A $41 million
settlement for five men whose convictions in the 1989 beating and rape of a
female jogger in Central Park were later overturned was made final on Friday,
with the deal including unusual language that sought to absolve New York City
from blame.
The agreement,
which awards the five black and Hispanic plaintiffs about $1 million for each
year of their imprisonment, includes no admission of wrongdoing from the city;
in fact, the city explicitly asserts that prosecutors and police detectives did
nothing wrong at the time.
“The City of New
York has denied and continues to deny that it and the individually named
defendants have committed any violations of law or engaged in any wrongful acts
concerning or related to any allegations that were or could have been alleged,”
the settlement states.
The city’s
corporation counsel, Zachary W. Carter, later amplified the city’s stance,
saying that the agreement “should not be construed as an acknowledgment that
the convictions of these five plaintiffs were the result of law enforcement
misconduct.”
“On the contrary,” he continued, “our review
of the record suggests that both the investigating detectives and the assistant
district attorneys involved in the case acted reasonably, given the
circumstances with which they were confronted.”
The agreement
nonetheless brings to a conclusion a long and bitterly contested legal battle
that stemmed from the men’s arrests and imprisonment in the sensational crime..
The settlement,
Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement, arose from “a moral obligation to
right this injustice.”
“This settlement
is an act of justice for those five men that is long overdue,” he added.
Four of the men —
Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam and Raymond Santana Jr. — spent
about seven years in prison; each will receive $7.125 million under terms of
the deal. The fifth man, Kharey Wise, who served about 13 years, will receive
$12.25 million.
One of the
plaintiff’s lawyers, Jonathan C. Moore, said it was “wonderful this case is
finally over for these young men, who maintained their innocence all along.” He
said the settlement was “some measure of justice, and nobody would deny that,
but no amount of money could really compensate them for what they and their
families suffered.”
‘We Lost Those Years’
Three of the five
men whose convictions were overturned in the 1989 Central Park jogger case
spoke at City Hall Friday, after reaching a settlement of about $40 million
with New York City.
Video Credit By Stephen Farrell on Publish Date June 27,
2014. Image CreditChang W. Lee/The New York Times
Magistrate Judge
Ronald L. Ellis approved the settlement on Friday. The city typically denies
liability in settling lawsuits but the language in the Central Park settlement
goes further than the statements that are often used.
The attack on the
jogger, a 28-year-old investment banker, led to sensational news reports and
statements by politicians, and served to inflame racial tensions in the city,
which was portrayed as a place of lawlessness.
The men, ages 14
to 16 at the time of their arrests, had claimed that incriminating statements
they made to the authorities had been coerced. But a judge ruled that the
statements were admissible, and the men were convicted in two trials in 1990.
In 2002, the
convictions were vacated after the office of the Manhattan district attorney,
Robert M. Morgenthau, found DNA and other evidence that the woman had been raped
and beaten by another person, Matias Reyes.
The Bloomberg
administration had fought the lawsuit, which was filed in 2003; after Mr. de
Blasio took office, the city reversed its position. The defendants included
former Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly and other current and former
members of the Police Department and the district attorney’s office.
Cyrus R. Vance
Jr., the current district attorney, said, “After more than a decade in which
numerous parties have investigated and litigated the case, there has been no
finding of wrongdoing or unprofessional behavior by any of the prosecutors
involved.”
In his statement,
Mr. Carter seemed to offer a rationale for the settlement while acknowledging
that some issues would remain unresolved. “To the extent that the evidence
suggests that these five young men were wrongfully convicted and sentenced to
substantial prison terms for a crime they did not commit,” he said, “that in
and of itself constitutes an injustice in need of redress.”
He noted that his
office’s review of the case suggested detectives and prosecutors had acted
reasonably. “In the end, however, that is an issue that would ultimately be
determined by a jury at trial, absent a settlement of this litigation,” he
added. “We have determined that a resolution of this matter is in the best
interests of the city.”
