Central Park jogger case

"Central Park Five" redirects here. For other uses, see The Central Park Five.

Central Park jogger case
Central Park sign honoring the exonerated
LocationCentral Park, New York City
DateApril 19, 1989 (1989-04-19)
9:00–10:00 p.m. (EDT)
Attack type
Rape
InjuredTrisha Meili
PerpetratorMatias Reyes
Verdict
  • Richardson guilty on all counts
  • McCray, Salaam, and Raymond Santana not guilty of attempted murder, guilty on remaining counts
  • Wise not guilty of attempted murder and rape, guilty on remaining counts
  • All convictions vacated in 2002
Charges
SentenceRichardson, McCray, Salaam, Santana:
5–10 years in juvenile detention (paroled after 6–7 years)
Wise:
15 years in prison (released after 13 years)
Litigation

The Central Park jogger case (sometimes termed the Central Park Five case) was a criminal case concerning the assault and rape of Trisha Meili, a woman who was running in Central Park in Manhattan, New York, on April 19, 1989.[1][2] Crime in New York City was peaking in the late 1980s and early 1990s as the crack epidemic surged.[3][4] On the night Meili was attacked, dozens of teenagers had entered the park, and there were reports of muggings and physical assaults.[2]

Six teenagers were indicted in relation to the Meili assault. Charges against one, Steven Lopez, were dropped after Lopez pleaded guilty to a different assault. The remaining five—Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise (known as the Central Park Five, later the Exonerated Five)—were convicted of the charged offenses and served sentences ranging from seven to thirteen years.[5]

More than a decade after the attack, while incarcerated for attacking five other women in 1989, serial rapist Matias Reyes confessed to the Meili assault and claimed he was the only actor; DNA evidence confirmed his involvement.[6] The convictions against McCray, Richardson, Salaam, Santana, and Wise were vacated in 2002; Lopez's convictions were vacated in July 2022.

From the outset the case was a topic of national interest. Initially, it fueled public discourse about New York City's perceived lawlessness, criminal behavior by youths, and violence toward women. After the exonerations, the case became a prominent example of racial profiling, discrimination, and inequality in the legal system and the media.[7][8][9][10] All five defendants sued the City of New York for malicious prosecution, racial discrimination, and emotional distress; the city settled the suit in 2014 for $41 million.

  1. ^ "The Jogger and the Wolf Pack". The New York Times. April 26, 1989. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
  2. ^ a b "Central Park Five: The true story behind When They See Us". BBC. June 12, 2019.
  3. ^ Johnson, Bruce D.; Golub, Andrew; Dunlap, Eloise (2006). "The Rise and Decline of Hard Drugs, Drug Markets, and Violence in Inner-City New York". In Blumstein, Alfred; Wallman, Joel (eds.). The Crime Drop in America. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-86279-0.
  4. ^ Karmen, Andrew (2000). New York Murder Mystery: The True Story Behind the Crime Crash of the 1990s. NYU Press. ISBN 978-0-8147-4717-9.
  5. ^ Saulny, Susan (December 20, 2002). "Convictions and Charges Voided In '89 Central Park Jogger Attack". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 22, 2007. Thirteen years after an investment banker jogging in Central Park was savagely beaten, raped and left for dead, a Manhattan judge threw out the convictions yesterday of the five young men who had confessed to attacking the woman on a night of violence that stunned the city and the nation. In one final, extraordinary ruling that took about five minutes, Justice Charles J. Tejada of State Supreme Court in Manhattan granted recent motions made by defense lawyers and Robert M. Morgenthau, the Manhattan District Attorney, to vacate all convictions against the young men in connection with the jogger attack and a spree of robberies and assaults in the park that night.
  6. ^ Lemire, Jonathan (June 20, 2014). "$40M settlement reported in Central Park rape case". Associated Press. Retrieved June 16, 2019.
  7. ^ Foderaro, Lisa W. (May 1, 1989). "Angered by Attack, Trump Urges Return Of the Death Penalty". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
  8. ^ Chancer, Lynn (August 2005). "Before and After the Central Park Jogger: When legal cases become social causes". Contexts. 4 (3). American Sociological Association: 38–42. doi:10.1525/ctx.2005.4.3.38. S2CID 61900884.
  9. ^ Pitt, David E. (April 22, 1989). "Jogger's Attackers Terrorized at Least 9 in 2 Hours". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).