The five men who made up the Central Park Five and now call themselves the Exonerated Five have filed a defamation lawsuit against Donald Trump over his remarks during last month’s presidential debate.
The lawsuit centers on a Sept. 10 debate in Pennsylvania during which Trump said five men – Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise – pleaded guilty at trial to assault and rape charges. on a woman who was jogging in Central Park on April 19, 1989, and that the victim had died.
During the debate, he said: “They confessed – they said, they pleaded guilty. And I said, well, if they confess, they severely injure the person, ultimately killing them. And if they plead guilty, they plead guilty.” You are not guilty.”
During the trials, each of them pleaded not guilty, and the victim of the attack survived.
The complaint said Trump’s statements were “demonstrably false” and added: “Plaintiffs never pleaded guilty to any crime and were subsequently cleared of any wrongdoing. Moreover, the victims of the Central Park attacks were not killed.” The complaint further states that the men “were injured by defendant Trump’s false and defamatory statements.”
All five, who were teenagers at the time of their indictment, maintained their innocence throughout their trial and imprisonment. In the trial, they were accused of attacking a jogger, as well as other assaults and robberies that took place in Central Park.
All five spent years behind bars before they were acquitted in 2002 DNA evidence linked another man, a serial rapist, to the attack. The city ultimately agreed to pay the acquitted men $41 million in a legal settlement.
The case was subsequently closely investigated as it was concluded that all five had been intimidated and forced to give false testimony.
The case emerged at a time of heightened racial tensions and when crime dominated the headlines. Trump, then a real estate tycoon, took out large newspaper ads calling on New York to reinstate the death penalty.
The defamation lawsuit was filed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
The complaint notes that Salaam, a New York City Council member representing District 9, attended the debate and was in the room when Trump made these statements.
The five men did not seek a specific amount of compensation, but asked for a hearing to determine compensation.
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said Monday: “This is yet another frivolous election interference lawsuit filed by desperate left-wing activists in an effort to distract the American people from Kamala Harris’ dangerously liberal agenda and the failure of the campaign.”
NBC News is asking all five for comment.
