Five Black and Latino teenagers were convicted of the 1989 rape and beating of a jogger in Central Park, largely on confessions they said were coerced. In 2002 a serial rapist, Matias Reyes, confessed, DNA confirmed it, and their convictions were vacated. New York City paid $41 million in 2014 to settle their suit. [1][2]
At the September 2024 debate Trump said they had pleaded guilty and had “killed a person.” Neither is true: they were convicted at trial, and the jogger survived. They sued him for defamation, and in April 2025 a federal judge in Pennsylvania let the case go forward. [1][2]
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