Central Park Five

People

Antron McCray; Kevin Richardson; Raymond Santana; Yusef Salaam; Korey Wise

On April 19, 1989, five Black and Latino teenagers from Harlem were arrested in connection with the brutal assault and rape of Trisha Meili, a 28-year-old investment banker jogging in Central Park. Antron McCray (15), Kevin Richardson (14), Raymond Santana (14), Yusef Salaam (15), and Korey Wise (16) were interrogated for up to 30 hours without adequate food, sleep, or legal representation. Police told each teenager that the others had confessed and that they could go home if they admitted involvement. Four of the five gave videotaped confessions that they immediately recanted, stating they had been coerced. Despite the lack of physical evidence connecting them to the crime, and despite the confessions containing contradictory details, all five were convicted in two separate trials in 1990. Korey Wise, tried as an adult at 16, received the harshest sentence. The case became a media sensation, with newspapers describing the teenagers as a "wolf pack" engaged in "wilding," dehumanizing language that inflamed public opinion. Two weeks after the arrests, before any trial had occurred, real estate developer Donald Trump took out full-page advertisements in four New York newspapers calling for the death penalty, effectively placing a bounty on the teenagers' heads. The ads, which cost $85,000, read "Bring Back the Death Penalty. Bring Back Our Police!" The five teenagers were tried before predominantly white juries and convicted despite significant doubts about the evidence. They served between six and thirteen years in prison. In 2002, convicted serial rapist Matias Reyes confessed to attacking Meili and stated he had acted alone. DNA testing confirmed that Reyes was the sole source of the semen found at the crime scene. On December 19, 2002, all five convictions were vacated. In 2014, New York City settled a civil lawsuit with the five men for $41 million, and in 2016, they received an additional $3.9 million from New York State. The case became emblematic of the dangers of coerced confessions, racial bias in the criminal justice system, and the devastating consequences of a presumption of guilt. The five men, who prefer to be called the Exonerated Five, have become criminal justice reform advocates. Yusef Salaam was elected to the New York City Council in 2023, representing Central Harlem. Ava DuVernay's 2019 Netflix miniseries "When They See Us" brought renewed attention to the case, leading to widespread backlash against the prosecutors involved.