Why is the Central Park Five suing Donald Trump? | Donald Trump news

In 1990, five black and Latino teenagers – Kevin Richardson (14), Raymond Santana (14), Antron McCray (15), Yusef Salaam (15) and Korey Wise (16) – who became known as the Central Park Five, were mistakenly Trisha Meili, a 28-year-old white woman convicted of assaulting and raping a jogger, was in a coma for 12 days after the April 1989 incident.

After being subsequently acquitted, the five – all now in their 50s – now find themselves in the midst of a new legal battle: On Monday, the five men filed a lawsuit in Pennsylvania, suing former President Donald Trump, accusing him of “false and defamatory’. statements he made during the September presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump is the Republican candidate for the November elections, while Harris is the Democratic Party candidate.

It is the latest chapter in a long-running saga involving the Central Park Five (now also known as the “Exonerated Five”) and Trump – who once called for their execution in an infamous series of advertisements.

So what is the latest lawsuit about, how has the Trump campaign responded, and what is Trump’s history with the Central Park Five?

Why is the Central Park Five suing Trump?

During the September debate, Trump said that at the time of the 1989 interrogation, the teenagers “admitted – they said they had pleaded guilty. And I said, if they pleaded guilty, they seriously hurt someone and ultimately killed someone.”

However, no one was killed in the 1989 attack. Meili was badly damaged and was in a coma. and is still dealing with the long-term effects of the attack, but she survived.

Trump was also wrong in his claim that the Central Park Five had pleaded guilty: At trial, they all maintained their innocence, as their lawyers noted in their lawsuit.

The lawsuit says Trump’s debate comments were given “negligently” and “with reckless disregard for their falsity.”

Four of the Central Park Five said in statements to police during interrogation that they were involved in the assault. But many legal experts at the time accused the interrogators of coercing the five young men, essentially forcing four of them to make false confessions that they had assaulted and raped Meili.

Their sentences ranged from six to thirteen years.

In 2002, the Central Park Five were acquitted after Matias Reyes, a convicted serial rapist already serving a life sentence for unrelated crimes, confessed to Meili’s assault.

Reyes’ DNA matched evidence collected at the crime scene, prompting New York State Supreme Court Judge Charles J Tejada to grant a motion to vacate the Central Park Five’s convictions. In 2014, the five men sued the city of New York in a civil suit. The city agreed to a $41 million settlement.

In 2016, the men were awarded another $3.9 million in a New York State Court of Claims settlement.

What is Trump’s history with the Central Park Five?

The attack on Meili caused widespread outrage and anger: she was found naked and gagged, her skull so badly fractured that her left eye was dislodged from its socket.

Amid the frenetic media attention on the case, Trump took out full-page, 600-word ads with his signature in The New York Times, The Daily News, The New York Post and New York Newsday, advocating the reinstatement of the death penalty .

The ads were titled: “Bring back the death penalty. Bring back our police!”

The ads read: “I want to hate these robbers and murderers. They must be forced to suffer and if they kill, they must be executed for their crimes. They should serve as examples so that others will think long and hard before committing a crime or act of violence.”

Despite the subsequent suspension of their convictions, Trump has never apologized for those ads.

How has Trump’s campaign responded to the new lawsuit?

Shanin Specter, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said in a statement that Trump’s comments “cast them in a damaging false light and intentionally inflicted emotional distress on them.”

But in a statement, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung called the lawsuit “just another frivolous election interference lawsuit.” He claimed the lawsuit was intended to “distract the American people from Kamala Harris’ dangerously liberal agenda and failing campaign.”

“Lyin’ Kamala’s allies’ frantic efforts to interfere in the election are going nowhere and President Trump is dominating as he marches to a historic victory for the American people on November 5,” Cheung said, referring to the election date.

Could the lawsuit impact Trump’s campaign?

During the recent presidential debate in September and at the Democratic National Convention in August, Harris and her supporters have continued to attack Trump for his positions on the Central Park Five.

At the DNC, civil rights activist Al Sharpton brought the Central Park Five on stage to speak out against Trump.

“He spent a small fortune on full-page ads calling for the execution of five innocent young teenagers,” Sharpton said, referring to the Central Park Five.

“Forty-five wanted us to come alive,” Yusef Salaam said at the DNC, referring to Trump, the country’s 45th president. “Today we have been acquitted because the actual perpetrator has confessed and DNA has proven this. (Trump) still says he still stands by the original guilty verdict. He dismisses scientific evidence rather than admit he was wrong.”

In the September debate, Harris criticized Trump for the full-page ad he made in 1989

“Let’s not forget that this is the same person who took out a full-page ad in The New York Times calling for the execution of five young black and Latino boys who were innocent, the Central Park Five. I took out a full-page ad calling for its implementation.” Harris stated

“I think the American people want better than that, want better than this,” Harris added.

Still, Trump has polled at record levels among black voters for months — support that appears unaffected by criticism from Harris and her campaign. Harris also polls lower among Latinos than previous Democratic Party candidates.