5 Men are finally Exonerated in the Central Park Jogger Case, has Agree to Settle Suit for $40 Million
After 25 years of trials and tribulations, five men who turned from boys into men in prison, can finally feel free. The five men whose convictions in the brutal 1989 beating and rape of a female jogger in Central Park were later reversed, have agreed to a settlement of about $40 million from NYC to resolve a bitterly fought civil rights lawsuit over their arrests and imprisonment in the sensational crime.
If you were hiding under a rock or not born yet, back in 1989 in New York City, reports of wilding youths and so-called wolf pack set its sights on a 28-year-old investment banker who ran in Central Park on many evenings after work. She was beaten and sexually assaulted, and the story exploded into the public eye of American youth, which in turned caused racial tension and political pondering.
Antron McCray, Raymond Santana Jr., Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam and Kharey Wise, the five black and Hispanic men, ages 14 to 16 at the time of their arrests, claimed that incriminating statements they had given had been coerced by the authorities. The statements were ruled admissible, and the men were convicted in two separate trials in 1990.
So after an investigation by the Manhattan DA, Robert M. Morgenthau, DNA and other evidence found that the woman had been raped and beaten not by the five teenagers, but by another man, Matias Reyes, a convicted rapist and murderer who finally confessed to acting alone in the attack. It was the first step to getting them vindicated.
Michael R. Bloomberg denied and fought vigorously for more than a decade in federal court, to defend the action of the NYPD and prosecutors of false arrest, malicious prosecution and a racially motivated conspiracy to deprive the men of their civil rights.
The Central Park Five the movie made by the filmmakers Ken Burns; his daughter, Sarah Burns; and her husband, David McMahon help bring back memories of that dark day in 89. In all Antron McCray, Raymond Santana Jr., Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam spent over 7 years behind bars, while Kharey Wise ended up doing 13 years in this miscarriage of justice.
The pain and suffering that these 5 have suffered throughout the years, will not be forgiving just by the money they will receive, but hopefully time will heel all wounds.
5 Exonerated in Central Park Jogger Case Agree to Settle Suit … (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/20/nyregion/5-exonerated-in-central-park-jogger-case-are-to-settle-suit-for-40-million.html
