|
||||||||
  |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
DA defends pace of Central Park rapist investigation
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Responding to community critics Wednesday, the prosecutor in the 1989 Central Park jogger rape case said his office is examining as quickly as possible claims that five youths were falsely convicted. Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau said his office is reviewing DNA evidence and a claim by one man, not charged in the case, that he alone raped the 28-year-old woman. Also being reviewed are videotaped confessions by the five youths that helped lead to their convictions in the case. Matias Reyes, who has been convicted of rape and murder in other cases, said last spring that he raped the woman, and a DNA analysis backed up his claim, Morgenthau said in a written statement. Critics, including city politicians and defense lawyers, have said Morgenthau's office was responding too slowly to the new evidence. However in his statement, Morgenthau said his office has interviewed Reyes and others multiple times, and must examine 15,000 pages of court records to review the case properly. The new developments have raised questions about how police and prosecutors handled a case that shocked the city, and seemed resolved with five videotaped confessions. "This office has, for several months, been conducting an exhaustive investigation, in light of new evidence, to determine the facts," said Morgenthau. "All these painstaking steps are necessary if we are to provide answers to the defendants and the victims, their families and all New Yorkers. This investigation will be fair, impartial and complete." Defense attorney Michael Warren has filed a motion in state Supreme Court, asking that the convictions of Kevin Richardson, Anton McCray, and Raymond Santana be thrown out. All five men convicted of the rape have served their prison sentences but now wish to see their names cleared. He said Reyes, 33, confessed in a prison interview, claiming he acted alone and has no affiliation with any of the men who were convicted of the crime. The Central Park jogger case reappeared in the headlines in May, when DNA tests confirmed that Matias Reyes was involved in the rape. Currently, Reyes is serving a 33-year to life sentence in prison for four other rapes and a murder. The victim of the 1989 attack, now 41, is a mother of two. She is writing a book about her life.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
