The five teenagers wrongly convicted of raping a jogger in New York’s Central Park in 1989 are suing Donald Trump for defamation over statements he made at last month’s US presidential debate.
Background: Known widely as the Central Park Five, the defendants spent five to 13 years in prison before being exonerated in 2002 based on new DNA evidence and another person’s confession.
Trump, the Republican candidate for the White House, falsely claimed in the September 10 debate with Democrat Kamala Harris that the Central Park Five had killed a person and pleaded guilty.
The lawsuit by Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron Brown and Korey Wise called Trump’s statements “demonstrably false.”
Key Quote: “Trump’s behavior during the September 10 debate was extreme and outrageous, and intended to cause severe emotional distress,” the lawsuit against Trump on behalf of the Central Park Five reads.
What else to know: Trump has attracted a lot of criticism in the past for his statements about the Central Park Five. After the jogger’s attack, he spoke out about the case and took out a full-page ad in several New York newspapers calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty.
What happens next: The plaintiffs are seeking unspecified monetary damages for reputational and emotional damages, as well as punitive damages.