Exonerated ‘Central Park Five’ Sue Trump for Defamation

Teenagers, Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise were accused, tried and jailed in connection with the assault and rape of a woman who had been running in Central Park on April 19, 1989.  Following the 1989 brutal assault of a New York jogger in Central Park, Donald Trump famously took out full-page ads in the city’s major newspapers calling for the return of the death penalty for those responsible — further inciting racial tensions in the city.  The young men were given the moniker ‘The Central Park 5’, then spent years behind bars before being exonerated in 2002 after DNA evidence linked another man, a serial rapist, to the attack. The city ultimately agreed in a legal settlement to pay the exonerated men $41 million.  The case was subsequently heavily scrutinized as the five were claimed they were intimidated and coerced into making false confessions.  Following, Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise’s exoneration, came a new moniker ‘The Exonerated Five’.

It is now 2024 and  ‘The Exonerated Five’, Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise, are filing a defamation lawsuit against Donald Trump for his remarks during the presidential debate last month.

During the debate Donald Trump said this about his actions against ‘The Exonerated Five’: “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 if they pled guilty — then they pled we’re not guilty.”  The complaint said Trump’s statements are “demonstrably false,” adding, “Plaintiffs never pled guilty to any crime and were subsequently cleared of all wrongdoing. Further the victims of the Central Park assaults were not killed.” The complaint further said that the men have “suffered injuries as a result of Defendant Trump’s false and defamatory statements.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

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