Exonerated 5 Sues Donald Trump For Defamation After He Alleged During Debate That They ‘Admitted’ To Crimes

Exonerated 5 Sues Donald Trump For Defamation After He Alleged During Debate That They ‘Admitted’ To Crimes & ‘Killed A Person’

The Central Park 5 is taking legal action against Donald Trump.

On Monday (October 21), Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise, also known as the Exonerated Five, sued Donald Trump for defamation over remarks he made during the presidential debate against Kamala Harris last month.

In their 20-page lawsuit, they said Donald Trump had “reckless disregard” when he claimed they pleaded guilty and “admitted” to the 1989 crime of brutally beating and sexually assaulting a woman in Central Park.

Their attorneys said in the lawsuit,

“Defendant Trump’s statements were false and defamatory in numerous respects. Plaintiffs never pled guilty to the Central Park assaults. Plaintiffs all pled not guilty and maintained their innocence throughout their trial and incarceration, as well as after they were released from prison.”

They addressed Donald Trump’s statement that they “badly hurt” and “killed a person,” adding,

“None of the victims of the Central Park assaults were killed.”

 

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They’re suing for compensatory and punitive damages, alleging that Donald Trump’s remarks have caused them to “suffer severe emotional distress.”

The five men, now in their 50s, were infamously coerced into confessing to the crime when they were teenagers. They were cleared in 2002 after DNA proved their innocence, revealing someone else committed the act. They sued the city of New York and settled in 2014.

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