THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Thirteen years after the brutal rape and beating of the Central Park jogger, a Manhattan judge on Thursday vacated the convictions of all five men who served prison time after they were found guilty of the attack.
The courtroom, filled with the family and friends of the defendants, burst into cheers and applause as state Supreme Court Justice Charles Tejada announced that he would drop the convictions and dismiss the indictments.
Tejada’s ruling, less than a week before Christmas, surprised attorneys who had expected his decision on Jan. 6. None of the defendants were in court.
The decision came two weeks after Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, in a 58-page filing, recommended dropping all the convictions in the case.
The decision to dismiss the indictments means prosecutors would have to start from scratch with a grand jury to retry the youths.
Tejada’s decision came after lawyers from the Detectives’ Endowment Association, the police detectives’ union, unsuccessfully tried to block his ruling.
The union wanted an evidentiary hearing in the case before Tejada ruled, said attorney Philip Karsyk. Virtually the only evidence in the case were confessions made to detectives by the five youths.
Supporters of the five defendants have said those statements were coerced from the defendants, who were all between 14 and 16 years old when arrested in the April 19, 1989, case.
No forensic evidence linked any of the five to the crime scene. In addition, there was a DNA match with a serial rapist who came forward earlier this year to confess to the jogger attack.
The five black and Hispanic defendants — Santana, Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Kharey Wise and Yusef Salaam — were convicted in the rape and near-fatal attack of a white, 28-year-old investment banker who became known as the Central Park jogger.
Authorities said a roaming gang of youths was in the park for a night of “wilding” — randomly attacking anyone who came into their path.
The jogger was found near death in a puddle of mud and blood just off the 102nd Street tranverse in the north end of the park. Bruised from head to toe and stripped nearly naked, she had lost some 75 percent of her blood and seemed certain to die.
But after 12 days in a coma, she began a miraculous recovery. The woman, now 41, lives in a Connecticut suburb and works for a nonprofit organization. She has been married for five years and is said to have a book due out in April.
Besides rape and assault convictions in connection with the jogger, the five were also convicted variously on assault, robbery, sex abuse and riot charges stemming from allegations they attacked and harassed other people in the park that night.
McCray, Richardson, Santana and Wise confessed on videotape. A detective testified at trial that Salaam made incriminating admissions to him but never on videotape.
On Dec. 5, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau’s office asked the court to void the convictions on the basis of “new evidence” which would have resulted in more favorable verdicts to the defendants if it had been available at their trials.
Morgenthau said the new evidence included the admission of an imprisoned murderer and rapist, Matias Reyes, 31, and a semen sample that proved through DNA that he had attacked the jogger.
The defendants, now aged 28 to 30, completed prison sentences ranging from 5 1/2 years to 13 years on their convictions. Their lawyers have said they are considering civil lawsuits on their behalf.
The ruling could clear the way for the release of Santana, who is currently imprisoned on an unrelated drug charge. Santana, based on his conviction in the jogger case, was sentenced as a prior felon, said his attorney, Roger Wareham.
Santana, serving a 3 1/2-to-7-year sentence, would be eligible for parole next July. Wareham was calling for his immediate release.
A spokeswoman for Santana’s sentencing judge said Santana was not yet on their calendar.
Originally published on December 19, 2002
Thanks for posting this, mrustow.