Two years after they collected a $41 million wrongful conviction payout from New York City, the Central Park Five were given an additional $3.9 million in a 2016 settlement with the state of New York.
The Daily News reports that the rather under-the-radar payout was meant to compensate for the "economic and emotional devastation caused by the incarceration" of the five men following their conviction of a 1989 rape and assault on a Central Park jogger.
It was as teenagers that the men began to serve a varying amount between six and 13 years in prison before their convictions were eventually overturned.
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“I understand people say it’s a lot of money. The reality is there’s no amount of money that would adequately compensate them,” said attorney Jonathan Moore, who worked on both settlement cases.
“They’ve suffered every day since 1989 and they’re still suffering.”
Court documents indicate that the state awarded plaintiffs Raymond Santana with $500,000, Antron McCray with $600,000, Yusef Salaam and Kebin Richardson with $650,000 each, and Korey Wise, who served the most amount of jail time, with $1.5 million.
Originally, the five men sought $52 million in their suit against the State. A state court system spokesperson tells Daily News that the case was settled on September 13th, 2016, fourteen years after they were exonerated in 2002 when rapist Matias Reyes admitted to the attack with DNA evidence backing his confession.
