Talk:When They See Us

"Exonerated"?

The five defendants dramatized in the net series were never "exonerated." To be exonerated, they would have had to be retried and acquitted, which never happened. (Yusef Salaam’s appeal had been rejected many years earlier, based on his “deception” of the police.) Their verdicts and sentences were vacated by New York Supreme Court Justice Charles Tejada, who followed the recommendation of New York County (Manhattan) DA Robert Morgenthau. (Unlike most other states, where the "supreme court" is the highest, in New York "supreme court" is a relatively low-level court. The highest court is the New York State Court of Appeals.) The conclusion of the 1993 majority state appeals court ruling rejecting Yusef Salaam’s appeal of his conviction follows:

“Appellant's questioning, without additional youth protective protocols, was driven by his deception of the police at the outset that he was of adult age. On this record, we cannot say that he was deprived of any rights he was entitled to or claimed.

“Defendant's other arguments have been reviewed. They are without merit and do not affect the substantive or procedural regularity or correctness of the lower courts' decisions upholding this juvenile offender's conviction.

“Accordingly, the order of the Appellate Division should be affirmed."

People v. Salaam

83 N.Y.2d 51 (1993)

629 N.E.2d 371

607 N.Y.S.2d 899

The People of the State of New York, Respondent, v. Yusef Salaam, Appellant.

Court of Appeals of the State of New York.

Argued November 9, 1993.

Decided December 16, 1993.

https://law.justia.com/cases/new-york/court-of-appeals/1993/83-n-y-2d-51-0.html 2604:2000:1580:415A:1920:48F:A553:49A1 (talk) 09:21, 6 July 2019 (UTC)

To whoever wrote the comment above: your understanding of the term "exonerated" is incorrect. Exoneration does not mean the same thing as acquittal. Rather, a person is exonerated of a crime when evidence is brought to light that the person is innocent of that crime. The Central Park Five were exonerated in 2002 when somebody else confessed to doing the crime alone, and DNA and other evidence confirmed the confession. This happened in 2002, so your link to information from 1993 is irrelevant. Reliable sources describe the Central Park Five as having been "exonerated" [1][2][3]. Mathew5000 (talk) 04:46, 19 August 2020 (UTC)

Also, the Central Park Five are listed in the National Registry of Exonerations: [4][5][6][7][8] Mathew5000 (talk) 18:47, 20 August 2020 (UTC)

That's the opinion of the nonprofit Newkirk Center for Science and Society, not a judge or an official government registry. Their convictions were vacated due to lack of (legally acquired) evidence.

When the DA recommended vacating their convictions in 2002, they also said that they "were either spectating or participating in other crimes in the park at the time that the rape occurred" and "Ultimately, there proved to be no physical or forensic evidence recovered at the scene or from the person or effects of the victim which connected the defendants to the attack on the jogger, or could establish how many perpetrators participated." So the finding was that they may have committed crimes, but probably not one specific crime which was one of several that they had been convicted on. Hi! (talk) 23:20, 23 August 2024 (UTC)

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The redirect Ethan Herisse has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2024 September 1 § Ethan Herisse until a consensus is reached. Nardog (talk) 04:11, 1 September 2024 (UTC)