"[137], Members of the Five have been among activists who have advocated for videotaped interrogations and related reforms to try to prevent false confessions. Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson [2005]. [129] 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. 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. THE CENTRAL PARK FIVE tells the story of the five black and Latino teenagers from Harlem who were wrongly convicted of rap, The Central Park Five talk about what the film means to them, how they met Sarah Burns, and what the screenings have been, Natalie Byfield discusses the horror of the death penalty even being talked about in the context of the Central Park Five, THE CENTRAL PARK FIVE, tells the story of the five black and Latino teenagers from Harlem who were wrongly convicted of ra. Read Less. The former prosecutor who handled the Central Park Five case led the Manhattan Sex Crimes Unit for over 25 years. At 9 p.m. on April 19, 1989, a group of an estimated 30–32 teenagers who lived in East Harlem entered Manhattan's Central Park at an entrance in Harlem, near Central Park North. [2][3][4][5] All five defendants subsequently sued the City of New York for malicious prosecution, racial discrimination and emotional distress; the City settled the suit in 2014 for $41 million. 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 Steve Lopez and his attorney in the court on January 30, 1991, prior to a new jury being selected for his trial. They arranged plea deals with the prosecution in October 1990 before trial; the first two were sentenced to 6 to 18 years in prison. [148] 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. Common factors had been ruled out. The prosecutor planned to try the defendants in two groups and then scheduled the sixth defendant to be tried last. [52], 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. But so far we believe that the N.Y.P.D. He had denied any knowledge of the rape in his videotaped confession, but was implicated by other defendants' statements. [8] In his untaped confession, Salaam claimed to have struck the jogger with a pipe at the beginning of the incident. They had seen each other in the neighborhood. He was also robbed of a. Michael Briscoe, 17, was initially arrested for the rape of the female jogger, but his indictment was for riot and assault related to the attack of David Lewis, one of the four male joggers near the reservoir. These were:[6][8]. When tested, Reyes’ DNA matched the crime scene DNA from 1989, although the details of his story claiming a solo attack – coincidentally occurring in the same quadrant of Central Park as the rampage by the convicted five defendants – contradicted the original evidence and did not seem credible to most investigators and prosecutors re-investigating the case. The film chronicles The Central Park Jogger case, for the first time from the perspective of these five teenagers whose lives were upended by this miscarriage of justice. Through the night, they apprehended about 20 teenagers. [55][52], In 1990 the six suspects (incl. [8], The jury deliberated for 10 days before rendering its verdict on August 18. [15][16][27], 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. New Netflix mini-series When They See Us has returned attention to the case. [6][9][14] The first policeman who saw her said: "She was beaten as badly as anybody I've ever seen beaten. "[15], Meili was so badly injured that she was in a coma for 12 days. 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. After the guilty verdicts, the judge sentenced the defendants to the maximum for the charges and their ages. [138], 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 from as of July 31, 2016 due to DNA testing. Your purchase supports PBS and helps make our programming possible. A portion of the proceeds from the sales of one of his T-shirts, bearing the first names of the "Central Park Five," is donated to the Innocence Project. Here's the Real History Behind When They See Us", Cristina Costantini, "Film Gives Voice to Men Falsely Convicted in Central Park Jogger Case", "What really happened to Korey Wise in prison? [71], Richardson and Salaam were released in 1997. He has also appeared with other involved men in presentations at local schools and colleges. [67], Based on the newly discovered evidence, each of the five men who had been convicted of charges related to the rape of Meili filed motions to have their convictions set aside and for the court "to grant whatever further relief may be just and proper."[7]. [40][41] There was massive media coverage of the conference, with the rape and beating of the female jogger especially recounted in dramatic, inflammatory language. [citation needed] He was sentenced to 5–15 years. Jesus is going to get you. Advertisement. [101][75], 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. This page was last edited on 21 March 2021, at 09:48. [8][60] Salaam and McCray were 15 years old, and Santana 14 years old, at the time of the crime. "[131] During his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump again said that the Central Park Five were guilty and that their convictions should not have been vacated. While they acknowledged "witnessing or participating in other wrongdoing" in the park, they each maintained innocence in the attack of Meili. ", "Interrogations can lead to false confessions by juveniles, study finds", "Wrongful Convictions and DNA Exonerations: Understanding the Role of Forensic Science", "New York State Law Requiring Video Recording of Interrogations Takes Effect", "Man Cleared in Jogger Case Goes Free at the Age of 28 (Published 2002)", "Community Rallies to Support Victim of Brutal Brooklyn Rape", "2 Men Get 6 to 18 Years for Rape in Brooklyn", "Youth Gets Prison Sentence for Rape on Brooklyn Roof", "NYC is pressed to settle Central Park jogger case", "Ken Burns Wins Fight Against New York City Over 'Central Park Five' Research", Anne Midgette, "‘The Central Park Five,’ in song: Composer Anthony Davis on his new opera", The Central Park Five, by Anthony Davis The Pulitzer Prizes, "Crime File – 48 hours: Twisting trail to teens' confessions", "Q&A: The Wrongly Convicted Central Park Five on Their Documentary, Delayed Justice and Why They're Not Bitter", "Central Park Jogger case forever changed innocent victims & the city", "Affirmation in Response to Motion to Vacate Judgement of Conviction", 11 Years is Too Long to Wait for Resolution, Case docket: In re McRay, Richardson, Santana, Wise and Salaam Litigation, New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, 2004 Republican National Convention protest activity, Prospect Park alleged police sodomy incident, Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Central_Park_jogger_case&oldid=1013381821, African-American history of New York (state), Mass media-related controversies in the United States, Overturned convictions in the United States, Race-related controversies in the United States, Articles with dead external links from August 2017, Articles with permanently dead external links, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from November 2019, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Now streaming. The Central Park Five — Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Raymond Santana Jr., Korey Wise and Yusef Salaam — were the five black and Latino men … Yusef Salaam served 6 years and 8 months in juvenile detention from 1990 to 1996 and was released on parole. In a plea deal arranged in June 1990, he pleaded guilty to assault and was immediately sentenced to a year in prison, with credit for time served. [46], 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. Within the North Woods, between 105th and 102nd streets, they were reported as attacking several bicyclists, hurling rocks at a cab, and attacking a pedestrian, whom they robbed of his food and beer, and left unconscious. The Central Park Five is a co-production of, The story of five teenagers who were wrongly convicted in the Central Park Jogger case. "[97], The five defendants' convictions were vacated by New York Supreme Court Justice Charles J. Tejada on December 19, 2002. 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. The four youths under 16 were sentenced to 5–10 years each. Among these was Clarence Thomas, 14, who was arrested on April 21, 1989, on charges related to the rape of the female jogger. This was the age at which a suspect could be questioned without a parent or guardian present. [142] He currently lives in Georgia, not far from McCray. Speak to the detectives on the case and try listening to the facts. It was not until 1:30 a.m. that night that a female jogger was found in the North Woods area of the park. When Salaam informed police of his true age, they allowed his mother entry to the interrogation room. [147] Decoteau had made a plea deal in February in which he agreed to testify against the other two. [6] Lopez was interviewed on videotape in the presence of his parents on April 21, 1989, beginning at 3:30 a.m. She suffered severe hypothermia, severe brain damage, severe hemorrhagic shock, loss of 75–80 percent of her blood, and internal bleeding. Funding for the film is provided by The Atlantic Philanthropies, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Public Broadcasting Service and members of The Better Angels Society, including Bobby and Polly Stein. [71][141] As noted, Salaam was an advocate for the law passed in New York in 2018 requiring videotaping of accused subjects in all custodial interrogations for serious crimes. [27][30] The chairman of Wellesley's economics department said: "She was brilliant, probably one of the top four or five students of the decade. Turned out to be misplaced. The boys protested. The severely beaten Meili was not found until 1:30 a.m. on April 20. The only thing left is something like this—so you can receive some type of money so you can survive. She had been pulled to the north some 300 feet off the path known as the 102nd Street Crossing; the path of her feet dragged through the grass was marked so clearly that it could be photographed. [128][129] 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. [71], Kevin Richardson is married and lives with his family in New Jersey. Trump said he wanted the "criminals of every age ... to be afraid". Senator John McCain, who said that Trump's responses were "outrageous statements about the innocent men in the Central Park Five case." Among them were four African American and two Hispanic American teenagers who were indicted on May 10 on charges of assault, robbery, riot, rape, sexual abuse, and the attempted murders of Meili and an unrelated man, John Loughlin. Reyes confessed and Wise was released in 2002. After the exonerations, it became a high-profile example of racial profiling, discrimination, and inequality in the media and legal system. Watch trailers & learn more. The Central Park Five In 1989, a young woman jogging in New York’s Central Park was raped and beaten nearly to death. They spent six to 13 years in prison. He was held at four different prisons, having asked for transfers in the hope of improving his situation. None of the defendants had legal counsel during questioning. [6] He was hit in the head with a pipe and stick, knocking him briefly unconscious. David Lewis, banker, attacked and robbed about 9:25–9:40, John Loughlin, the 40-year-old teacher, severely beaten and kicked about 9:40–9:50 p.m. near the reservoir and left unconscious. The prosecution arranged to try the six defendants in the Meili case in two separate groups. In many other respects the defendants' statements were not corroborated by, consistent with, or explanatory of objective, independent evidence. [101] Armstrong said the panel believed "the word of a serial rapist killer is not something to be heavily relied upon. They are known as the Central Park Five, a name they came to share 30 years ago, after a young white woman named Trisha Meili went for a jog in New York's Central Park. [50] Only Wise made any statement about the different times and locations of the jogger attack, and detectives had taken him to the park to the crime scene before he made his videotaped confession. The lives of the five boys were changed forever the night of April 20th 1989 along with Tricia Meili and nothing will ever fix that. [8] According to The New York Times, their accounts of these other attacks were accurate, unlike their confessions to the assault on the jogger. "[73] They received a total settlement of $3.9 million from the state in 2016, with varying amounts related to the period of time that each man had served in prison. [79][80][81] In 2002, Reyes told officials that on the night of April 19, 1989, he had assaulted and raped the female jogger. [94] 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. [7][65] Wise was convicted of lesser charges of sexual abuse, assault, and riot in the attack on the female jogger and on Loughlin. The case garnered national attention, mainly because of its racial undertones. In a plea deal, he pleaded guilty on March 14, 1991, to attempted robbery in second degree, and was sentenced to 6 months' incarceration and 4½ years' probation. [64] He was sentenced to 5–10 years in a juvenile facility. [121], As of December 2014, the five men were pursuing an additional $52 million in damages from New York State in the New York Court of Claims, before Judge Alan Marin. [6][8][9] At a pre-trial 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".[10]. from Yale University and an M.B.A. in finance from the Yale School of Management. Also 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. The parallels between the Central Park Five and the 1964 case of the Harlem Six are especially striking. [96] Morgenthau would later express regret assigning the case to Fairstein, saying "I had complete confidence in Linda Fairstein. did act appropriately. [8], Korey Wise, 16 years old at the time of the crime, was acquitted of rape and attempted murder. [6] She was raped and beaten almost to death. The Central Park Five is a name most Americans have heard, primarily because of the polarizing conversation surrounding their arrests. He was 17 years old at the time of the assault and said that he had committed it alone. She was brutally beaten, suffering major blood loss and skull fractures; she was later revealed to have been raped. The police arrested additional suspects over 48 hours after the night of April 19 and interrogated numerous others. The Central Park jogger case (events also referenced as the Central Park Five case) was a criminal case in the United States over the aggravated assault and rape of a white woman in Manhattan's Central Park on April 19, 1989, occurring during a string of other attacks in the park the same night. The five other defendants, indicted for assaults of other victims, pleaded guilty to reduced charges and received less severe sentences. [137] In some cases, this requirement is limited to certain types of crimes. The Central Park Five did eventually manage to settle a civil case against the City of New York for their ordeal but there were no winners on this one. The jogger was not identified for about 24 hours, and it took days for the police to retrace her movements of that night. Within weeks, they each withdrew their confessions, pleaded not guilty, and refused plea deals on the rape and assault charges. "[43] Protests were held outside Trump Tower in October 2002 with protestors chanting, "Trump is a chump! The Central Park Five is a film by Ken Burns, David McMahon and Sarah Burns; edited by Michael Levine; cinematography by Buddy Squires with Anthony Savini; original music by Doug Wamble. [7], 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. [89][90] 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. 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". [133][134] Other critics included U.S. News; The Central Park Five: 5 attorneys explain why the prosecution’s disgraceful case should be reviewed. The Central Park Five is a documentary film that talk about five young men that were involved in a rape case. Here's what we know about Linda Fairstein's books, 'When They See Us' character, and more. [8] As such, they were each sentenced by Judge Thomas B. Galligan to the maximum allowed for juveniles, 5–10 years each in a youth correctional facility. [37] 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 had never been identified as a suspect in the Central Park attack on Meili, although he had been at large at the time. 4 / 5 stars 86% 93%. [8], Although four suspects (all except 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. '"[21] 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 they had been presented. Antonio Montalvo, 18, was charged with two counts of robbery and one of assault, related to the attack on Antonio Diaz. [132] The men of the Central Park Five criticized Trump at the time for his statement, stating they had falsely confessed under police coercion. [125] She continues to manifest some after-effects of the assault, including memory loss. 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