Convictions Overturned
Peggy
Isn't this incredible? I just can't help thinking of the one boy who *didn't*
sign a confession because he mother had told him if he ever got hauled in for
something he didn't do to, "...let them crush his hands before he signed
anything." I guess DNA evidence has its downside as far as the entrenched
police policy is concerned.
Peggy
From:
http://athena.tbwt.com/content/article.asp?articleid=2082
Convictions Overturned
By Herb Boyd
TBWT National Editor
Article Dated 12/6/2002
New York--It took the justice system 13 years and 58 pages to decide that the
five
black youths convicted of raping and beating a Central Park jogger were not
guilty of
the crime.
Ending an 11-month long investigation of the re-opened case, Manhattan
District
Attorney Robert Morgenthau filed a 58-page report on Thursday (Dec. 5) to
State
Supreme Court asking that all charges against the men, who were teenagers when
they were tried, be set aside. The recommendation was based mainly on the
confession of Matias Reyes, who said he is solely responsible for raping the
investment banker on April 19, 1989.
In effect, the D.A. joined the defense's motion to vacate the case on the
grounds
that new evidence, "could not have been produced by the defendants at the
trial
even with due diligence...which is of such character as to create a
probability...that
the verdict would have been more favorable to the defendants," the lawyers,
Michael Warren and Roger Wareham submitted.
"Assessing the newly discovered evidence, as we are required to do," District
Attorney Morgenthau's report concluded, "...there is a probability that the
new
evidence, had it been available to the juries, would have resulted in verdicts
more
favorable to the defendants, not only on the charges arising from the attack
on the
female jogger, but on the other charges as well."
Moreover, the D.A. believed no useful purpose would be served by a retrial on
any of
the charges contained in the original indictment against the youths. "We
always
maintained our children's innocence," said Sharrone Salaam, the mother of
Yusef
Salaam, one of the so-called Central Park Five. "Now, victory is ours."
Since District Attorney Morgenthau's report is merely a recommendation, the
defendants will have to wait and to see if Judge Charles Tejada accedes to the
request in February. Ordinarily, according to several lawyers familiar with
the case,
the judge goes along with the prosecution's recommendation.
If Judge Tejada's ruling is favorable, it may set in motion another round of
litigation
as the defendants-Yusef Salaam, Kharey Wise, Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray
and
Raymond Santana (who remains in prison on different charges)--all of whom have
served prison terms from 7-1/2 to 13-1/2 years, prepare lawsuits of wrongful
conviction.
Such lawsuits are customarily difficult in the state of New York, which
enacted a law
in 1984 requiring plaintiffs to prove in a high and convincing manner that
they are
innocent and in no way did anything to contribute to their convictions. In the
previous wrongful conviction cases-some 175 since 1985 with 163 of them being
dismissed-a false confession is tantamount to contributing to conviction, and
it was
the confessions of the youths that the prosecution based its case. However,
defense lawyers will charge, as they have done throughout the re-examination
of
the case, that the confessions extracted from four of the defendants, were
coerced.
Were it not for an accidental meeting between Reyes, 31, who is serving a
33-to-life
sentence for another rape and murder, and Wise while incarcerated, the case
would
have never aroused the public again as it did 13 years ago. Reyes said he had
a
religious epiphany upon seeing Wise and felt compelled to confess to the
crime. His
account was corroborated by his accurate recall of information only the police
knew,
as well as DNA testing from semen taken from the victim's socks and cervic.
"I just had to have her," Reyes said of the victim as she jogged through
Central Park
near the 102nd Street Transverse. He said he stalked her through the park as
she
ran, accosted her and dragged her into a ravine where he beat her with a tree
limb
and then a rock before raping her. The woman lost 75 percent of her blood and
remained in a coma for 12 days. "I thought I had left her dead," he added. "I
deserve
everything that has happened to me." Because the statue of limitations has
passed
Reyes cannot be tried for the crime. In the spring, the victim will be
publishing a
book about the incident and revealing her identity.
Meanwhile, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and the NYPD are conducting their
own investigation of the incident, and they are decidedly opposed to the
D.A.'s
recommendation. They are of the opinion that the youths in their "wilding" are
to
some degree culpable, perhaps even precipitating the attack that Reyes
finished. Dr.
Robert Kurtz, who treated the victim after the attack, contends that her
injuries
were too severe and extensive to have been committed by Reyes alone.
During a television interview, Professor Richard Uviller of Columbia
University Law
School was asked his impressions of the case and he said the District
Attorney, from
the very beginning, "should have been more detached from the NYPD. And they
should have been more suspicious," he said, mildly berating the department for
not
connecting previous rapes in Central Park to Reyes. Two days before the youths
rampaged through the park there was a rape incident, which Reyes later
confessed
he did.
Should an apology be forthcoming from the D.A's office, the professor was
asked?
"This was not a personal matter, so no apology should be expected," Professor
Uviller
answered. "They were operating purely on the evidence."
None of the defendants were among the demonstrators outside the court when the
report was announced. McCray, according to his mother, Linda, has resumed his
life
outside the city with his wife and children; Salaam is a student of computer
science
somewhere in New York; Richardson is working as a night watchman and pursuing
an
undergraduate degree; Wise, who served the longest sentence, lives with his
mother
in Manhattan; and Santana is serving time on an unrelated crime, but is
expected to
be released soon, if Judge Tejada's ruling conforms with the D.A.'s request.
Copyright © 2002 The Black World Today.
All Rights Reserved.
sign a confession because he mother had told him if he ever got hauled in for
something he didn't do to, "...let them crush his hands before he signed
anything." I guess DNA evidence has its downside as far as the entrenched
police policy is concerned.
Peggy
From:
http://athena.tbwt.com/content/article.asp?articleid=2082
Convictions Overturned
By Herb Boyd
TBWT National Editor
Article Dated 12/6/2002
New York--It took the justice system 13 years and 58 pages to decide that the
five
black youths convicted of raping and beating a Central Park jogger were not
guilty of
the crime.
Ending an 11-month long investigation of the re-opened case, Manhattan
District
Attorney Robert Morgenthau filed a 58-page report on Thursday (Dec. 5) to
State
Supreme Court asking that all charges against the men, who were teenagers when
they were tried, be set aside. The recommendation was based mainly on the
confession of Matias Reyes, who said he is solely responsible for raping the
investment banker on April 19, 1989.
In effect, the D.A. joined the defense's motion to vacate the case on the
grounds
that new evidence, "could not have been produced by the defendants at the
trial
even with due diligence...which is of such character as to create a
probability...that
the verdict would have been more favorable to the defendants," the lawyers,
Michael Warren and Roger Wareham submitted.
"Assessing the newly discovered evidence, as we are required to do," District
Attorney Morgenthau's report concluded, "...there is a probability that the
new
evidence, had it been available to the juries, would have resulted in verdicts
more
favorable to the defendants, not only on the charges arising from the attack
on the
female jogger, but on the other charges as well."
Moreover, the D.A. believed no useful purpose would be served by a retrial on
any of
the charges contained in the original indictment against the youths. "We
always
maintained our children's innocence," said Sharrone Salaam, the mother of
Yusef
Salaam, one of the so-called Central Park Five. "Now, victory is ours."
Since District Attorney Morgenthau's report is merely a recommendation, the
defendants will have to wait and to see if Judge Charles Tejada accedes to the
request in February. Ordinarily, according to several lawyers familiar with
the case,
the judge goes along with the prosecution's recommendation.
If Judge Tejada's ruling is favorable, it may set in motion another round of
litigation
as the defendants-Yusef Salaam, Kharey Wise, Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray
and
Raymond Santana (who remains in prison on different charges)--all of whom have
served prison terms from 7-1/2 to 13-1/2 years, prepare lawsuits of wrongful
conviction.
Such lawsuits are customarily difficult in the state of New York, which
enacted a law
in 1984 requiring plaintiffs to prove in a high and convincing manner that
they are
innocent and in no way did anything to contribute to their convictions. In the
previous wrongful conviction cases-some 175 since 1985 with 163 of them being
dismissed-a false confession is tantamount to contributing to conviction, and
it was
the confessions of the youths that the prosecution based its case. However,
defense lawyers will charge, as they have done throughout the re-examination
of
the case, that the confessions extracted from four of the defendants, were
coerced.
Were it not for an accidental meeting between Reyes, 31, who is serving a
33-to-life
sentence for another rape and murder, and Wise while incarcerated, the case
would
have never aroused the public again as it did 13 years ago. Reyes said he had
a
religious epiphany upon seeing Wise and felt compelled to confess to the
crime. His
account was corroborated by his accurate recall of information only the police
knew,
as well as DNA testing from semen taken from the victim's socks and cervic.
"I just had to have her," Reyes said of the victim as she jogged through
Central Park
near the 102nd Street Transverse. He said he stalked her through the park as
she
ran, accosted her and dragged her into a ravine where he beat her with a tree
limb
and then a rock before raping her. The woman lost 75 percent of her blood and
remained in a coma for 12 days. "I thought I had left her dead," he added. "I
deserve
everything that has happened to me." Because the statue of limitations has
passed
Reyes cannot be tried for the crime. In the spring, the victim will be
publishing a
book about the incident and revealing her identity.
Meanwhile, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and the NYPD are conducting their
own investigation of the incident, and they are decidedly opposed to the
D.A.'s
recommendation. They are of the opinion that the youths in their "wilding" are
to
some degree culpable, perhaps even precipitating the attack that Reyes
finished. Dr.
Robert Kurtz, who treated the victim after the attack, contends that her
injuries
were too severe and extensive to have been committed by Reyes alone.
During a television interview, Professor Richard Uviller of Columbia
University Law
School was asked his impressions of the case and he said the District
Attorney, from
the very beginning, "should have been more detached from the NYPD. And they
should have been more suspicious," he said, mildly berating the department for
not
connecting previous rapes in Central Park to Reyes. Two days before the youths
rampaged through the park there was a rape incident, which Reyes later
confessed
he did.
Should an apology be forthcoming from the D.A's office, the professor was
asked?
"This was not a personal matter, so no apology should be expected," Professor
Uviller
answered. "They were operating purely on the evidence."
None of the defendants were among the demonstrators outside the court when the
report was announced. McCray, according to his mother, Linda, has resumed his
life
outside the city with his wife and children; Salaam is a student of computer
science
somewhere in New York; Richardson is working as a night watchman and pursuing
an
undergraduate degree; Wise, who served the longest sentence, lives with his
mother
in Manhattan; and Santana is serving time on an unrelated crime, but is
expected to
be released soon, if Judge Tejada's ruling conforms with the D.A.'s request.
Copyright © 2002 The Black World Today.
All Rights Reserved.