Central Park jogger case
| Time | 9–10 pm |
|---|---|
| Date | April 19, 1989 (date of attacks) |
| Location | Central Park, New York City, between 105th Street and 97th Street. |
| Non-fatal injuries | Assault, rape, and sodomy of Trisha Ellen Meili, and assault of others. |
| Accused | 11 suspects were charged. |
| Convicted | Six suspects pleaded guilty. Five suspects were tried before juries, and convicted in 1990; the convictions of four were appealed, and upheld on appeal. |
| Charges | Assault, robbery, riot, rape, sexual abuse, and attempted murder. |
| Verdict | The five suspects who went to trial received sentences ranging from 5–10 to 5–15 years, and served between 6 and 13 years in prison. |
| Litigation | The five who had been convicted at trial sued New York City in 2003 for malicious prosecution, racial discrimination, and emotional distress. The city settled the case for $41 million in 2014. As of December 2014, the five were pursuing an additional $52 million in damages from New York State. |
| Vacated: The 5 convictions were vacated in 2002 and the charges were withdrawn; an alternate perpetrator was identified. | |
The Central Park jogger case concerned the assault, rape, and sodomy of Trisha Meili, a female jogger, and attacks on others in New York City's Central Park, on April 19, 1989. The attack on the female jogger left her in a coma for 12 days. Meili was a 28-year-old investment banker at the time. The attacks were, according to The New York Times, "one of the most widely publicized crimes of the 1980s".
Five juvenile males—four black and one of Hispanic descent—were tried, variously, for assault, robbery, riot, rape, sexual abuse, and attempted murder. They were convicted of most charges by juries in two separate trials in 1990, and received sentences ranging from five to 15 years. Four of the convictions were appealed; they were affirmed by appellate courts. The defendants spent between six and 13 years in prison.
In 2002, Matias Reyes, another Hispanic male who had been a juvenile at the time of the attack, confessed to raping the jogger, and DNA evidence confirmed his involvement in Meili's rape. He also said he committed the rape alone. Reyes at the time of his confession was a convicted serial rapist and murderer, serving a life sentence. He was not prosecuted for raping Meili, because the statute of limitations had passed by the time Reyes confessed. District Attorney Robert Morgenthau suggested to the court that the five men's convictions related to the assault and rape of Meili and to attacks on others to which they had confessed be vacated (a legal position in which the parties are treated as though no trial has taken place) and withdrew the charges. Their convictions were vacated in 2002.
The five who had been convicted sued New York City in 2003 for malicious prosecution, racial discrimination, and emotional distress. The city refused to settle the suits for a decade under then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg, because the city's lawyers felt they would win. However, after Bill de Blasio became mayor and supported the settlement, the city settled the case for $41 million in 2014. As of December 2014, the five men were pursuing an additional $52 million in damages from New York State in the New York Court of Claims.
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Wikipedia