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Central Park Five prosecutor resigns from organizations amid backlash after Netflix series. Update: Former Prosecutor sues Ava over the series...

https://www.thedailybeast.com/eliza...k-5-prosecutor-amid-when-they-see-us-backlash

NYC DA Refuses Calls to Fire Central Park 5 Prosecutor Amid ‘When They See Us’ Backlash

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance is refusing calls to fire Assistant DA Elizabeth Lederer, the lawyer who led the 1989 Central Park Five prosecution, amid heightened attention spurred by When They See Us, a Netflix miniseries about the case. Vance has also rejected demands to reopen thousands of cases overseen by former Assistant DA Linda Fairstein from 1976 to 2002 in the sex-crimes unit, the New York Daily News reports. The Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, the Legal Aid Society, and the New York County Defender Services called for a review of 26 years’ worth of cases. Vance turned a request by the city’s public advocate for both actions, writing in a statement that Lederer is “an attorney in good standing in this office.”

Ava DuVernay’s dramatized miniseries has reignited outrage and created fallout for those involved in the wrongful conviction of five black youths for the 1989 rape of a white jogger in Central Park. Lederer announced last week she will not return to teach at Columbia Law School after students protested her position, and Fairstein, whose office was in charge of the prosecutions, was dropped from her book publisher and resigned from several charity boards due to backlash.
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https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trump-central-park-five-no-apology-both-sides

Trump Deploys ‘Both Sides’ Rhetoric Yet Again, This Time About Central Park 5

President Donald Trump on Tuesday refused to apologize for his role in raising public fury against the now-exonerated Central Park Five, repeating his infamous phrasing that there were people on “both sides” of the case.

April Ryan, White House correspondent for the American Urban Radio Networks, asked Trump if he would apologize for the full-page ads he took out in 1989 calling for the five black and Latino teenagers to face the death penalty for allegedly raping a woman in Central Park.

“You have people on both sides of that,” Trump responded. “They admitted their guilt.”

Despite telling the court that their confessions had been coerced by law enforcement, the teenagers spent six to 13 years in prison for the crime. In 2002, DNA evidence found that a convicted serial rapist had been responsible, and the Central Park Five were exonerated. The city of New York made a $41 million dollar settlement with the men for the ordeal, and the case has largely been seen as an indictment of institutional racism in the criminal justice system.

“If you look at Linda Fairstein and if you look at some of the prosecutors, they think that the city should never have settled that case,” Trump told Ryan. “So we’ll leave it at that.”

Trump defended the ads in 2016, saying that “They admitted they were guilty.”

Trump first infamously deployed his “both sides” rhetoric in the aftermath of the Charlottesville, Virginia white nationalist rally, where a white nationalist drove his car into a crowd of people, killing a counter-protester. A few days after the rally, Trump told reporters there were “very fine people on both sides” of the rally. As recently as April, Trump was still defending his comments.
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https://www.mediaite.com/news/watch...central-park-five-why-should-trump-apologize/

Fox News Host Greg Gutfeld Laughs Off Exoneration of Central Park Five: Why Should Trump Apologize?


A smirking Greg Gutfeld laughed off the innocence of the Central Park Five during a discussion of race issues on Fox News’ The Five, telling co-panelist Juan Williams that President Donald Trump had no reason to apologize for his past comments: “Why should he?…You think they’re innocent?”

Trump took out an infamous, full-page ad in the New York Times just two weeks after police arrested five teenagers who confessed to participating in the brutal rape of woman in New York’s Central Park in 1989. In it, he effectively called for their execution, even though no trial had yet to take place. After a lengthy investigation and the discovery of DNA evidence that identified a completely different perpetrator, the confessions were thrown out as having been coerced and their sentences were fully vacated. The five men ultimately won a $41 million settlement with the state of New York over false imprisonment.

Earlier in the week, Trump was asked about the Central Park Five by National Urban Radio Network correspondent April Ryan, but refused to back down, saying: “They admitted their guilt.” Gutfeld defended those comments in an exchange with Williams.

“This is a time of interesting racial discussions in the country,” Williams said. “You had that white supremacist group outside the Trump rally the other day, you had hearings on reparations, and the president refuses to apologize for Central Park Five ad…”

“Why should he?” Gutfeld interjected.

“It was terrible, those people were found not guilty. [Trump] wanted the death penalty,” Williams replied.

“Do you think they were innocent? Come on!” Gutfeld asked, laughing and turning to mug directly into the camera.

“I do think they were innocent,” Williams responded.

“Oh, I don’t. I disagree,” Gutfled said somewhat chastened, before again chuckling into the camera.

And when Williams began to explain the forensic evidence that proved their five men were not guilty, Gutfeld shouted “You brought it up, Juan!” and then cackled even more.
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