Five men, who were railroaded by the justice system and pinned as culprits of a brutal rape in 1989, may finally be getting their just dues! Kharey Wise, Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana and Yusef Salaam, better known as the “Central Park 5”, have been awarded a $40 million dollar settlement in their lawsuit against New York. The men were wrongfully convicted of rape 24 years ago with no evidence, no witnesses and coerced confessions when they were just teenagers. After serving between 6 – 13 years in prison, they were exonerated after the true attacker, Matias Reyes, confessed to the crime. DNA evidence backed Reyes’ confession.
On Aprl 19th 1989, Trisha Meilla was brutally raped and nearly beaten to death while jogging in Central Park. Five teenagers: Raymond Santana, Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam, Kevin Richardson, and Kharey Wise were arrested and thrown into a media frenzy. Upon being taken into custody, the teens were threatened, interrogated, deprived of food and sleep until they confessed to the crime. Testimonies from John Loughlin and David Lewis, whom were attacked in Central Park the same night, helped to label the group as a “wolf pack” that “decided to come downtown and cause trouble.” With no scientific evidence or identification from the victims, a coerced confession sealed their conviction of the crime and imprisonment. Each of the five teens were sentenced to the maximum prison time after being found guilty with the rape of Meilla and the assaulting of the other jogging victims in Central Park. In 2002, a serial rapist (Matias Reyes) confessed as the lone attacker of the Central Park rape. DNA evidence and a lengthy crime history of rape/murder of women confirmed Reye’s confession. After nearly 13 years of incarceration, the Central Park Five were released from prison and exonerated of all charges.
Is this settlement enough compensation, considering these individual lost years of their life for a crime they did not commit? Think about what it was like for a teenager be imprisoned in a maximum security facility with rapists, killers, and other insidious individuals. The case that racially divided New York, dubbed the “crime of the century”, is a testament to the unjust treatment of Latinos and African Americans by the NYPD. To check out news coverage of this story, click below.
