A crime that occurred in 1989 caused Trump to call for the death penalty. In 2002, the five convicted of this crime were exonerated. The lies Trump told about the case in the debate led the five men to sue him.
“They pleaded guilty. “They seriously injured one person, they killed one person.” This phrase uttered by the Republican candidate for the White House, Donald Trump, in the September debate against Kamala Harris, has now earned him a defamation lawsuit, filed this Monday in a Philadelphia court. Trump was referring to the group of five teenagers who were convicted in 1989 – and later exonerated – for the death of a woman in Central Park, New York.
The five men, who at the time of the crime were teenagers, began the process against the “False and defamatory statements” by the former president and his “reckless disregard” for the truth. “The plaintiffs never pleaded guilty to the Central Park attacks. All complainants plead innocent and have maintained their innocence throughout the trial and incarceration, as well as after being released from prison,” reads the complaint, cited by CNN. They also claim that the statements caused “intense emotional stress” and demand that Donald Trump indemnitybut also the imposition of a penalty for false statements.
In 1990, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron Brown and Korey Wise, all racialized men, were sentenced to prison terms for raping and killing Trisha Meili, a white woman, and wounding two other men on a night of 1989 in Central Park. The case became known as “The Central Park Five.”
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As can be seen from the complaint, throughout the process, The five men maintained their claims of innocence.But it was not until 2002 that they were exonerated, after another man confessed to the crimes. This guilty plea was confirmed by DNA testing and the “Central Park Five” became “The Exonerated Five.”
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The case arose in the September 10 debate due to statements by Kamala Harris who criticized that Donald Trump had reacted to the case during the 90s with a request for reinstate the death penalty in New York State. The American businessman bought a full-page ad in the New Yorker magazine that said: “I want to hate these thieves and murderers. “They should be made to suffer and, when they kill, they should be executed for their crimes.”
Nearly 30 years later, Donald Trump’s stance in favor of the death penalty was criticized by his Democratic opponent, who has the public support of four of the five men. Salaam and Wise have even appeared at Democratic Party events, including the Convention, to speak in support of the vice president, CBS reports.
On the other hand, the Republican campaign reacted by stating that This process seeks to interfere in the result of the presidential elections. “The frantic efforts of ‘Liar Kamala’ allies to interfere in the election are getting nowhere and President Trump is dominating as he marches toward a historic victory for the American people on November 5,” said spokesman Stephen Cheung. , in a note sent to the same channel.
In the last two years, Trump has already lost two other defamation lawsuits, filed by a woman who accused the former president of sexual abuse and sued him for defamation after being called a “liar.” The court ruled in favor and demanded compensation from Trump of 90 million dollars (about 83 thousand euros), notes the Washington Post.
Donald Trump, tried for defaming woman who accused him of rape
Source: Observadora
