David Kreizer, Attorney in the Central Park Five Case

David Kreizer, a litigation attorney admitted in New York and New Jersey, served as co-counsel to Korey Wise, one of the five teenagers wrongly convicted in the Central Park jogger case. Wise spent the longest time in prison of the five and later received the largest share of the civil settlement that followed their exoneration.

The case returned to public attention when Netflix premiered Ava DuVernay’s miniseries “When They See Us” on May 31, 2019. The four-part series retold the story of five Black and Latino teenagers who were convicted of a 1989 attack they did not commit, then cleared years later by DNA evidence and the confession of the real attacker. What follows is a summary of what happened and how the convictions were ultimately overturned.

The Central Park Five Case, an Overview 

The Central Park Five case was the 1989 wrongful conviction of five Black and Latino teenagers for the rape and beating of a jogger in New York City, later overturned when the real attacker was identified. The five, Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise, were between 14 and 16 years old when they were arrested. Today they are known as the Exonerated Five.

The case became a national story about coerced confessions, race, and a justice system that moved fast on weak evidence. It has since been the subject of books, documentaries, and the Netflix series that renewed interest in how five young people lost years of their lives to a crime committed by someone else.

The Attack on the Central Park Jogger

Trisha Meili, a 28-year-old investment banker, was attacked while jogging in Central Park on the night of April 19, 1989. She was beaten and raped, lost a large share of her blood, and remained in a coma for roughly 12 days. She survived but retained no memory of the attack.

Meili later chose to reveal her identity publicly and wrote a book about her recovery. Her injuries were severe, and the brutality of the crime drove the intense public pressure that shaped everything that followed.

Why was the case against the five so weak?

The case rested almost entirely on confessions that did not hold up, with no physical evidence connecting any of the teenagers to the attack. Police focused on the group in the hours after the crime and obtained statements after long interrogations conducted without a parent or attorney present for much of the questioning.

Those statements were the heart of the prosecution, yet they contradicted one another and got basic facts about the attack wrong. The teenagers later recanted. DNA recovered at the scene did not match any of them, and no eyewitness placed them at the assault. Decades of research on false confessions has since shown how interrogation pressure can produce exactly this kind of unreliable admission, especially from young suspects.

Two Trials and Five Convictions in 1990

All five were convicted across two separate trials held in 1990. The juries returned mixed verdicts on the individual charges, but each of the five was found guilty of serious crimes and sentenced despite the absence of matching DNA or eyewitness testimony.

Four of the defendants were tried as juveniles and served roughly six to seven years. Korey Wise, who was 16 and the only one tried as an adult, served about 13 years, the longest term of the group. A sixth teenager indicted in the case, Steven Lopez, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge rather than face the rape allegations, which is why accounts of the case sometimes reference more than five defendants.

How were the convictions overturned?

The convictions were overturned in 2002 after Matias Reyes, a convicted murderer and serial rapist already in prison, confessed that he alone had attacked Meili. Reyes came forward after encountering Korey Wise in prison, and DNA testing confirmed his account by matching evidence collected at the scene.

On December 19, 2002, New York County Supreme Court Justice Charles Tejada vacated all five convictions and the charges were dismissed. The confession and the DNA match together established what the original evidence had suggested all along, that none of the five had committed the crime. This kind of post-conviction reversal sits at the center of the firm’s work representing the wrongly convicted, where new evidence can undo a verdict years after a trial ends.

What did the civil settlements provide?

After their exoneration, the five men sued the City of New York over the wrongful prosecution, and in 2014 the city agreed to settle for approximately $41 million. Under the settlement, Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, and Raymond Santana each received about $7.125 million, and Korey Wise, David Kreizer’s client, received $12.25 million, reflecting the far longer time he spent in prison.

The city fought the lawsuit for years and settled only after Mayor Bill de Blasio took office having campaigned on resolving it. The city admitted no wrongdoing in the agreement. The five men later reached a separate settlement with the State of New York in 2016 for an additional $3.9 million. Cases like this one show how a civil claim can hold government actors accountable long after a criminal case is over, which is the same principle behind the firm’s civil rights and wrongful conviction representation today.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Who were the Central Park Five?

A. They were Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise, five Black and Latino teenagers aged 14 to 16 who were wrongly convicted of a 1989 Central Park attack. They are now known as the Exonerated Five.

Q. What was David Kreizer’s role in the case?

A. David Kreizer served as co-counsel to Korey Wise, the oldest of the five and the only one tried as an adult. Wise spent about 13 years in prison and received the largest share of the later civil settlement.

Q. When were the Central Park Five exonerated?

A. Their convictions were vacated on December 19, 2002, after Matias Reyes confessed and DNA testing confirmed he was the true attacker. New York County Supreme Court Justice Charles Tejada dismissed the charges.

Q. Who actually committed the crime?

A. Matias Reyes, a convicted serial rapist and murderer already serving a prison sentence, confessed in 2002 that he alone attacked Trisha Meili. DNA evidence from the scene matched him.

Q. How much was the settlement?

A. New York City settled with the five men for roughly $41 million in 2014. Korey Wise received $12.25 million and the other four received about $7.125 million each. A separate state settlement in 2016 added $3.9 million.

Q. Why did the confessions not prove guilt?

A. The statements were obtained after long interrogations without parents or lawyers present, contradicted each other, and got key facts wrong. No DNA or eyewitness evidence supported them, and the teenagers later recanted.

Q. Are the Central Park Five and the Exonerated Five the same people?

A. Yes. After their 2002 exoneration, the group became widely known as the Exonerated Five to reflect that their convictions were overturned and they were cleared of the crime.

Talk to a New York and New Jersey Civil Rights Lawyer

If you or a loved one was wrongly convicted, or you believe your civil rights were violated by police or prosecutors, David Kreizer and the team at Kreizer Law are ready to hear your story. The firm has stood with clients through some of the most demanding wrongful conviction litigation in the country.

Reach out through our contact page to discuss your situation. Every case is different, and there is no cost to talk through what happened and what your options may be.