Washington — The members of the so-called Central Park 5 filed a lawsuit towards former President Donald Trump on Monday, alleging he made defamatory statements about them in the course of the presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris.
Filed in federal district courtroom in Pennsylvania, the go well with claims that Trump falsely stated in the course of the debate final month that the 5 Black and Latino males who wrongly convicted for the rape of a White feminine jogger after they have been teenagers in 1989 pleaded responsible to the crime and killed an individual throughout a collection of assaults that occurred in Central Park.
Throughout the debate, Harris criticized the Republican presidential nominee for taking out a full-page advert in The New York Instances quickly after the assaults that referred to as on New York to “ship a message loud and clear to those that would homicide our residents and terrorize New York” by bringing again the demise penalty.
The lawsuit argues that Trump’s statements in response to Harris are “demonstrably false,” because the Central Park 5 — all of whom are plaintiffs within the case — by no means pleaded responsible, and the victims of the assaults weren’t killed.
ALEX WROBLEWSKI/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
The Central Park 5 have been youngsters on the time of the assaults towards Trisha Meili, the White feminine jogger, and two males, all of whom have been attacked on the identical night time whereas jogging in Central Park. They have been arrested and charged for the rape and assault of Meili and different crimes. The 5 pleaded not responsible and maintained their innocence all through the trial, however have been convicted in 1990.
However the 5 have been exonerated and their convictions tossed out in 2002, when DNA proof was matched to a distinct man who confessed to the assaults. They’re now generally known as the “Exonerated 5.”
Their lawsuit alleges that Trump’s statements in the course of the debate have been “false and insulting,” and ascribe to them the “fee of felony offenses, together with offenses for which plaintiffs have by no means been charged or accused, offenses for which they have been acquitted at trial and offenses for which they have been conclusively exonerated and their convictions vacated.”
It additionally particulars a short change one of many males, Yusef Salaam, had with Trump within the “spin room” after the talk, throughout which Salaam launched himself as one of many “Exonerated 5.” The go well with states that Salaam was “trying to politely dialogue” with Trump about his statements and accuses the previous president of refusing to interact with him.
Salaam and three members of the exonerated group of males appeared on the Democratic Nationwide Conference in August and lambasted Trump. Salaam, now a New York Metropolis councilmember, and Korey Smart, one of many exonerated 5, have additionally appeared on the marketing campaign path as a part of a get-out-the-vote bus tour with civil rights chief the Rev. Al Sharpton.
