the arrested juveniles were released to the press before any of them had been formally arraigned or indicted.<ref name="Didion"/> For example, the name of Kharey Wise (he later adopted the use of Korey as his first name) was published in an April 25, 1989, article in the Philadelphia Daily News about the attack on the female jogger.<ref name="PhillyDN"/>

By that time, more information had been published about the primary suspects in the rape, who did not seem to satisfy typical profiles of perpetrators. Reporters had found that some came from stable, financially secure families; police had ruled out drugs or major robbery, and most had no criminal records. On April 26, 1989, The New York Times published a cautionary editorial against the use of labels and questioning why such "well-adjusted youngsters" could have committed such a "savage" crime.<ref name="nyTeditorial"/>

After the major media's decisions to print the names, photos, and addresses of the juvenile suspects, they and their families received serious threats. Other residents living at the Schomburg Plaza, where four suspects lived, were also threatened. Because of this, editors of The City Sun and the Amsterdam News chose to use Meili's name in their continuing coverage of the events.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Reverend Calvin O. Butts of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, who came to support the five suspects, said to The New York Times, "The first thing you do in the United States of America when a white woman is raped is round up a bunch of black youths, and I think that's what happened here."<ref name="Didion"/>

In most media accounts of the incident at that time, Meili was simply referred to as the "Central Park Jogger", but two local TV stations violated the media policy of not publicly identifying the victims of sex crimes and released her name in the days immediately following the attack. Two newspapers aimed at the African American community—The City Sun and the Amsterdam News—and the black-owned talk radio station WLIB continued to cover the case as it progressed.<ref name="Didion"/> Their editors said this was in response to the media having publicized the names and personal information about the five suspects, who were all minors before they were arraigned.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite news</ref> The Open Line hosts on WRKS were credited with helping continue to cover the case until the convicted youths were cleared in 2002 of the crime.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Donald Trump advertisement

File:Trump Bring Back Death Penalty ad 1989.jpg

The full-page advertisement was taken out by Donald Trump in the May 1, 1989, issue of the Daily News.

About ten days after the boys started to confess, real estate magnate Donald Trump called on May 1, 1989, for the return of the death penalty for murder in full-page advertisements published in all four of the city's major newspapers. Trump said he wanted the "criminals of every age to be afraid".<ref name=NYTimes1989 /><ref name="NYT Oct 2002">Template:Cite news</ref> The advertisement, which cost an estimated Template:US$,<ref name=NYTimes1989/><ref name="NYT Oct 2002"/> said, in part,

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The New York Times has pointed out that, "The ad does not name any defendant, instead referring collectively to ‘roving bands of wild criminals.Template:'" As to the particular defendants in this case, Trump said in 2002 that he greatly respected District Attorney Morgenthau, and was "sure the right answer will come out."<ref>Wilson, Michael. “Trump Draws Criticism for Ad He Ran After Jogger Attack”, New York Times (Oct 23, 2002).</ref> However, in 2016, Trump said, "They admitted they were guilty….The fact that that case was settled with so much evidence against them is outrageous."<ref>Sarlin, Benju. “Donald Trump Says Central Park Five Are Guilty, Despite DNA Evidence”, NBC News (Oct 7, 2016).</ref> CNN assesses that, "Trump obviously still believes that the Central Park 5 are guilty, so it cannot be said he is lying or even misleading", though his opinion is contrary to the financial settlement in 2014.<ref>Holmes, Steven. [https://www.cnn.com/2016/10/06/politics/reality-check-donald-trump-central-park-5/ “Member of ‘Central Park 5’ blasts Trump”, CNN (Oct 7, 2016).</ref>

According to a contemporaneous article in the New York Amsterdam News, the ad was "widely condemned", including by then-Mayor Koch. Colin Moore, one of the attorneys defending one of the Central Park defendants, said that the ad "proved that anything is possible in America", and that "even a fool can become a multi-millionaire."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> According to defendant Yusef Salaam, quoted in a February 2016 article in The Guardian, Trump "was the fire starter" in 1989, as "common citizens were being manipulated and swayed into believing that we were guilty."<ref name="GdnDemagogue" /> Salaam said his family received death threats after papers ran Trump's full-page ad urging the death penalty.<ref name="GdnDemagogue" />

1989–1991 criminal actions

On May 10, 1989, Lopez, McCray, Richardson, Salaam, Santana, and Wise were indicted with attempted murder and other charges in the attack on and rape of the female jogger and additional charges related to the attack of David Lewis, the attack and robbery of John Loughlin, and riot.<ref name="Ryan Affirmation"/><ref name="kunen">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Efn The prosecution arranged to try the six defendants in the Meili case in two separate groups. This enabled them to control the order in which certain evidence would be introduced to the court.<ref name=Schanberg/>

Each pleaded "not guilty". The families of Lopez,<ref name="sullivan"/> Richardson,<ref name="kunen"/> and Salaam<ref name="Allah">Template:Cite news</ref> were able to make the $25,000 bail imposed by the court. The two other youths under 16 were returned to a juvenile facility to be held there until trial.<ref name="kunen"/> Classified as an adult at 16, Korey Wise was separated from the others and held in an adult jail at Rikers Island until trial.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Pre-trial hearings

Numerous pretrial hearings were conducted by Judge Thomas B. Galligan of the State Supreme Court of Manhattan, who had been assigned the case. Since 1986,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> judges were generally assigned by lottery, but the court administrator assigned him to this case.<ref name="Sullivan Judge">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="nytimes.com">Template:Cite news</ref> The defense attorneys criticized Galligan as being biased in favor of the assistant district attorney and handing down tough sentences. The counsel of the defendants filed a motion for a different judge which was rejected.<ref name="Sullivan Judge"/><ref name="nytimes.com"/>

Defendants challenged the use of the videotaped confessions and statements, arguing that the confessions were coerced and that they had not been properly Mirandized.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Leo et al.">Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp Salaam argued that his statement should be suppressed because it was made outside of the presence of his parents, despite the fact that New York law entitled children fifteen and younger to have their parents with them during the interrogation process.<ref name="Leo et al."/>Template:Rp Galligan ruled that the statements were admissible—finding that they were made voluntarily.<ref name="Leo et al."/>Template:Rp In Salaam's case, Galligan found that Salaam had lied to the police about his age—telling them he was 16—and held that Salaam should not be able to derive a benefit from the falsehood.<ref name="Leo et al."/>Template:Rp

Trials

First trial

In the first trial, which began June 25 and ended on August 18, 1990, defendants Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam, and Raymond Santana were tried. Each of the teenagers had his own defense counsel.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The jury consisted of four white Americans, four black Americans, three Hispanic Americans, and one Asian American.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Meili testified at the trial, but her identity was not given to the court. None of the three defense attorneys cross-examined her.<ref name="Ryan Affirmation"/> Meili was continually harassed by protesters during the case, both in the halls of the court and in the courtroom itself, who yelled obscenities at her such as "slut" and "whore". When the defense attorneys refused to cross-examine her, the protesters heckled them as well.<ref name="sullivanbook">Template:Cite book</ref>

The jury deliberated for 10 days before rendering its verdict on August 18. Each of the three youths was acquitted of attempted murder, but convicted of assault and rape of the female jogger, and convicted of assault and robbery of John Loughlin, a male jogger who was badly beaten that night in Central Park.<ref name="3sentenced">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

At the sentencing hearing, Salaam read aloud a poem in which he said, "I look upon this legal lynching as a test by my God Allah." Salaam added, "I and many others know I told the truth. I would never disrespect my own religion by lying," and he told Judge Galligan to "[g]ive me the max," as "[s]ooner or later the truth will come out." McCray told the judge: "I'm not going to let this stop me. I'm going to make it." Santana said, "Everyone knows I'm innocent of the crime. I never did it."<ref name="3sentenced"/>

Salaam and McCray were 15 years old, and Santana 14 years old, at the time of the crime.<ref name="Ryan Affirmation"/>Template:Rp Judge Thomas B. Galligan sentenced each of the defendants to the maximum allowed for juveniles, 5–10 years each in a youth correctional facility.<ref name="Ryan Affirmation"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Second trial

The second trial, of Kevin Richardson and Korey Wise, began October 22, 1990<ref name="mauli1">Template:Cite news</ref> and also lasted about two months, ending in December.<ref name="Ryan Affirmation"/> Kevin Richardson, 14 years old at the time of the crime, had been free on $25,000 bail before the trial.<ref name=nyt2/>

Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Lederer had a lengthy opening statement, and Wise broke down at the defense table after it, weeping and shouting that she had lied. He was removed temporarily from the courtroom. Richardson's defense counsel made a motion for a mistrial, because of the potential effect on the jury, but the judge rejected it. The trial proceeded.<ref name=nyt2/>

The defense attorneys noted that each youth had limited intellectual ability and said that neither was capable of preparing the written statements or videotaped confessions submitted by the prosecution as evidence.<ref name=nyt2>Template:Cite news</ref> They contended that the confessions had been coerced from youths vulnerable to pressure because of their age and their intellectual capacity.<ref name="mauli1"/>

Meili testified again at this trial; again, her name was not given in court. This time one of the defense counsels, Wise's lawyer, cross-examined her. She later said in an interview on Oprah: "I'll tell you what—I didn't feel wonderful about the boys' defense attorneys, especially the one who cross-examined me. He was right in front of my face and, in essence, calling me a slut by asking questions like 'When's the last time you had sex with your boyfriend?Template:'"<ref name="oprah.com"/> Wise's lawyer had also asked her whether she had ever been assaulted by men in her life, suggested that a man she knew may have attacked her, and implied that her injuries were not as severe as had been presented.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Richardson was the only one of the five defendants to be convicted of attempted murder of Meili, in addition to sodomy and assault of her, and robbery and riot in the attack on John Loughlin, another jogger in the park.<ref name="2guilty">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He was sentenced to 5–10 years in a juvenile facility.<ref name="Ryan Affirmation"/>

Korey Wise, 16 years old at the time of the crime, was acquitted of rape and attempted murder.<ref name="2guilty"/> At trial, Melody Jackson—the sister of one of Wise's friends—testified that, while incarcerated in the Rikers Island, he had told her that he had restrained and fondled the jogger.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Wise was convicted of lesser charges of sexual abuse, assault, and riot in the attack on the female jogger and on Loughlin.<ref name="2guilty"/> Because of his age and the violent nature of the felony charge, he was tried and sentenced as an adult, receiving 5–15 years in adult prison.<ref name="Ryan Affirmation"/> After the verdict, Wise shouted at the prosecutor: "You're going to pay for this. Jesus is going to get you. You made this up."<ref name="2guilty"/>

Jurors who agreed to interviews after the trials said that they were not convinced by the youths' confessions, but were impressed by the physical evidence introduced by the prosecutors: semen, grass, dirt, and two hairs described as "consistent with" the victim's hair<ref name="Ryan Affirmation"/>Template:Rp that were recovered from Richardson's underpants.<ref name=nyt3>Template:Cite news</ref>

According to an FBI expert who gave evidence at the trial, all five defendants could be excluded as being the man who had left the semen samples inside Meili and on a sock.<ref name="Schanberg"/> In total, 14 men were tested, including the defendants and Meili's former boyfriend, and all were excluded.<ref name="Schanberg"/> The semen belonged to another, unidentified male.<ref name="Schanberg"/> Years later, more advanced DNA testing also revealed that the hairs in Richardson's clothes did not match the victim.<ref name="McFadden">Template:Cite news</ref>

Criticism of the jury verdicts

In a lengthy 1991 essay for The New York Review of Books, Joan Didion suggested that the verdicts were symptomatic of a cultural crisis, writing, "So fixed were the emotions provoked by this case that the idea that there could have been, for even one juror, even a moment's doubt in the state's case ... seemed, to many in the city, bewildering, almost unthinkable: the attack on the jogger had by then passed into narrative, and the narrative was ... about what was wrong with the city and about its solution".<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Cristina Costantini, "Film Gives Voice to Men Falsely Convicted in Central Park Jogger Case", ABC News, December 21, 2012</ref>

In a 2016 Guardian article, defense counsel William Warren was reported saying that he thought Trump's ads in 1989 had played a role in securing conviction by the juries, saying that "he poisoned the minds of many people who lived in New York City and who, rightfully, had a natural affinity for the victim."<ref name="GdnDemagogue"/> He noted, "Notwithstanding the jurors' assertions that they could be fair and impartial, some of them or their families, who naturally have influence, had to be affected by the inflammatory rhetoric in the ads."<ref name="GdnDemagogue"/> In 2019, Time magazine also assessed Trump's ads in 1989 as having adversely affected the case for the defendants.<ref name="Time53119">Template:Cite news</ref>

Lopez's plea deal

Like the five others, Lopez was indicted for charges related to the attacks on both Meili and Loughlin.<ref name="Registry">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He denied any knowledge of the rape in his videotaped confession, but was implicated by other defendants' statements.<ref name="Registry"/><ref name="cook1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Although Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Lederer had said she would not accept a plea deal for any of the defendants indicted in the rape case, she did come to agreement with Steven Lopez and his attorney in the court on January 30, 1991, prior to a new jury being selected for his trial. He was considered the final of the six defendants in the jogger trial. Because Lopez had not acknowledged participating at all in the rape in his statement to police, and prosecution witnesses had withdrawn from testifying, based on what they said was fear of self-incrimination or "fear [for] their own safety", according to Lederer, the prosecution's case was extremely weak.<ref name="sullivan"/> He was sentenced in March 1991 to Template:Frac to Template:Frac years, after pleading guilty to the mugging of jogger John Loughlin. Because Lopez was younger than 16 at the time of the crime, he was sentenced to serve his time in a juvenile facility.<ref name="mauli">Template:Cite news</ref>

Appeals

Four of the six—all but Santana and Lopez—appealed their convictions,<ref name="Ryan Affirmation"/> varyingly challenging Judge Galligan's decision to admit their confessions<ref name="Leo et al."/>Template:Rp and whether their confessions were sufficiently corroborated by other evidence.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp Their convictions were upheld.<ref name="Leo et al."/>Template:Rp

Incarceration

Through their time of incarceration, McCray, Richardson, Salaam, Santana, and Wise maintained their innocence in the rape and attack of Meili, including at hearings before parole boards. While they acknowledged "witnessing or participating in other wrongdoing" in the park, they each maintained innocence in the attack of Meili.<ref name="dwyer2019"/>

Richardson, Salaam, and Santana attended classes and earned a GED and also completed an associate degree while there.<ref name="cook"/>

Wise had to serve all of his time in adult prison, and encountered so much personal violence that he asked to stay in isolation for extended periods. He was held at four different prisons, having asked for transfers in the hope of improving his situation.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He was released in August 2002, the last of the five men to leave prison.<ref name="Schanberg"/><ref name=additional>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Santana was released in 1995; McCray in 1996; and Salaam and Richardson in 1997. Wise was released in August 2002.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Discovery of assailant

In 2001, Matias Reyes met Wise when they were held at the Auburn Correctional Facility in upstate New York.<ref name="nytimes.com4">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Reyes subsequently informed a corrections officer that he had raped Meili.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Reyes Profile">Template:Cite news</ref> In 2002, Reyes told officials that on the night of April 19, 1989, he had assaulted and raped the female jogger. He was 17 years old at the time of the assault and said that he had committed it alone.<ref name=AP6.16.14/><ref name="Reyes Profile" /> He also said that he had intended to burglarize the victim's apartment.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Reyes was then working at an East Harlem convenience store on Third Avenue and 102nd Street, and living in a van on the street.<ref name="Reyes Profile"/><ref name="Burns Book"/>Template:Rp

Reyes was believed to have raped another woman in the same area of the park during the day on April 17, two days before the attack on Meili. Initially the Meili case was investigated as a homicide, and the April 17 rape was investigated as a rape assault, which resulted in a lack of comparison of the DNA recovered in the two cases. The NYPD did not have a DNA database until 1994; after that, detectives and prosecutors had access to common information about DNA from evidence and taken from suspects in certain crimes.<ref name="armstrong"/> During the summer of 1989, Reyes raped four women, killing one, and was interrupted after robbing a fifth—he was sentenced to Template:Fract years to life after he pleaded guilty to the top counts in each case.<ref name="Ryan Affirmation"/>Template:Rp

District Attorney Robert Morgenthau's office was notified of the confession in 2002.<ref name="Ryan Affirmation"/> Morgenthau appointed a team led by Assistant District Attorneys Nancy Ryan and Peter Casolaro to investigate the case, based on Reyes's confession and a review of evidence.<ref name="Schanberg"/> Reyes provided officials with a detailed account of the attack, details of which were corroborated by other evidence which the police held. In addition, his DNA matched the DNA evidence at the scene, confirming that he was the sole source of the semen found in and on the victim "to a factor of one in 6,000,000,000 people".<ref name="Ryan Affirmation"/> Reyes' DNA matched the semen found on Meili, and he provided other confirmatory evidence.<ref name="McFadden"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In announcing these facts, Morgenthau also said that the perpetrator had tied up Meili with her T-shirt in a distinctive fashion that Reyes used again on later victims in crimes for which he was convicted.<ref name="Ryan Affirmation"/>

Based on interviews and other evidence, the team believed that Reyes had acted alone: The rape appeared to have taken place in the North Woods area after the main body of the thirty teenagers had moved well to the south, and the timeline reconstruction of events made it unlikely that he was joined by any of the defendants. In addition, Reyes was not known to have been associated with any of the six indicted defendants. He lived at 102nd Street, in what locals considered another neighborhood. None of the six defendants in the rape mentioned him by name in association with the rape.<ref name="Ryan Affirmation"/>

Because Reyes's confession occurred after New York's then-five-year statute of limitations had passed, he was not charged with the offense.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Reyes claimed he came forward because "it was the right thing to do".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Convictions of the Five and Lopez vacated

File:NLN Yusef Salaam.jpg

Yusef Salaam in 2009, seven years after his conviction was vacated

Based on newly discovered evidence—specifically, an affidavit by Reyes confessing to the crime and declaring that he acted alone—Wise, McCray, Santana, Richardson, and Salaam filed motions to have their convictions set aside and for the court "to grant whatever further relief may be just and proper."<ref name="Ryan Affirmation"/>Template:Rp In late 2002, Robert Morgenthau, District Attorney for New York County, conducted an investigation into the potential innocence of Wise, McCray, Santana, Richardson, and Salaam. Nancy Ryan, an ADA in Morgenthau's office, filed an affirmation supporting motions by the defendants to vacate their convictions in December 2002. Ryan's affirmation recommended vacating the convictions of Wise, McCray, Santana, Richardson, and Salaam.<ref name="Ryan Affirmation"/>Template:Rp Though the "newly discovered evidence" only related to Meili's assault, Ryan found that the defendants' contemporaneousTemplate:Efn confessions as to the other crimes could not reliably be disentangled from their false rape confessions, and, as such, she recommended granting the defendants' motions as to each of the convictions.<ref name="Ryan Affirmation"/>Template:Rp

As to Meili's assault, the DA's office questioned the veracity of the confessions, pointing to the many inconsistencies between them and their lack of correspondence to established facts.

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In addition, the filing noted that, based on a reconstruction of events, the teenagers were either spectating or participating in other crimes in the park at the time that the rape occurred.<ref name="dwyer.flynn"/> Ryan continued: "Ultimately, there proved to be no physical or forensic evidence recovered at the scene or from the person or effects of the victim which connected the defendants to the attack on the jogger, or could establish how many perpetrators participated."<ref name="Ryan Affirmation"/>Template:Rp

The five defendants' convictions were vacated by New York Supreme Court Justice Charles J. Tejada on December 19, 2002. As Morgenthau recommended, Tejada's order vacated the convictions for all the crimes of which the defendants had been convicted.<ref name=NYTimes12.26.02/> All five of the defendants had completed their prison sentences at the time of Tejada's order; their names were cleared in relation to this case. This also enabled them being removed from New York State's sex offender registry. In addition to having had difficulty getting employment or renting housing, as registered offenders, they had been required to report to authorities in person every three months.<ref name=NYTimes12.26.02/><ref>Innocence Project: Salaam Template:Webarchive, Richardson Template:Webarchive, McCray Template:Webarchive, Santana Template:Webarchive, Wise Template:Webarchive</ref> The city government also withdrew all charges against the men.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="McFadden" />

On July 25, 2022, Steven Lopez's robbery conviction was overturned, and the indictment against him dismissed after District Attorney Alvin Bragg filed a motion to vacate.<ref name="NYPost Lopez">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="NYT Lopez">Template:Cite news</ref> According to Bragg, "Mr. Lopez was charged and pleaded guilty in the face of false statements, unreliable forensic analysis and immense external pressure."<ref name="NYPost Lopez"/>

Aftermath

The DA's recommendation to vacate the convictions was strongly opposed by lead detectives on the case and other members of the police department.<ref name="Schanberg"/> Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly complained at the time that Morgenthau's staff had denied his detectives access to "important evidence" needed to conduct a thorough investigation.<ref name=NYTimes12.26.02/>

Linda Fairstein, who directed the original prosecution, agreed with the decision to vacate the rape charges but said the separate assault charges should have remained.<ref name="Fairstein op ed">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Eustachewich">Template:Cite news</ref> Morgenthau would later express regret assigning the case to Fairstein, saying "I had complete confidence in Linda Fairstein. Turned out to be misplaced. But we rectified it."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Armstrong Report

Following these events, in 2002, New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly commissioned a panel to review the case, "To determine whether the new evidence [from the Reyes affidavit and related evidence, and Morgenthau's investigation] indicated that police supervisors or officers acted improperly or incorrectly, and to determine whether police policy or procedures needed to be changed as a result of the Central Park jogger case."<ref name="armstrong"/><ref name="ReferenceA">Template:Cite news</ref> The panel was chaired by attorney Michael F. Armstrong, the former chief counsel to the Knapp Commission, which in 1972 had documented widespread corruption in the NYPD. Two other attorneys were included: Jules Martin, a former police officer and now New York University Vice President; and Stephen Hammerman, deputy police commissioner for legal affairs.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name="cnn.com">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="dwyer-flynnNov">Template:Cite news</ref> The panel issued a 43-page report in January 2003.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name="armstrong">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In its January 2003 Armstrong Report, the panel "did not dispute the legal necessity of setting aside the convictions of the five defendants based on the new DNA evidence that Mr. Reyes had raped the jogger."<ref name="ReferenceA"/> But it disputed acceptance of Reyes's claim that he alone had raped the jogger.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name="cnn.com"/> It said there was "nothing but his uncorroborated word" that he acted alone.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Armstrong said the panel believed "the word of a serial rapist killer is not something to be heavily relied upon."<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

The report concluded that the five men whose convictions had been vacated had "most likely" participated in the beating and rape of the jogger and that the "most likely scenario" was that "both the defendants and Reyes assaulted her, perhaps successively."<ref name="ReferenceA"/> The report said Reyes had most likely "either joined in the attack as it was ending or waited until the defendants had moved on to their next victims before descending upon her himself, raping her and inflicting upon her the brutal injuries that almost caused her death."<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

New York City detectives supported the 2003 Armstrong Report by the police department. The panel said there had been "no misconduct in the 1989 investigation of the Central Park jogger case".<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

As to the five defendants, the report said:

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Edward Conlon, a writer and former New York police officer, said that Armstrong, "[i]n support of his assessment, ... offers a number of tantalizing theories, only partially undergirded by fully explored evidence".<ref name="Conlon"/> He characterized the report as "resembl[ing] a defense document more than a prosecution brief in its approach, throwing everything against the wall to see what sticks".<ref name="Conlon"/>

Lawsuits against New York City

In 2003,<ref name="NYT Approved">Template:Cite news</ref> McCray, Richardson, Santana, Salaam, and Wise sued the City of New York in federal court, accusing the city's police and prosecutors of false arrest, malicious prosecution and a racially motivated conspiracy to deprive the men of their civil rights.<ref name="NYT Agreed Settlement">Template:Cite news</ref> The defendants sought $52 million.<ref name=":7">Template:Cite news</ref>

Under Michael Bloomberg's mayoral administration,<ref name=":2">Template:Cite news</ref> the city refused to pursue a settlement for the lawsuits based on a conclusion that the defendants had had a fair trial. Speaking at a news conference in 2002, Bloomberg spoke of his confidence regarding the actions of the police department. "As far as I can tell, the N.Y.P.D. did exactly what they should have done a number of years ago when the terrible incident took place ... If we see any reason to think that we acted inappropriately, [Police] Commissioner Kelly will certainly take appropriate measures. But so far we believe that the N.Y.P.D. did act appropriately."<ref name=NYTimes12.26.02/>

In 2011, Celeste Koeleveld, then New York City's Executive Assistant Corporation Counsel for Public Safety, gave a public statement on behalf of the city after receiving public criticism from Councilman Charles Barron for failing to resolve the lawsuits:<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The charges against the plaintiffs and other youths were based on abundant probable cause, including confessions that withstood intense scrutiny, in full and fair pretrial hearings and at two lengthy public trials ... Nothing unearthed since the trials, including Matias Reyes's connection to the attack on the jogger, changes that fact.{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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After the election of Mayor Bill de Blasio, who had run on a campaign promise to resolve the matter, the city endeavored to settle the suit; in a June 2014 press conference, de Blasio announced a proposed settlement payment of about $40 million—nearly $1 million per year of incarceration for each defendant.<ref name="NYT Agreed Settlement"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The settlement was officially approved in September 2014.<ref name="NYT Approved"/><ref name=":6">Template:Cite news</ref> Santana, Salaam, McCray, and Richardson each received around $7.1 million from the city for their years in prison, while Wise received $12.2 million because he had served six additional years. The city did not admit to any wrongdoing in the settlement.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The five defendants subsequently sued the state in the New York Court of Claims, before Judge Alan Marin.<ref name="additional"/> The New York courts allowed the second suit because, unlike the first suit, which was predicated on civil-rights violations, the second suit was based on claims for economic and emotional devastation caused by incarceration.<ref name=additional/> Speaking of the second suit, against the state, Santana said: "When you have a person who has been exonerated of a crime, the city provides no services to transition him back to society. The only thing left is something like this—so you can receive some type of money so you can survive."<ref name=additional/>

In 2016, the state-court suit settled for $3.9 million, with varying amounts related to the period of time that each man had served in prison.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":7"/>

Reaction to settlements

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After New York City had settled the federal suit, some figures returned to the media to dispute the court's 2002 decision to vacate the convictions. Retired New York City detective Edward Conlon, who had been involved with the case, in an article published in October 2014 in The Daily Beast, quoted incriminatory statements allegedly made by some of the youths after they had been taken into custody by police in April 1989.<ref name="Conlon"/>

Similarly, two doctors who had treated Meili after the attack said in 2014, after the settlement, that some of her injuries appeared to be inconsistent with Reyes's claim that he had acted alone.<ref name="nbcnews.com">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="nytquestions"/> But a forensic pathologist who testified at the 1990 trial said that it was impossible to tell from the victim's injuries how many people had participated in the assault, as did New York City's chief medical examiner in 2002.<ref name="nytquestions">Template:Cite news</ref> Meili, who had no memory of what happened, said at the time of the settlement that she believed there had been more than one attacker and expressed her regret that the case had been settled.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Donald Trump also commented on the settlement in a 2014 opinion article for the New York Daily News. He said the settlement was "a disgrace", and that the men were likely guilty: "Settling doesn't mean innocence. ... Speak to the detectives on the case and try listening to the facts. These young men do not exactly have the pasts of angels."<ref name="NYDN Jun 2014">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> During his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump again said that the Exonerated Five were guilty and that their convictions should not have been vacated.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Exonerated Five criticized Trump at the time for his statement, stating they had falsely confessed under police coercion.<ref name=salaam-speaks-out>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Other critics included U.S. Senator John McCain, who said that Trump's responses were "outrageous statements about the innocent men in the case". He cited this as among his reasons to retract his endorsement of the candidate.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In June 2019 Trump stated he would not apologize, saying the Exonerated Five "admitted their guilt".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Meili later commented that she wished the matter would have been retried, rather than settled out of court, and that she believed her attack was not the result of a single person.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Trisha Meili

File:Trisha Meili.jpg

Trisha Meili in 2005

The initial medical prognosis was that Meili would die of her injuries or remain in a permanent coma.<ref name="post-gazette.com"/> She was given last rites.<ref name="stephenrobinson"/> Meili came out of her coma after 12 days on May 1st, unable to talk, read, or walk.<ref name="stephenrobinson"/><ref name="usatoday.com"/> She was then treated for seven weeks in Metropolitan Hospital in East Harlem before being transferred to Gaylord Hospital, a long-term acute care center in Wallingford, Connecticut, where she spent six months in rehabilitation.<ref name="post-gazette.com"/><ref name="parker-pope">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="post-gazette.com1"/> She did not walk until mid-July 1989.<ref name="oprah.com">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She returned to work eight months after the attack.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She largely recovered, with some lingering disabilities related to balance and loss of vision. As a result of the severe trauma, she had no memory of the attack or any events up to an hour before the assault, nor of the six weeks following the attack.<ref name="oprah.com"/>

Meili returned to work at the investment bank. In April 2003, Meili confirmed her identity to the media when she published a memoir entitled I Am the Central Park Jogger: A Story of Hope and Possibility.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She began a career as an inspirational speaker.<ref name="post-gazette.com1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She also works with victims of sexual assault and brain injury in the Mount Sinai Hospital sexual assault and violence intervention program. She had resumed jogging in 1989, three or four months after the attack, and over the years added a variety of other exercise and yoga practice.<ref name="parker-pope"/> She continues to manifest some after-effects of the assault, including memory loss.<ref name="post-gazette.com"/><ref name="usatoday.com"/><ref name="lee">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="oprah.com"/>

Lives of the Exonerated Five

After being released from prison in September 1996, McCray moved to Maryland and became a forklift operator.<ref name="Bruney">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He is married, has six children, and lives and works in Georgia.<ref name="cook">Template:Cite news</ref>

Richardson acted as an advocate with Santana and Salaam to reform New York State's criminal justice practices, advocating methods to prevent false confessions and eyewitness misidentifications.<ref name="cook"/> He also participated in a series of talks on criminal-justice reform and wrongful convictions.<ref name="cook"/>

Salaam became a board member of the Innocence Project<ref name="cook"/><ref name="about">Template:Cite news</ref> and has advocated for criminal-justice reform, particularly for juveniles. In 2016, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from President Barack Obama.<ref name="cook"/> In 2017, he and Fernando Bermudez penned an op ed for the New York Daily News in support of two criminal-justice-reform measures offered by then-Governor Andrew Cuomo: one proposal would require police interrogations to be recorded from start to finish; the second would provide training to police officers to protect against misidentification.<ref name="nydn op ed">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The budget proposal passed, and the video-recording requirement took effect April 1, 2018.<ref name="video">Template:Cite news</ref> Salaam started Yusef Speaks LLC<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and works as a motivational speaker.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Salaam declared his candidacy for the open New York City Council's 9th District in 2023, after incumbent Kristin Richardson Jordan declined to run for reelection. Salaam won the Democratic nomination for the seat on June 27, 2023, and officially won the seat on November 7, 2023.<ref name="CBS New York 2023 n858">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Santana was released from prison in December 1995, and was out of prison for six months before he was found guilty of possession of crack cocaine in 1998 and reincarcerated for a term of 3.5 to 7 years.<ref name="Bruney"/> He was released in 2002 when the prosecutor, agreeing that his sentence had been higher due to his (then-vacated) conviction for raping Meili, reduced it to the 18–48 months that would typically have been given to a first-time offender.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Santana started a clothing company, Park Madison NYC,<ref name="Bruney"/><ref name="cook"/> and donates a portion of Park Madison NYC's proceeds to the Innocence Project.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Santana has also appeared with other involved men in presentations at local schools and colleges.<ref name="video"/>

After his release, Wise changed his first name to Korey; he found work as a construction worker and, for a time, as an office cleaner for Reverend Al Sharpton.<ref name="Bruney"/> Wise remained in New York City, where he works as a speaker and justice reform activist. He donated $190,000 of his 2014 settlement to the chapter of the Innocence Project at the University of Colorado Law School, to aid other wrongfully convicted people to gain exoneration; they renamed the project in his honor as the Korey Wise Innocence Project.<ref name="finn">Template:Cite journal</ref>

The Five made the news in late March and early April 2023, after Trump was indicted on felony charges of falsifying business records in an alleged hush money payment scheme and cover-up before the 2016 presidential election. Salaam issued a one-word statement: "Karma".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He reminded the world that Trump never apologized for the misdirected vengeance and ran a full-page ad in the New York Times with the headline text, "Bring back justice & fairness. Build a brighter future for Harlem!"<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Raymond Santana, on social media, urged for people to "never forget" Trump's actions.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Rev. Al Sharpton noted the irony of both trials taking place in the same downtown Manhattan courthouse building: "what goes around comes around."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

During a presidential debate on September 10, 2024, Trump falsely said the Five had initially pleaded guilty to the assault before changing their pleas (actually some of them had confessed but recanted before entering any official plea); Trump also described during the debate his viewpoint at the time of those events: "I said, 'well, if they pled guilty they badly hurt a person, killed a person ultimately….Template:'" Doctors predicted the victim might ultimately die of her injuries, but she survived.<ref name="post-gazette.com"/> On October 21, the Five sued Trump for defamation in federal court in Philadelphia, where he had made the allegedly defamatory statements.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Legislative and other justice reforms

Because of the great publicity surrounding the case, the vacated conviction of Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise highlighted the issue of false confessions.<ref name="starr">Template:Cite news</ref> The issue of false confessions has become a major topic of study and efforts at criminal justice reform, particularly for juveniles.<ref name="storey"/> Juveniles have been found to make false confessions and guilty pleas at a much higher rate than adults.<ref name="fattal">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Advances in DNA analysis and the work of non-profit groups such as the Innocence Project have resulted in 343 people being exonerated of their crimes Template:As of due to DNA testing.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> This process has revealed the strong role of false confessions in wrongful convictions. According to a 2016 study by Craig J. Trocino, director of the Miami Law Innocence Clinic, 27 percent of those persons had "originally confessed to their crimes".<ref name="storey">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Members of the Five have been among activists who have advocated for videotaped interrogations and related reforms to try to prevent false confessions.Template:Citation needed Since 1989, New York and some 24 other states have passed laws requiring "electronic records of full interrogations".<ref name="storey"/> In some cases, this requirement is limited to certain types of crimes.Template:Citation needed

Contemporaneous cases compared by the media

The Central Park events, which were attributed at the time to members of the large group of youths who attacked numerous persons in the park, including whites, blacks and Hispanics, were covered as an extreme example of the violence that was occurring in the city, including assaults and robberies, rapes and homicides. Focusing on rapes in the same week as the one in Central Park, The New York Times reported on April 29, 1990, on the "28 other first-degree rapes or attempted rapes reported across New York City".<ref name="Schanberg"/> The fourth one, on April 17, took place during the day in the park and is now tied to Reyes.<ref name="Schanberg"/>

Later after the Central Park rape, when public attention was on the theory of a gang of young suspects, a brutal attack took place in Brooklyn on May 3, 1989.<ref name="bklynrape">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A 39-year-old black woman was robbed, raped and thrown from the roof of a four-story building by three young men. She fell 50 feet, suffering severe injuries.<ref name="bklynrape"/> The incident received little media coverage in May 1989, when the focus was on the Central Park case.<ref name="bklyn"/> The woman's injuries required extensive hospitalization and rehabilitation.<ref name="bklyn"/>

The New York Times continued to report on the case, and followed up on prosecution of suspects. Tyrone Prescott, 17, Kelvin Furman, 22, and another young man, Darren Decotea (name corrected a few days later as Darron Decoteau),<ref name="youthSentence"/> 17, were apprehended within two weeks and prosecuted for the crimes. They arranged plea deals with the prosecution in October 1990 before trial; the first two were sentenced to six to 18 years in prison.<ref name="bklyn">Template:Cite news</ref> Decoteau had made a plea deal in February in which he agreed to testify against the other two. He was sentenced on October 10, 1990, to four to twelve years in prison.<ref name="youthSentence">Template:Cite news</ref> Social justice activists and critics have pointed to the lack of extensive coverage of the attack of the woman in Brooklyn as showing the media's racial bias; they have accused it of overlooking violence against minority women.<ref name="bklyn"/>

Representation in other media

• Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and her husband David McMahon premiered their The Central Park Five, a documentary film about the case, at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2012.<ref name=ap>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> Documentarian Ken Burns said he hoped the material of the film would push the city to settle the men's case against it.<ref name="nytimes.com4"/> On September 12, 2012, attorneys for New York City subpoenaed the production company for access to the original footage in connection with its defense of the 2003 federal civil lawsuit brought against the city by three of the convicted youths.<ref name="nytimes.com4"/> Celeste Koeleveld, the city's executive assistant corporation counsel for public safety, justified the subpoena on the grounds that the film had "crossed the line from journalism to advocacy" for the wrongfully convicted men.<ref name="nytimes.com4"/> In February 2013, U.S. Judge Ronald L. Ellis quashed the city's subpoena.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• On May 31, 2019, When They See Us, a four-episode miniseries, was released on Netflix. Ava DuVernay co-wrote and directed the drama. Its release and wide viewing on Netflix prompted renewed discussion of the case, the criminal justice system, and of the lives of the five men. It has resulted in a civil libel lawsuit by Fairstein.
• An opera, also called The Central Park Five, premiered in Long Beach, California, performed by the Long Beach Opera Company, on June 15, 2019.<ref name="midgette">Anne Midgette, "'The Central Park Five,' in song: Composer Anthony Davis on his new opera", The Washington Post, June 23, 2019</ref> The music is by composer Anthony Davis and the libretto by Richard Wesley. Davis won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Music for this work.<ref>The Central Park Five, by Anthony Davis The Pulitzer Prizes</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> An earlier version, Five, had premiered in Newark, New Jersey, by the Trilogy Company.<ref name="cooper">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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See also

• Groveland Four
• List of wrongful convictions in the United States
• Martinsville Seven
• Scottsboro Boys
• Willie McGee (convict)

Further reading

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• Michael F. Armstrong, et al. (January 27, 2003) "NYPD Review of the Central Park Jogger Case"
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• Template:Cite news, opinion article by NYPD retired detective who disagreed with the exoneration and settlement
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• Ryan, Nancy E. (December 5, 2002) "Affirmation in Response to Motion to Vacate Judgement of Conviction". Prosecution's detailed summary of the case after investigation following confession by Matias Reyes.
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External links

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|CitationClass=web }} court records including videos of confessions

• Case docket: In re McRay, Richardson, Santana, Wise and Salaam Litigation, December 2003 filing of lawsuit against NYC
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|CitationClass=web }} 1 hr, 28 minutes