Manhattan DA's Press Release: December 5, 2002 —
Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau announced today that his Office has filed a response to the defense motions in the cases against ANTRON McCRAY, KEVIN RICHARDSON, YUSEF SALAAM, RAYMOND SANTANA and KHAREY WISE. The District Attorney has recommended that, as a result of newly discovered evidence, all convictions of the five defendants be vacated. The District Attorney's Office has determined that, pending the Court's final decision, the Office will move to dismiss the indictments, as no useful purpose would be served by a retrial of the defendants for any crimes stemming from events on the evening of April 19, 1989.
The decision leading to today's recommendation was the result of an exhaustive investigation that began after the District Attorney's Office received DNA confirmation in early May, 2002 of the involvement of Matias Reyes, a convicted murderer and serial rapist, in the attack on a female jogger in Central Park on April 19, 1989.
The defendants were convicted originally by juries at two trials based on the evidence available at that time. According to the District Attorney's response, the newly discovered evidence creates a probability that if that evidence had been available at trial, the verdicts would have been more favorable to the defendants. Therefore, in light of the new evidence, the District Attorney's Office is recommending that all convictions be vacated.
The District Attorney's filed response is available as a PDF or WORD file.
I'll read the entire report over the weekend and will post a large report on Monday, probably.
Posted by ronn at December 12, 2002 12:04 PM