DA Wants Central Park Convictions Tossed

N E W  Y O R K, Dec. 5 -- The Manhattan district attorney today recommended that all the convictions of all five teenagers in the infamous 1989 Central Park jogger rape case be vacated.

Citing the recent confession of an imprisoned rapist, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau asked a judge to vacate the convictions of the five men found guilty in the brutal April 1989 rape and beating of a 28-year-old jogger in Central Park and other attacks in the park that night.

In his 58-page recommendation, Morgenthau also asked State Supreme Court Judge Charles Tejada to vacate all the verdicts against the men, including other judgments stemming from the infamous night of "wilding." In addition to the rape, the defendants were convicted of assault, sex abuse and attempted murder in the jogger case. They were also convicted of assault for allegedly attacking eight other people in Central Park.

According to statement from Morgenthau's office, prosecutors are also moving to dismiss the indictment, saying, "no useful purpose would be servedby a retrial of the defendants for any crimes stemming from events on the evening of April 19, 1989."

Morgenthau's decision comes as a remarkable turnabout in a case that stunned the city. At one time, New York prosecutors were sure of the men's guilt. All five of the then-teenage suspects — Raymond Santana, 14, Kevin Richardson, 14, Antron McCray, 15, Kharey Wise, 16, and Yusef Salaam, 15 — had allegedly confessed to police.

The assault left the jogger near death and in a coma for 12 days. She does not remember anything about the attack. At their trial, the suspects said their confessions had been coerced and though prosecutors had little other evidence, a jury convicted the five defendants. They have since completed sentences of more than five years in prison.

Division Over the Decision

However, in an exclusive interview with ABCNEWS' Primetime in September, convicted murderer-rapist Matias Reyes said that he alone was responsible for the attack on the jogger.