He lived at 102nd Street, in what locals considered another neighborhood. [23], At a time of concern about crime in general in the city, which was suffering high rates of assaults, rapes, and homicides, these attacks provoked great outrage, particularly the brutal rape of the female jogger. In addition, Reyes was not known to have been associated with any of the six indicted defendants. In early 2002, Matias Reyes, a convicted murderer and rapist, admitted that he alone was … Deputy Commissioner Kevin Richardson, who runs the office which handles disciplinary cases against cops, is under investigation for allegedly creating a … None of the defendants had legal counsel during questioning. He has also appeared with other involved men in presentations at local schools and colleges. They also sued New York State, which settled in 2016 for $3.9 million total. Kevin Richardson, known as the "lion whisperer," poses with one of his lions in the Dinokeng Game Reserve, near Pretoria, South Africa on March 15, 2017. On the other hand, there was a general consistency that ran through the defendants' descriptions of the attack on the female jogger: she was knocked down on the road, dragged into the woods, hit and molested by several defendants, sexually abused by some while others held her arms and legs, and left semiconscious in a state of undress.[103][104]. She fell 50 feet, suffering severe injuries. The four youths under 16 were sentenced to 5–10 years each. Four unsuccessfully appealed their convictions in 1991. By Jane Flanagan In Cape Town for MailOnline, Published: 07:12 EDT, 28 February 2018 | Updated: 09:12 EDT, 28 February 2018. [54], Numerous pretrial hearings were conducted by Judge Thomas B. Galligan of the State Supreme Court of Manhattan, who had been assigned the case. In these serious accidents, you might wonder where to turn Lil Scrappy, a famous rapper who is also known as Darryl Kevin Richardson, was involved in … Richardson's defense counsel made a motion for a mistrial, because of the potential effect on the jury, but the judge rejected it. I do not think so. Poor Bongani had an unknown accident where his tooth was hanging from his jaw! Each of the youths pleaded "Not guilty." "[77][103] The panel was chaired by attorney Michael F. Armstrong, the former chief counsel to the Knapp Commission, which in 1972 had documented widespread corruption in the NYPD. On the night of April 19, 1989, Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, Yusef Salaam, and Korey Wise went wilding in Central Park with 28 other young men. The two other youths under 16 were returned to a juvenile facility to be held there until trial. He is married, has six children, and lives and works in Georgia. Speaking at a news conference in 2002, Bloomberg spoke of his confidence regarding the actions of the police department. These were:[6][8]. Find Washington attorney Kevin Richardson in their Issaquah or Yakima or Puyallup office. The police arrested additional suspects over 48 hours after the night of April 19 and interrogated numerous others. The ones at Schomburg included friends Salaam and Wise, who lived in the northwest tower,[49][50] and Kevin Richardson and Steve Lopez who lived elsewhere in the complex. In a plea deal, he pleaded guilty to the top counts in each of the five cases on November 1, 1991. He was released and exonerated in 2002. [42], Reverend Calvin O. Butts of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, who came to support the five suspects, said to The New York Times, "The first thing you do in the United States of America when a white woman is raped is round up a bunch of black youths, and I think that's what happened here."[24]. [60] The jury consisted of four white Americans, four black Americans, three Hispanic Americans, and one Asian American. When They See Us shows actor Asante Blackk, playing 14-year-old Kevin Richardson, sporting injuries to his left eye as he is being interviewed by NYPD officers at the 24th Precinct. [16][17][28][128], In 2014, after New York City had settled the wrongful conviction suit, some figures returned to the media to dispute the court's 2002 decision to vacate the convictions. [8], Salaam allegedly made verbal admissions to the police. [2][43] The advertisement, which cost an estimated US$85,000 (equivalent to $175,000 in 2019),[2][43] said, in part, Mayor Koch has stated that hate and rancor should be removed from our hearts. Their confessions varied as to who they identified as having participated in the rape, including naming several youths who were never charged. [9] New York Governor Mario Cuomo told the New York Post: "This is the ultimate shriek of alarm. She had resumed jogging in 1989 three or four months after the attack, and over the years added a variety of other exercise and yoga practice. The jogger was not identified for about 24 hours, and it took days for the police to retrace her movements of that night. [84][85] He also said that he had intended to burglarize the victim's apartment. [73][146] As noted, Salaam was an advocate for the law passed in New York in 2018 requiring videotaping of accused subjects in all custodial interrogations for serious crimes. [7], DNA analysis of the strands of hair found on the clothing of two of the defendants, conducted with advanced technology not available at the time of their trial, established that the hair did not belong to the victim, despite what the prosecution had testified to at trial. He was also robbed of a. Michael Briscoe, 17, was initially arrested for the rape of the female jogger, but his indictment was for riot and assault related to the attack of David Lewis, one of the four male joggers near the reservoir. They took custody of Raymond Santana, 14; and Kevin Richardson, 14; along with three other teenagers at approximately 10:15 pm on Central Park West and 102nd Street. [54] In total, 14 men were tested, including the defendants and Meili's former boyfriend, and all were excluded. [15][16][27], In most media accounts of the incident at that time, Meili was simply referred to as the "Central Park Jogger", but two local TV stations violated the media policy of not publicly identifying the victims of sex crimes and released her name in the days immediately following the attack. [8] After the verdict, Wise shouted at the prosecutor: "You're going to pay for this. The five men sued the city for discrimination and emotional distress; the city settled in 2014 for $41 million. All later had their charges vacated after a prison inmate confessed to the crime. Farm Heroes Saga, the #4 Game on iTunes. [64], Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Lederer had a lengthy opening statement, and Wise broke down at the defense table after it, weeping and shouting that she had lied. [citation needed] He was sentenced to 5–15 years. [8] According to The New York Times, their accounts of these other attacks were accurate, unlike their confessions to the assault on the jogger. Reporters had found that some came from stable, financially secure families; police had ruled out drugs or major robbery, and most had no criminal records. Show me the injuries, show me the black eyes, show me the swollen faces because every single one of them that came out of that precinct had none of that.’ Reynolds (left) escorts Kevin Richardson, then 14, into New York City’s 24th Precinct on April 19, 1989. By the time of the trial of the first three suspects in June 1990, The New York Times characterized the attack on the jogger as "one of the most widely publicized crimes of the 1980s". [54] The semen belonged to another, unidentified male. Kevin Richardson profile page, biographical information, injury history and news [6][8][9] At a pre-trial hearing in October 1989, a police officer testified that when Loughlin was found, he was bleeding so badly that he "looked like he was dunked in a bucket of blood".[10]. Alternatively, doctors thought that she might remain in a permanent coma due to her injuries. After a thorough investigation, these five were tried in front of two separate juries and were found GUILTY. He had never been identified as a suspect in the Central Park attack on Meili, although he had been at large at the time. [78][79][80] That year, Reyes informed a corrections officer that he had raped Meili. His weekly walks with the cats are 'part of their exercise and stimulation regiment,' he explained in a statement, designed to relieve the boredom of living in the sanctuary's enclosures. Each earned a GED and also completed an associate degree while there. Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam, and Kharey The friend with the victim watched it happen, but was not hurt, but must have been in a terrible state emotionally. ", In 2016, the five men received an award of $3.9 million against the State of New York for additional damages caused by the economic and emotional devastation caused by their incarceration.The original lawsuit had requested $51 million in addition to the previously awarded $41 million. Mr Richardson, 44, whose intimate interactions with big cats have won him millions of fans around the world, said today: 'I am devastated and my heart goes out to this young woman's family.'. "[45][46], According to defendant Yusef Salaam, quoted in a February 2016 article in The Guardian, Trump "was the fire starter" in 1989, as "common citizens were being manipulated and swayed into believing that we were guilty. [citation needed] Since 1989, New York and some 24 other states have passed laws requiring "electronic records of full interrogations". [127] She continues to manifest some after-effects of the assault, including memory loss. He neither made a videotape nor signed the earlier written statement, but the court ruled to accept it as evidence before his trial. Reyes confessed and Wise was released in 2002. Within weeks, they each withdrew their confessions, pleaded not guilty, and refused plea deals on the rape and assault charges. [citation needed], Antron McCray was the first to move away from New York. After receiving an urgent call about the attack, Mr Richardson - who had pursued the lioness but lost her - then ran more than a mile to reach the victim, attempting to save her life himself while waiting for paramedics to arrive. [14] Because of this, the police treated the attack as a probable homicide. He was released in 2002 when the prosecutor, agreeing that his sentence had been higher due to his subsequently vacated conviction for raping Meili, reduced it to the 18-48 months that would typically have been given to a first-time offender. Among these was Clarence Thomas, 14, who was arrested on April 21, 1989, on charges related to the rape of the female jogger. [48], Wise had to serve all of his time in adult prison, and encountered so much personal violence that he asked to stay in isolation for extended periods. She came out of her coma after 12 days. It took place in the public park that is "mythologized as the city's verdant, democratic refuge". Five male youths were tried in two trials for the rape and violent assault of Trisha Meili whilst she was on a evening jog (the 6th made a plea deal in 1991 for a lesser charge and had a lesser sentence). [97][100] The city government also withdrew all charges against the men. [64] They contended that the confessions had been coerced from youths vulnerable to pressure because of their age and their intellectual capacity. In a plea deal, he pleaded guilty on January 29, 1991, to a robbery in second degree, and was sentenced to 1 year. After the exonerations, it became a high-profile example of racial profiling, discrimination, and inequality in the media and legal system. [8], Although four suspects (all except Salaam) confessed on videotape in the presence of a parent or guardian (who had generally not been present during the interrogations), each of the four retracted his statement within weeks. [8] Kevin Richardson, 14 years old at the time of the crime, had been free on $25,000 bail before the trial. [8], Korey Wise, 16 years old at the time of the crime, was acquitted of rape and attempted murder. Nick Dollman, spokesman for the paramedics, described the victim's injuries as 'very severe'. [73] He serves as a criminal justice advocate with the Innocence Project and spoke in New York to audiences with Richardson and Salaam to advocate passage of the New York State justice reform law that passed in 2017. It was not until 1:30 a.m. that night that a female jogger was found in the North Woods area of the park. [144] This process has revealed the strong role of false confessions in wrongful convictions. He served 6 years from 1990 to 1996 and was released on parole. [73], Richardson and Salaam were released in 1997. Turned out to be misplaced. Other residents living at the Schomburg Plaza, where four suspects lived, were also threatened. What really occurred that April night in Central Park involved an anarchistic gathering of criminal mischief and chaos by about 30 teenagers. The families of Lopez,[34] Richardson,[35] and Salaam[48] were able to make the $25,000 bail imposed by the court. KEVIN RICHARDSON, 14, was arrested that night when police responded to 911 calls of violence in the park within half an hour of the attacks. [8][62] Salaam and McCray were 15 years old, and Santana 14 years old, at the time of the crime. [14][17], In early June, Meili was transferred to Gaylord Hospital, a long-term acute care center in Wallingford, Connecticut, where she spent six months in rehabilitation. Antonio Diaz, a 52-year-old man walking in the park near 105th Street, was knocked to the ground by teenagers about 9:15 p.m., who stole his bag of food and bottle of beer. [85][88] Some police sources claim the confession was made to gain favor and protection from Wise, who police claimed was regarded as having influence over New York inmates. Kevin Richardson was born in the Nightingale Clinic in Johannesburg, South Africa, on the 8th of October, 1974.He spent his childhood in the neighbourhood of Orange Grove. Wise at 16 was tried and sentenced as an adult because of the nature of the violent felony charges against him, under the Juvenile Offender Law of 1978. "[24], As identified by the Morgenthau report and The New York Times in a 2002 review of the case, several acts of violence were perpetrated that night by a group of more than 30 teenagers. Many consider the interrogation techniques to have been coercive and they have been subject to wide criticism. In February 2017 an unknown US woman was mauled to death by lions during a visit to a wildlife sanctuary in South Africa run by Kevin Richardson – the so-called 'lion whisperer'. From the outset the case was a topic of national interest, with the commentary on social issues evolving as the details emerged. [6][9][14] The first policeman who saw her said: "She was beaten as badly as anybody I've ever seen beaten. Some of his merchandise commemorates the men of the Central Park Five. [39] The police described the attacks as "random" and "motiveless", saying they had "terrorized" people in the park. [34] Although some of the five defendants who had been convicted had accused Lopez in their statements of the most severe violence against the jogger, these could not be used against him because of their convictions. Designed for families, the complex was built in 1974 and was partially subsidized by the city and federal government; it had 600 households, in apartments ranging in size from studios to five bedrooms. 'Obviously one realises the danger when working with animals of this calibre, I've weighed the pros and I've weighed the cons, and the pros far outweigh the cons,' he said. This time one of the defense counsels, Wise's lawyer, cross-examined her. [130][131] But a forensic pathologist who testified at the 1990 trial said that it was impossible to tell from the victim's injuries how many people had participated in the assault, as did New York City's chief medical examiner in 2002. Richardson's injury occurred Sunday when he was moving into a new residence and twisted his foot, continuing a run of foot injuries that has befallen the Hogs in recent years. The woman sustained critical injuries and died at the scene. [150][151] A 30-year-old black woman was robbed, raped and thrown from the roof of a four-story building by three young men. [6][8] The teenagers roamed south along the park's East Drive and the 97th Street transverse, between 9 and 10 p.m.[6] Police attempted to apprehend suspects after crimes began to be reported between 9 and 10 p.m. At least some of the group traveled further south to the area around the reservoir, where four men jogging were attacked by several youths. Practices Personal injury, Car accident, Family. [134] The men of the Central Park Five criticized Trump at the time for his statement, stating they had falsely confessed under police coercion. [48] Afterward Salaam talked about how important family was. After further investigation, he was never indicted, and all charges were dismissed against him on October 31, 1989. [113][114][115][116][117][118], Under newly elected Mayor Bill de Blasio, New York City announced a settlement in June 2014 in the case for about $40 million. In addition, his DNA matched the DNA evidence at the scene, confirming that he was the sole source of the semen found in and on the victim "to a factor of one in 6,000,000,000 people". [6] He was hit in the head with a pipe and stick, knocking him briefly unconscious. "[75] They received a total settlement of $3.9 million from the state in 2016, with varying amounts related to the period of time that each man had served in prison. Together they claimed that they had been intimidated, lied to, and coerced by police into making false confessions. The media depicted Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise as violent, nihilistic teens. They renamed the project in his honor as the Korey Wise Innocence Project. The city did not admit to any wrongdoing in the settlement. Antron McCray, 15; Yusef Salaam, 15; and Korey Wise (then known as Kharey Wise), 16, were brought in for questioning later that day (April 20), after having been identified by other youths in the large group as participants in or present at some of the attacks on other victims. "[103] The report said Reyes had most likely "either joined in the attack as it was ending or waited until the defendants had moved on to their next victims before descending upon her himself, raping her and inflicting upon her the brutal injuries that almost caused her death. None of the six defendants in the rape mentioned him by name in association with the rape. [74] He was released in August 2002, the last of the five men to leave prison. [54] Years later, more advanced DNA testing also revealed that the hairs in Richardson's clothes did not match the victim.[69]. He served 6 years from 1990 to 1996 and was released on parole. After the guilty verdicts, the judge sentenced the defendants to the maximum for the charges and their ages. None of the suspects' DNA matched the DNA collected from the crime scene: two semen samples that both belonged to one unidentified man. He had denied any knowledge of the rape in his videotaped confession, but was implicated by other defendants' statements. Senator John McCain, who said that Trump's responses were "outrageous statements about the innocent men in the Central Park Five case." I want to hate these muggers and murderers. [52], In 2001, convicted serial rapist and murderer Matias Reyes was serving a life sentence in New York state. [8] Also arrested in this period on charges of attacks against other persons in the park, and later indicted, was Jermaine Robinson, 15; Antonio Montalvo, 18; and Orlando Escobar, 16.[8]. ... How can our great society tolerate the continued brutalization of its citizens by crazed misfits? He serves as a board member of the Innocence Project. [66] At trial, Melody Jackson—the sister of one of Wise's friends—testified that while incarcerated in the Rikers Island he had told her that he had restrained and fondled the jogger. He served 13 years and 8 months in multiple state prisons: Rikers' Island Prison in 1990, Attica Correctional Facility in 1991, Wende State Penitentiary in 1993 and Auburn State Correctional Facility in 2001. [149], The Central Park events, which were attributed at the time to members of the large group of youths who attacked numerous persons in the park, including whites, blacks and Hispanics, were covered as an extreme example of the violence that was occurring in the city, including assaults and robberies, rapes and homicides. [142] Juveniles have been found to make false confessions and guilty pleas at a much higher rate than adults. ", After a change in City administration, with the election of Mayor Bill de Blasio (who had run on a campaign promise to resolve the matter), the city settled in 2014 with the five defendants for $41 million. The remaining victims were attacked by members of the large group while jogging near the reservoir: Three of the victims were black or Hispanic, like most of the suspects, complicating any narrative to attribute the attacks solely to racial factors. It was 18" wide. He was sentenced on October 10, 1990 to four to twelve years in prison. The 22-year-old visitor died from devastating injuries after being pounced on by a lioness named Ndira while it was out walking with expert and social media star Kevin Richardson in the Dinokeng Game Reserve. [8] None of the five said that he had raped the jogger, but each confessed to having been an accomplice to the rape. The dead woman who was only at the reserve for a short meeting was struck as she stopped to take pictures with a friend as they returned to their car. "[28] In 1986, she earned an M.A. [90] Morgenthau appointed a team led by Assistant District Attorneys Nancy Ryan and Peter Casolaro to investigate the case, based on Reyes's confession and a review of evidence. [6] Lopez was interviewed on videotape in the presence of his parents on April 21, 1989, beginning at 3:30 a.m. [7], The DA's recommendation to vacate the convictions was, and continues to be strongly opposed by lead detectives on the case and other members of the police department. [77] The NYPD did not have a DNA database until 1994; after that, detectives and prosecutors had access to common information about DNA from evidence and taken from suspects in certain crimes. The fear made me feel really like I was not going to be able to make it out."[38]. [98] Morgenthau would later express regret assigning the case to Fairstein, saying "I had complete confidence in Linda Fairstein. [137] In June 2019 Trump stated he would not apologize, saying the Central Park 5 "admitted their guilt. [122] The settlement averaged roughly $1 million for each year of imprisonment that each of the men had served. [101][91] Meili later commented that she wished the matter would have been retried, rather than settled out of court, and that she believed her attack was not the result of a single person. She suffered severe hypothermia, severe brain damage, severe hemorrhagic shock, loss of 75–80 percent of her blood, and internal bleeding. Kevin Richardson is a South African zookeeper, YouTuber, wildlife conservationist, and wildlife sanctuary owner who primarily works for the protection and conservation of African lions, black leopards, and spotted hyenas. [21] During the trial of the defendants, Meili was not cross-examined due to the amnesia caused by her assault. [148], Korey Wise (who changed his first name from Kharey after being released from prison) still lives in New York City, where he works as a speaker and justice reform activist. [6] Some of the group committed several attacks, assaults, and robberies against people who were either walking, biking, or jogging in the northernmost part of the park and near the reservoir, and victims began to report the incidents to police.[7]. [124], Meili returned to work at the investment bank. Santana, McCray, and Richardson made video statements in the presence of parents. [103][77], In its January 2003 Armstrong Report, the panel "did not dispute the legal necessity of setting aside the convictions of the five defendants based on the new DNA evidence that Mr. Reyes had raped the jogger. At the time of the attack, she was 28 years old. He named others of the group by first names in the group attacks on other persons but denied any knowledge of the female jogger. "[103], Despite the analysis conducted by the District Attorney's Office, New York City detectives supported the 2003 Armstrong Report by the police department. The five other defendants, indicted for assaults of other victims, pleaded guilty to reduced charges and received less severe sentences. Only a few weeks ago, Mr Richardson was on set with supermodel Cara Delevingne who was posing with his lion Vayetse for a photoshoot for a luxury watch brand. in 1982. The DA's office questioned the veracity of the confessions, pointing to the many inconsistencies between them and their lack of correspondence to established facts. Because Lopez was younger than 16 at the time of the crime, he was sentenced to serve his time in a juvenile facility. Reynolds told DailyMail TV he believes When They See Us is ‘a pack of lies’. His pictures and videos of his intimate relationship with the beasts has won him a massive worldwide following. [7], Based on interviews and other evidence, the team believed that Reyes had acted alone: The rape appeared to have taken place in the North Woods area after the main body of the thirty teenagers had moved well to the south, and the timeline reconstruction of events made it unlikely that he was joined by any of the defendants. On April 26, 1989, The New York Times published a cautionary editorial against the use of labels and questioning why such "well-adjusted youngsters" could have committed such a "savage" crime. [8] As such, they were each sentenced by Judge Thomas B. Galligan to the maximum allowed for juveniles, 5–10 years each in a youth correctional facility. [18][125][126] She also works with victims of sexual assault and brain injury in the Mount Sinai Hospital sexual assault and violence intervention program. [145], Yusef Salaam has been an advocate for reform in the criminal justice system and prisons, particularly for juveniles. DB Kevin Richardson Injured; Will Miss Season. Steve Lopez) indicted in the attack on the female jogger and other crimes were scheduled for trial. [76] Reyes was believed to have raped another woman in the same area of the park during the day on April 17, two days before the attack on Meili. [66] He was sentenced to 5–10 years in a juvenile facility. Antonio Montalvo, 18, was charged with two counts of robbery and one of assault, related to the attack on Antonio Diaz. Sep 23, 2020 at 12:00 AM . "[99], The five defendants' convictions were vacated by New York Supreme Court Justice Charles J. Tejada on December 19, 2002. Donald Trump won't leave me alone", Exclusive: Central Park Five Members Blast Trump for Insisting They're Guilty, "Trump Will Not Apologize for Calling for Death Penalty Over Central Park Five", "Trump digs in on Central Park 5: 'They admitted their guilt, "The Interview: Do police interrogation techniques produce false confessions? Yes, Mayor Koch, I want to hate these murderers and I always will. [5] The Open Line hosts on WRKS were credited with helping continue to cover the case until the convicted youths were cleared in 2002 of the crime. ... and suffered an injury in between the Auburn and Nicholls games after being "stepped on" in practice. [7], The second trial, of Kevin Richardson and Korey Wise, began October 22, 1990[63] and also lasted about two months, ending in December. On May 1, 1989, Donald Trump, then a real estate magnate, called for the return of the death penalty for murder in full-page advertisements published in all four of the city's major newspapers. The prosecutor planned to try the defendants in two groups and then scheduled the sixth defendant to be tried last. Criminals must be told that their CIVIL LIBERTIES END WHEN AN ATTACK ON OUR SAFETY BEGINS! [142] In some cases, this requirement is limited to certain types of crimes. [54], Lopez was scheduled to be tried in January 1991, after the two other groups of defendants in the rape and assault case. [7] Reyes' DNA matched the semen found on Meili, and he provided other confirmatory evidence. [152], The New York Times continued to report on the case, and followed up on prosecution of suspects. [54] Reyes provided officials with a detailed account of the attack, details of which were corroborated by other evidence which the police held. Four of the six youths who were indicted for the rape lived at the Schomburg Plaza, 1309 Fifth Avenue, at the northeast corner of Central Park near 110th Street; two lived further north of there.