Exonerated Five By Matias Reyes

2224 Words9 Pages

The Central Five

Case, Matias Reyes.

The Story of Believing.

By, Autumn Puckett-DesJardin

Hi. Keep in mind that I'm going to tell you about an incident that happened in 1989, when racism was still prevalent. The so-called "Exonerated Five"—Korey Wise, Antron McCray, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, and Yusef Salaam—served time in jail in this case before being found not guilty in 2002. The real serial rapist, Matias Reyes, confessed to his acts of violence over ten years after he had begun them.

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Most of Matias Reyes' early years were spent with his father in Fajardo, Puerto Rico, where …show more content…

The case also changed the city itself, as it altered (Changed) everything from two mayoral (Relating to a mayor) elections to the reaction when a knot of teenage boys appeared on a dimly-lit sidewalk. Now, the case is returning as anxieties about crime, civil rights, and the economy revive. New York in the spring of 1989 was a city of jangling nerves and rising fears, with crack blighting (Ruining) whole families and neighborhoods, violent-crime rates rising for the third straight year, and homicides setting a record. Race relations framed many of the media's big stories, and Ed Koch's shrillness (sharpness) was a central issue in a tight Democratic-primary …show more content…

The Korey Wise Innocence Project was established in 2015 at the Colorado Law School by Wise, the lone Central Park Five member who resides in New York. It provides free legal representation for individuals who claim they were unfairly convicted.

Salaam is a public speaker, author, and advocate for changes in the criminal justice system. He is a married man with ten children who lives in Georgia.

Just because the story is over doesn't mean their lives are. This story shows that even if something traumatic happens and you feel like giving up, just remember it’s never too late to start a new beginning. Every story has a beginning, middle and end. But it doesn’t mean it will be over. The story of the Central Park Five is a prime example of that. They were innocent boys who were wrongly accused and convicted of a crime they didn’t commit. It wasn't until years later when DNA evidence proved their innocence that they got released from prison. Even though this happened to them, they are still fighting for justice today in hopes that no other innocent people get falsely