Showing posts with label Central Park Five. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Central Park Five. Show all posts

Monday, December 26, 2022

'Gate of the Exonerated' unveiled, honoring wrongly convicted "Exonerated Five"

For the first time in 160 years, Central Park has named one of its entrances. The entrance on Central Park North between Malcolm X Boulevard and Fifth Avenue is now known as the "Gate of the Exonerated." It is named after the Exonerated Five and others who have been wrongfully convicted.

Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Trump refuses to apologize to the Central Park Five

White House correspondent April Ryan asked President Donald Trump if he would apologize Central Park Five, but Trump refused to apologize for his past demands that they be executed. Watch his response below:

Thursday, June 13, 2019

Central Park 5 prosecutor leaves Columbia Law position

A prosecutor with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office will leave her post as a part-time lecturer at Columbia Law School amid controversy over her role in the wrongful conviction of five black and Latino teens, according to Bloomberg Law.

Elizabeth Lederer was one of two assistant district attorneys who prosecuted Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson and Korey Wise, the so-called “Central Park 5,” in the brutal 1989 assault and rape of a jogger in Central Park.

The school’s Black Law Students Association had called for Lederer’s dismissal over her role in the prosecution of the five teens, who served full prison sentences before their convictions were vacated in 2002 due to DNA evidence exonerating them and a confession from serial rapist Mattias Reyes.

Students unsuccessfully called on the university to remove Lederer in 2013, but public interest has been renewed in the case by the Netflix docudrama “When They See Us,” in which Lederer is played by Vera Farmiga.

Lederer informed the school of her decision not to seek reappointment late Wednesday, according to Law School Dean Gillian Lester.

“The mini-series has reignited a painful—and vital—national conversation about race, identity, and criminal justice,” Lester said in a statement, according to Bloomberg Law.

“I am deeply committed to fostering a learning environment that furthers this important and ongoing dialogue, one that draws upon the lived experiences of all members of our community and actively confronts the most difficult issues of our time,” she added.

[SOURCE: THE HILL]

Saturday, March 02, 2019

Ava DuVernay's 'When They See Us' trailer

Based on a true story that gripped the country, When They See Us will chronicle the notorious case of five teenagers of color, labeled the Central Park Five, who were convicted of a rape they did not commit. The four part limited series will focus on the five teenagers from Harlem -- Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise. Beginning in the spring of 1989, when the teenagers were first questioned about the incident, the series will span 25 years, highlighting their exoneration in 2002 and the settlement reached with the city of New York in 2014.

When They See Us was created by Ava DuVernay, who also co-wrote and directed the four parts. Jeff Skoll and Jonathan King from Participant Media, Oprah Winfrey from Harpo Films, and Jane Rosenthal and Berry Welsh from Tribeca Productions will executive produce the limited series alongside DuVernay through her banner, Forward Movement. In addition to DuVernay, Attica Locke, Robin Swicord, and Michael Starrburry also serve as writers on the limited series.

The series stars Emmy Award® Nominee Michael K. Williams, Academy Award® Nominee Vera Farmiga, Emmy Award® Winner John Leguizamo, Academy Award® Nominee and Emmy Award® Winner Felicity Huffman, Emmy Award® Nominee Niecy Nash, Emmy Award® Winner and two-time Golden Globe Nominee Blair Underwood, Emmy Award® and Grammy Award® Winner and Tony Award® Nominee Christopher Jackson, Joshua Jackson, Omar Dorsey, Adepero Oduye, Famke Janssen, Aurora Perrineau, William Sadler, Jharrel Jerome, Jovan Adepo, Aunjanue Ellis, Kylie Bunbury, Marsha Stephanie Blake, Storm Reid, Chris Chalk, Freddy Miyares, Justin Cunningham, Ethan Herisse, Caleel Harris, Marquis Rodriguez, and Asante Blackk.

Watch the trailer below:

Friday, October 07, 2016

Donald Trump still believes the ‘Central Park Five’ are guilty despite DNA evidence

It’s been 14 years since the young men known as the Central Park Five had their convictions vacated for the brutal rape and assault of a female jogger that rocked New York City in 1989, yet Donald Trump remains convinced of their guilt.

“They admitted they were guilty,” Trump told CNN this week of Antron McCray, Raymond Santana Jr., Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam and Kharey Wise, who ranged in age from 14 to 16 when they were arrested in the immediate aftermath of the attack that left the 28-year-old victim in a coma for 12 days.

The young men have long maintained their innocence and claimed that police coerced them into providing false confessions that lead to their convictions in 1990. In 2002, a convicted rapist and murderer named Matias Reyes confessed to the gruesome attack, and after an investigation by the Manhattan district attorney revealed DNA evidence linking Reyes to the victim, the Central Park Five were exonerated.

Still, the Republican presidential nominee argued, “The police doing the original investigation say they were guilty.”

“The fact that that case was settled with so much evidence against them is outrageous,” Trump told CNN. “And the woman, so badly injured, will never be the same.”

Read more: Donald Trump still believes the ‘Central Park Five’ are guilty