美国有线新闻 CNN 2014-07-03

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New York city's Comtrollers approve a 40-million-dollar settlement in the lawsuit² over the wrong conviction of five men more than 2 decades ago. Today, one of the men, Kevin Richardson was overcome with emotion as he recalled what he'd been through.

 

Y'all don't really understand what we went through. Y'all tried to dehumanize us as human beings. But we still here. We are strong. People called us animals, 'wolf pack', I have four sisters and a mother, I would never do anything to a woman. I was raised better than that. 

 

It's impossible to overstate what a big deal this case was at the time, Richardson and four other teenagers, the youngest just 14, were charged convicted raping and beating a jogger New York Central Park. 

 

They were held up at the phase of urban lawlessness. Police said the team had been on a crime bringing the part, terrorizing a random³ wildly, some called it, exception just was untrue. ** looks back. 

 

It was a story that not only raped⁴ New York City but inflamed⁵ racial tensions around the country. Five black and latino teens accused of a horrific crime, savagely⁶ raping and beating a white woman who is jogging through Central Park in 1989. 

 

After what appeared to be confessions⁸, it seemed like an airtight case. The jury didn't buy a claim. The confessions were coerced⁹. And although there is no DNA¹⁰ match from any of the teens and the victim has no memory of the attack, each of them is found guilty. 

 

At the time, the teens are called animals, savages¹¹. Donald Trump¹² puts out a full page ad asking to bring back the death penalty. There were 7 long years in prison for four of the boys, 13 years for another before a major break in the case in 2002. 

 

The verdicts have been set aide **.

 

All five convictions are thrown out. Over term, after a stunning¹³ confession⁷ from a serial¹⁴ rapist whose DNA was found at the scene. While the teens were in jail, the real rapist didn't stop. He commits at least five more rapes¹⁵ that we know of after the Central Park jogger. Suing for damages has taken years, more than a decade. 

 

The city has always maintained the act in good face. With a settlement, there is no apology. Instead, the city calls it a wise solution, closing a state* a difficult chapter in New York's history. Susan ** CNN, New York.

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