The five Black and Hispanic men, known as the Central Park Five, who were wrongfully convicted in the 1989 rape of a white jogger in New York’s Central Park, have filed a defamation lawsuit against former U.S. President Donald Trump. The lawsuit follows statements Trump made during the U.S. presidential debate on September 10, where he falsely claimed that the five men had pleaded guilty to the crime and had killed someone.
The men, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron Brown, and Korey Wise, were exonerated in 2002 after new DNA evidence and a confession from another man proved their innocence. They spent between five and 13 years in prison for the assault, which they always maintained they did not commit. Trump’s statements during the debate contradicted their exoneration, as he falsely claimed, “They admitted — they said, they pled guilty. And I said, well, if they pled guilty, they badly hurt a person, killed a person ultimately.”
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Philadelphia, describes Trump’s statements as "demonstrably false," noting that none of the five men ever pleaded guilty to any crime, and the jogger survived the assault. The lawsuit further states that Trump’s remarks have caused reputational and emotional harm to the men, now in their 50s.
Attorney Shanin Specter, representing the plaintiffs, emphasized that the lawsuit is not politically motivated. "We are seeking redress in a court of law," Specter said, noting that Trump’s comments cast the exonerated men "in a harmful false light and intentionally inflicted emotional distress."
Trump’s campaign dismissed the lawsuit, calling it "another frivolous, election interference lawsuit filed by desperate left-wing activists." The plaintiffs are seeking unspecified monetary damages for emotional and reputational harm, as well as punitive damages.
The Central Park Five were wrongfully convicted in one of the most notorious cases of racial injustice in U.S. history. After their exoneration, the city of New York settled a civil suit with the men, agreeing to pay them $41 million.
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