‘THEY SEE’ $3.9M MORE
State’s quiet payout to Central Park 5 adds to city’s $41M for wrongful convictions
The Central Park Five (from left) Yusef Salaam, Korey Wise, Raymond Santana, Antron McCray and Kevin Richardson are in a good mood at recent event to promote Netflix miniseries “When They See Us.”
The Central Park Five, two years after collecting a $41 million wrongful conviction payout from the city, quietly pocketed another $3.9 million in a 2016 settlement with the state, the Daily News has learned.
The low-key state Court of Claims payout covered the economic and emotional devastation caused by the incarceration of the five men, who were just teens when they began serving between six and 13 years in prison. Their convictions in the 1989 rape and savage assault on a Central Park jogger were later overturned.
“I understand people say it’s a lot of money. The reality is there’s no amount of money that would adequately compensate them,” said Jonathan Moore, one of the attorneys in both settlements.
“They’ve suffered every day since 1989 and they’re still suffering.”
The state compensation provided plaintiffs Raymond Santana with $500,000 and Antron McCray with $600,000, while former co-defendants Yusef Salaam and Kevin Richardson received $650,000 each. Korey Wise, who served the most jail time, walked away with $1.5 million. His time behind bars was roughly double the other four men exonerated in the prosecution that spawned both the new fictionalized Netflix series “When They See Us” and a renewed interest in the case.
A spokesman for the state court system said the case was settled on the record during a Sept. 13, 2016, hearing before Judge Alan Marin. Calls to the five plaintiffs for comment were not returned.
A spokeswoman for Attorney General Letitia James confirmed the case was settled but declined comment.
The Central Park Five sought $52 million in their lawsuit against the state, the Daily News exclusively reported in 2014. A former law enforcement source familiar with the case emphasized that under New York’s wrongful conviction statute, the five would be required to prove
their innocence if the Claims case ever went to trial.
The men were exonerated in 2002 when rapist Matias Reyes confessed to the attack, with DNA evidence confirming his claim. The Netflix production, directed by Ava DuVernay, put the racially charged case back in the headlines a full 30 years after the arrests.
Ex-head Manhattan sex crimes prosecutor Linda Fairstein resigned Tuesday from her positions with Vassar College and the board of directors at the God’s Love We Deliver charity and the Safe Horizon nonprofit amid criticism about her handling of the case. The best-selling author and her publisher, Dutton, announced Friday that they were no longer in business together.
Fairstein is the author of 24 crime novels, with 16 New York Times best-sellers.
The longtime prosecutor was portrayed in the fictionalized television series as intent on a guilty verdict, even in the face of evidence that the defendants were innocent.
The CP5s Court of Claims case was reactivated after the city settled its wrongful conviction suit with the quintet. Lawyers from then-Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office had argued the case could not proceed until the city lifted a confidentiality order on the evidence in the criminal case.
Schneiderman later changed his position, said Karen Dippold, an attorney for four of the five men.
“It was settled because the attorney general’s office changed positions and decided they’d rather continue than wait for all this paperwork to become available,” Dippold said.
Calls to two other attorneys who handled the Claims case were not returned.
Plaintiffs’ attorney Moore, noting the defendants were as young as 14 when arrested, said no amount of money can repair their ruptured lives.
“Every day Antron McCray wakes up in fear someone is going to come take away,” he said. "Every day Kevin Richardson feels that pain of being in prison. Every day. The same is true of all those men. Is it too much? I don’t think so.”