Central Park Five Case To Settle With $40 Million

kzzl
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edited June 2014 in The Social Lounge
A dark chapter in recent New York City history stands to close with a proposal for the city to pay a $40 million civil rights settlement to five black and Hispanic men wrongfully convicted in the horrific beating and ? of a white female jogger in Central Park in 1989, a source with knowledge of the settlement told CNN on Friday.

The sensational case polarized the city along racial lines and became emblematic of a state of rampant crime. Five minority teenagers, who became known as the Central Park Five, were coerced amid public uproar into making incriminating statements and convicted in 1990.

The proposed agreement between the city law department and the five men -- who served between seven and 13 years in prison -- averages about $1 million per year of incarceration, according to the source.

One of the men, Kharey Wise, served 13 years in prison. Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam and Raymond Santana Jr. each served about seven years.

The proposed settlement still has to be approved by the city comptroller and then submitted for approval to Judge Deborah Batts of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, where the men filed their civil rights lawsuit. The source said a formal announcement on the settlement would be made next week. The agreement was first reported in The New York Times.

In a statement Friday, the city comptroller's office said it had received the agreement.

"As with all proposed settlements, under our Charter-mandated authority, we will do our due diligence and provide feedback to ensure that any settlement we approve is in the best interests of the City," the statement said.

In 2012, filmmaker Ken Burns, along with daughter Sarah Burns and her husband, David McMahon, produced an award-winning documentary about the infamous case.

"We are thrilled to hear about the potential settlement with the Central Park Five," the three said in statement Friday.

"It will finally give some closure and bring a measure of justice in this tragic case. The five men were just teenagers when they were wrongly convicted. ... Their story has come to symbolize the immense challenges we continue to confront when it comes to race in this country, but it is also the story of five men maintaining their dignity in the face of injustice and now, of the collective power to acknowledge and correct our mistakes."
In September 2002, a group of protesters in New York demanded that the five young men convicted in the 1989 ? of a Central Park jogger be exonerated.
In September 2002, a group of protesters in New York demanded that the five young men convicted in the 1989 ? of a Central Park jogger be exonerated.

Sarah Burns told CNN that it was time for the story of the Central Park Five "to be over."

"Having gotten to know them well ... the closure and finishing this meant a lot," she said. "I never heard them talk about money, but I heard them talk about closure and being able to move on, and feeling some sense that a settlement would be an acknowledgment to their exoneration, and that meant a lot to them even though it's not like they're ever gonna get an apology for the people responsible. But this is the closest they'll get, and that does mean a lot."


Rest of the story ... http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/20/justice/new-york-central-park-five/

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