#exonerated five

Emily Singer at Daily Kos:

The men once known as the Central Park Five—five men who were wrongfully convicted of rape and assault over 30 years ago—filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump on Monday in federal court, alleging the former president acted with “reckless disregard” for the truth when he attacked them during the presidential debate in September. At the debate, Vice President Kamala Harris attacked Trump for his history of racism, bringing up the fact that he refused to apologize for calling for the death penalty for the men—Antron Brown, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, Korey Wise and Yusef Salaam—even after they were exonerated in the 1989 rape and assault of a jogger in Central Park. The five men, now known as the Exonerated Five, had their convictions vacated in 2002, after another man confessed to the crime and DNA evidence confirmed it. 

Trump responded to Harris’ comments about the Exonerated Five at the debate by defending himself for taking out full-page ads in New York City newspapers that called for the men to receive the death penalty. “They admitted, they said they pled guilty and I said, ‘Well, if they pled guilty, they badly hurt a person, killed a person ultimately ... And they pled guilty, then they pled not guilty,” Trump said at the debate. But none of the five men ever pleaded guilty to the raping and beating of the female jogger. And none of the men were ever convicted of murder, as the victim in the Central Park jogging case did not die. “Defendant Trump’s statements were false and defamatory in numerous respects," attorneys for the five men wrote in the lawsuit. “Plaintiffs never pled guilty to the Central Park assaults. Plaintiffs all pled not guilty and maintained their innocence throughout their trial and incarceration, as well as after they were released from prison.” “Defendant Trump falsely stated that Plaintiffs killed an individual and pled guilty to the crime,” the lawsuit added. “These statements are demonstrably false."

The Central Park Five members have sued Donald Trump for defamation after Trump refused to apologize for calling for the death penalty for the Central Park Five.

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I am sO happy for him.

Yusef Salaam was proved innocent by DNA evidence, but not before he served almost seven years for a crime he did not commit.

I will never forget when I saw this newspaper ad taken out by Donald Trump against these five men who had nothing to do with this horrendous crime.

Because of tramp they spent a good period of their most formative years in jail.

Isn't it time that he paid for that crime finally?

When will he be sentenced for his fraud trial and his convictions?

#OTD in 2002: The “Central Park Five” officially became the “Exonerated Five,” when Justice Charles J. Tejada of the New York Supreme Court granted a motion to vacate the thirteen-year-old convictions of Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise for the assault of Trisha Melli.

After the five boys were arrested and coerced into falsely confessing to this crime in 1989, they were all tried as adults and convicted — each spending between five and thirteen years in prison. The truth of this infamous case was finally brought to light in 2002, when the real attacker made a shocking new confession with supporting DNA evidence that reopened the investigation, ignited protests, and led to the original convictions being rescinded on December 19, 2002.

A year later, the #ExoneratedFive members would file civil lawsuits against the City of New York for malicious prosecution, racial discrimination, and emotional distress. In 2014, they settled that suit for $41 million dollars.

Cover Art | Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi & Yusef Salaam

From award-winning, bestselling author Ibi Zoboi and prison reform activist Yusef Salaam of the Exonerated Five comes a powerful YA novel in verse about a boy who is wrongfully incarcerated. Perfect for fans of Jason Reynolds, Walter Dean Myers, and Elizabeth Acevedo.  

The story that I thought

was my life

didn’t start on the day

I was born  

Amal Shahid has always been an artist and a poet. But even in a diverse art school, he’s seen as disruptive and unmotivated by a biased system. Then one fateful night, an altercation in a gentrifying neighborhood escalates into tragedy. “Boys just being boys” turns out to be true only when those boys are white.  

The story that I think

will be my life  

starts today

Suddenly, at just sixteen years old, Amal’s bright future is upended: he is convicted of a crime he didn’t commit and sent to prison. Despair and rage almost sink him until he turns to the refuge of his words, his art. This never should have been his story. But can he change it?  

With spellbinding lyricism, award-winning author Ibi Zoboi and prison reform activist Yusef Salaam tell a moving and deeply profound story about how one boy is able to maintain his humanity and fight for the truth, in a system designed to strip him of both.

Artwork by Temi Coker & Alexis Franklin