Central Park Five sues Trump for defamation over debate comments

Five men wrongly convicted of attacking a jogger in Central Park decades ago have sued Donald Trump, accusing him of making false and defamatory statements during a recent presidential debate.

The lawsuit claims Trump defamed the men during the September debate when he said they had confessed and pleaded guilty to crimes they had been falsely accused of.

The plaintiffs, known as the Central Park Five – Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron Brown and Korey Wise – were teenagers who pleaded not guilty to rape and assault in the 1989 case. were wrongly convicted, but exonerated in 2002 after serving years in prison.

The lawsuit, which was filed Monday, cites several statements Trump made after his opponent Kamala Harris attacked him for buying ads calling for the death penalty at a time when the public was engrossed in the case.

They admitted — they said, they pleaded guilty, Trump said, after Vice President Harris criticized him for his past statements about the case. And I said, well, if they pleaded guilty, they would seriously injure a person, ultimately kill them.

The lawsuit alleges that Trump made the comments carelessly and with “reckless disregard for their falsity.”

The men accuse Trump of “omitting key facts” which made “his statements false.”

The men said their confessions to police were coerced. The victim in this case survived the attack.

The lawsuit notes that Manhattan prosecutors later acknowledged flaws in their case, they were exonerated in 2002, and DNA evidence and confessions ultimately pointed to the true perpetrator.

The men's attorney, Shanin Specter, said in a statement Monday that the men were seeking to correct the record and clear their names again.

Steven Chueng, a Trump spokesperson, responded in a statement shared with the BBC, saying the lawsuit was “just another frivolous election interference lawsuit, brought by desperate left-wing activists to distract the American people “.

The Central Park Five case ravaged New York City for years, exposing deep divides around race, crime and inequality in the criminal justice system. The men's exoneration raised questions about policing and the work of prosecutors at the time.

The men, black and Latino, are now collectively known as the Exonerated Five. In 2014, they settled a lawsuit with the City of New York for $41 million.

In 1989, as the case made headlines around town, Trump took out a full-page ad in the New York Times and other regional newspapers calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty.

Although the ad did not specifically mention the Central Park Five, it aired as the city faced intense debate sparked by the crime.

I want to hate these attackers and murderers. They should be forced to suffer, and when they kill, they should be executed for their crimes, the ad says.

Harris cited the ad during the debate, when she claimed that “this is the same individual (Trump) who took out a full-page ad in the New York Times calling for the execution of five young black boys and innocent Latinos, the Central Park Five.

That's when Trump made a series of false statements, the lawsuit says.

Salaam, one of the Central Park Five and currently a member of the New York City Council, attended the September presidential debate.

Court documents and a video provided by the plaintiffs show an exchange he had with Trump after the event.

President Trump, Im Yusef Salaam, one of the five exonerees. How are you doing? he said, according to the lawsuit.

The former president would have replied Ah, you're on my side then.

Mr. Salaam replied: No, no, no, I am not on your side.

Defendant Trump waved his hand at plaintiff Salaam, smiled and walked away, the lawsuit says.

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