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| Prosecutor: Drop All Convictions in Central Park Jogger Case |
| By CNN |
| Published: 12/16/2002 |
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A final ruling to dismiss all convictions against five men for the 1989 rape and beating of a Central Park jogger may come as early as this week, a defense attorney said. A decision by New York Supreme Court Judge Charles Tejada will be the final step in an extraordinary case that took another turn when Manhattan's district attorney, Robert Morgentha, recommended throwing out all convictions against the five defendants for the brutal attack. Defense attorney Michael Warren said he expects a ruling by Tejada to dismiss the convictions to be 'forthwith. In the wake of Morgenthau's motion, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg asked Police Committee Raymond Kelly 'to determine if any changes in police procedures are merited.' He also called for public support for the victim in the case. 'We will never forget the brutal and shameful attack on the Central Park jogger, nor will we forget the tremendous courage she has demonstrated through her inspiring recovery,' he said in a statement. 'It is mine and every New Yorker's obligation to make sure such disgraceful episodes never happen again and to make sure we continue growing closer together and not farther apart.' Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana and Kharey Wise were all 14 to 16 years old at the time of the Central Park assault. Wise served more than 11 years in prison for the attack, while the other four served about seven years each. But Matias Reyes, currently serving a 33-year sentence for raping and murdering another woman in 1989, told prison officers in January that he alone was responsible for the Central Park rape. DNA testing determined that semen found on the jogger belonged to Reyes, and his pubic hair was on her sock. That evidence, combined with 'significant weaknesses' in the men's confessions, 'increases the probability that the evidence would result in a different verdict,' Morgenthau stated in a 58-page motion. CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said the filing by the district attorney's office is the same as a not guilty verdict by a jury. 'It doesn't mean they (the five defendants) weren't there, or participated (in the assault) in some way. It just means it can't be proven.' The victim was hospitalized for six weeks after the assault and was unable to identify her assailants. Prosecutors relied on videotaped confessions from four of the five youths and on physical evidence to obtain convictions. Defense lawyers argued those confessions were coerced, and testing after Reyes' confession undermined a central prosecution claim -- that hairs found on Richardson matched hairs from the victim's head. Morgenthau, who prosecuted the youths in 1990, said he would not seek to retry the case and has asked that charges in attacks on other people in the park be dropped as well. Michael Palladino, vice president of the Detectives' Endowment Association -- the police detectives' union -- called accusations that the youths' confessions were coerced are 'ludicrous and without merit.' Tejada had been expected to issue a ruling in February, but defense lawyers planned to ask him to speed up the process because of Santana's incarceration. |
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