On the night of April 19, 1989, in Central Park, NY, a jogger was brutally raped and beaten. The teens were interrogated for hours before they made these statements.
The attack took place on Apr. 19 and the video confessions were recorded on Apr. 21. In 1990 all five were convicted and received sentences ranging from 5 to 13 years. During trial the DA relied heavily on their video confessions.
They all later retracted their statements, saying they were coerced. In 2002, all five moved to vacate their convictions on the grounds of newly discovered evidence: specifically, a confession by convicted rapist and murderer, Matias Reyes, who Korey Wise met in prison. Reyes’ DNA was a positive match to semen found at the original crime scene.
The motions to vacate were granted. In 2012 a documentary was made called “The Central Park Five” by Sarah Burns. #CentralParkFive#RaymondSantana#Confession