The city and the so-called Central Park Five moved closer to a settlement Tuesday — and a Manhattan federal judge put their case on hold so both sides could work toward a deal.
Magistrate Judge Ronald Ellis granted the city a 30-day “stay of proceedings” so that Mayor de Blasio’s new corporation counsel, Zachary Carter, could work on his boss’ vow of reaching a settlement in the $250 million lawsuit filed by five black and Hispanic men wrongfully convicted in the 1989 rape of a Central Park jogger.
Jonathan Moore, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said he plans to move ahead to settlement talks over the next month and is confident that a deal can soon be reached.
“We feel like it is finally time to put this nightmare to bed for these kids,” Moore told reporters afterward. “They have lived with this tragedy for nearly 25 years and it is time to bring it to an end.”
The five men were convicted in the infamous crime, but those convictions were overturned in 2002 after a career criminal confessed to the crime.The suit alleges cops elicited false confessions through threats and beatings, and that key DNA evidence, which would have cleared them, was deliberately ignored. They allege malicious prosecution, conspiracy, racial discrimination and emotional distress.
Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana and Kharey Wise were all convicted of the brutal April 1989 beating and rape of Trisha Meili, a white investment banker near the park’s reservoir.
Rich Calder
In 2002, a judge granted a motion to vacate the 13-year-old convictions after a serial rapist already in jail confessed to the crime, an admission backed up by DNA evidence.
A year later, Richardson, Santana and McCray sued the city for $50 million each and others joined on.
Known as the Central Park Five, these men now in their late 30s to early 40s, were just 14 to 16 years old when arrested.
The city’s desire to settle the case under de Blasio is a stark contrast to the heavy opposition the plaintiffs received when dealing with the Bloomberg administration.