Central Park Five (Exonerated Five)

On the night of April 19, 1989, Trisha Meili, a 28-year-old investment banker, was jogging in Central Park in New York City when she was attacked, beaten, and raped. She was found near death, having lost three-quarters of her blood, with severe brain damage. She spent 12 days in a coma and survived, though she lost her memory of the attack. The crime shocked New York City and became a defining moment in the city's crime-ridden 1980s. [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/31/us/central-park-five-case-fast-facts/index.html)

Five teenagers — Korey Wise (16), Yusef Salaam (15), Raymond Santana (14), Antron McCray (15), and Kevin Richardson (14) — were arrested the following day. All were Black or Latino. Over extended interrogation sessions — lasting up to 28 hours, often without parents or attorneys present — all five eventually gave video confessions that contained inconsistencies and factual errors about the crime. All later recanted, saying they were coerced.

Despite the absence of physical evidence linking any of the five to the crime — their DNA did not match semen found at the scene — prosecutors proceeded. The media frenzy around the case was intense. Real estate developer Donald Trump took out full-page ads in four New York newspapers calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty and referring to the defendants by name. [NPR](https://www.npr.org/2019/05/31/728936185/the-central-park-five-the-true-story-behind-when-they-see-us)

After two separate trials in 1990, all five were convicted. Wise, as the oldest and the only tried as an adult, received a sentence of 5 to 15 years. The others received juvenile sentences of 5 to 10 years.

In 2002, Matias Reyes, a convicted serial rapist and murderer serving time in a New York prison, confessed that he alone had attacked Meili. DNA testing confirmed that Reyes' DNA matched the semen found at the scene. The confessions from the five teenagers bore no relation to the actual crime. [The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/04/central-park-five-exonerated-five-explainer)

The five teenagers were prosecuted in two separate trials in 1990. In the first trial, Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, and Raymond Santana were tried together and convicted of rape and assault. In the second trial, Korey Wise was convicted of sexual abuse, assault, and riot. All sentences were served.

After Matias Reyes confessed in 2002, the Manhattan District Attorney's office conducted an investigation that confirmed his account. On December 19, 2002, Justice Charles Tejada vacated all five convictions, finding that there was no credible evidence connecting any of the five to the crime. [AP News](https://apnews.com/article/central-park-five-settlement-new-york-2014)

The five men — by then adults who had completed their sentences — filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against New York City, the police department, and the prosecutors. The lawsuit alleged false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, and a racially motivated conspiracy. [BBC](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-48609693)

After 11 years of litigation, on June 19, 2014, New York City agreed to settle the lawsuit for $41 million — approximately $1 million per year of imprisonment for each man. Mayor Bill de Blasio characterized the settlement as the right thing to do. [Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/06/19/central-park-five-new-york-city-settles-for-41-million/)

The case became a landmark in discussions of wrongful convictions, false confessions, and race in the American criminal justice system. In 2019, Netflix released Ava DuVernay's miniseries "When They See Us" about the case, which renewed national attention. The five men are now known as the Exonerated Five.