Five men, wrongfully convicted as teenagers in the infamous Central Park Five jogger rape case, initiated a lawsuit against Donald Trump on Monday. They allege that the Republican presidential nominee defamed them by inaccurately asserting that they were responsible for murder and had pleaded guilty to the crime.
The lawsuit, lodged in federal court in Philadelphia, references various remarks made by Trump during his debate with Democratic nominee Kamala Harris on September 10. During this debate, Harris criticized Trump for having taken out an advertisement in 1989 that called for the execution of the defendants at the time, who were teenagers.
Trump made false claims
The civil complaint states that Trump made false claims during the debate, asserting that the plaintiffs had killed someone and had admitted guilt, which the lawsuit contends is unequivocally untrue. The plaintiffs, known as the Exonerated Five, maintain that they never pleaded guilty to any offenses and were later exonerated. The complaint also clarifies that the victims of the assaults in Central Park were not murdered.
Furthermore, the lawsuit alleges that Trump’s behavior towards the plaintiffs during the debate is part of a longstanding pattern of egregious conduct that has persisted for years, amounting to a continuing tort.
Central Park Five lawsuit
The plaintiffs include Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron Brown, and Korey Wise, with Salaam currently serving on the New York City Council. Their lawsuit encompasses claims of defamation, false light, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, and they seek damages exceeding $75,000, with final compensatory and punitive damages to be established during the trial.
In response, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung characterized the lawsuit as a baseless attempt by “desperate left-wing activists” aimed at distracting Americans from what he described as Harris’s “dangerously liberal agenda and failing campaign.” He claimed that these legal maneuvers were ineffective and that Trump is on track for a significant victory in the upcoming election.
The lawsuit
The lawsuit highlights that the five men in Central Park Five Case were convicted as teenagers for a series of assaults in Central Park in April 1989, at ages ranging from 14 to 16, and spent years imprisoned following their convictions. Shortly after a jogger was sexually assaulted in the park, Trump purchased a full-page advertisement in New York newspapers that hinted at the assaults without naming the suspects. The ad urged the city to “send a message loud and clear to those who would murder our citizens and terrorize New York—bring back the death penalty and bring back our police,” according to the lawsuit.
What happened with Central Park Five?
In 2002, all five men were exonerated based on newly uncovered DNA evidence that disproved the allegations of raping the jogger. A year later, they filed a lawsuit against New York City for false arrest, malicious prosecution, and racially motivated conspiracy. The city settled the lawsuit more than a decade later, agreeing to pay the men $41 million—a settlement that Trump publicly denounced as a “disgrace” in a newspaper opinion piece that year.
During the September presidential debate, Harris pointed out that Trump had previously taken out a full-page ad calling for the execution of five innocent young Black and Latino boys, referring to them as the Central Park Five.
Lawsuits against Trump
In response to Harris, Trump claimed that the individuals had admitted guilt. He stated that if they had indeed pled guilty, it indicated they had severely harmed or even killed someone, and he interpreted their plea as a contradiction.
Previously, Trump was found liable in two different lawsuits for defaming writer E. Jean Carroll after she accused him of raping her in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the mid-1990s. Juries awarded Carroll a total of $88.3 million in damages after determining he had sexually assaulted her.
Trump is currently appealing those verdicts, which were issued in federal court in Manhattan.
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