In any criminal justice system, there is bound to be abuse. No system is perfect, not even close. But the case discussed in this episode is one of the most egregious top-to-bottom failures of law enforcement in New York history. Rights were violated, and at every turn where someone could have taken responsibility and ended the parade of injustice, they just doubled down.

Listen as colleague and law partner Robert Gottlieb joins Paul to discuss the 1989 case involving five boys aged 14-16 who would come to be known as the Central Park Five.

These five black and Latino boys were causing trouble in Central Park, in Manhattan, on the night of April 19, 1989. They were assaulting people, robbing them of their wallets and food, and generally carrying on. They were part of a larger group of between 20-30 kids total. They had all been arrested between 10 and 11 pm that evening for various low level offenses and were detained in the local police precinct.

A 28 year old white investment banker named Trisha Meili was jogging in the park between 9 and 10 pm that night. She was assaulted, dragged off the running path, brutally sexually assaulted and left for dead. She was in a coma for nearly 12 days. Hours later her unconscious body was found and the focus immediately shifted to the five boys already in custody.

Extreme and illegal police tactics were used to coerce confessions from four of the five boys. Interrogations of minors took place with no parent or attorney, they were denied food, water, and sleep over nearly 30 hours. In the end, four made videotaped confessions which would later become the only evidence in the trials against them.

Listen to the breakdown of how a media landscape contributed to the piling miscarriage of justice, how law enforcement failed the city it swore to protect, and how even when the truth came to light, it was over a decade before any small semblance of justice was attained.

Enjoy.

New York v. McCray, Richardson, Salaam, Santana, and Wise (The Central Park Five)