The Central Park Five collected $3.9 million in a New York state settlement two years after receiving a $41 million wrongful conviction payout from New York City, the New York Daily News reports.
The state Court of Claims payout was for the economic and emotional devastation the five men endured after they were jailed for the 1989 rape and assault of a jogger in Central Park. The men have since been exonerated.
“I understand people say it’s a lot of money. The reality is there’s no amount of money that would adequately compensate them,” attorney Jonathan Moore told the Daily News. “They’ve suffered every day since 1989 and they’re still suffering.”
The state settlement gave plaintiffs Raymond Santana $500,000, Antron McCray $600,000, and Yusef Salaam and Kevin Richardson $650,000 each. Korey Wise received $1.5 million since he was imprisoned for the longest time.
According to a state court system spokesperson, the case was settled on the record on Sept. 13, 2016. The five had their convictions vacated in 2002 after Matias Reyes admitted to the attack and DNA evidence confirmed his claim.
The Central Park Five is the subject of Ava DuVernay’s new Netflix series, When They See Us. Since its release, the case’s prosecutor, Linda Fairstein, resigned from a number of charity boards and lost her book deal. She’s the author of 24 crime novels and has 16 New York Times bestsellers.
