President-elect Donald Trump requested Wednesday that a federal court drop a defamation lawsuit against him tied to the Central Park Five allegations.
Trump’s attorneys say his remarks about the Central Park Five—five wrongly convicted men of Black and Hispanic descent— are protected as free speech, according to Reuters. The five men, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron Brown, and Korey Wise, were exonerated in 2002 after DNA evidence and a confession from another suspect absolved them of the crime.
Despite this, Trump’s remarks suggested otherwise, which the lawsuit says painted the men in a damaging light and caused severe emotional distress, Reuters reported. Trump’s attorneys, citing the First Amendment, contend that the remarks were a protected expression of opinion on a matter of public concern.
The five men sued Trump in October for defamation and said that Trump falsely accused them of the crime. The lawsuit points to the remarks Trump made about the group during his Sept. 10 debate against Vice President Kamala Harris, where Harris also highlighted Trump’s 1989 call for the execution of the then-teenaged defendants.
“Defendant Trump falsely stated [at the debate] that Plaintiffs killed an individual and pled guilty to the crime. These statements are demonstrably false,” the civil suit said. “Plaintiffs never pled guilty to any crime and were subsequently cleared of all wrongdoing. Further, the victims of the Central Park assaults were not killed.”
Shanin Specter, representing the five, said he is eager to challenge Trump’s claims in court.
“We look forward to taking discovery and proceeding to trial,” Specter said.
Last November, U.S. District Judge Michael Baylson, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush, withdrew from the defamation lawsuit brought by the exonerated Central Park Five against Trump, due to his close ties with the group’s lead attorney, Shanin Specter. The case is set to be reassigned within the Eastern District of Pennsylvania’s U.S. District Court, where it was originally filed.
The ongoing lawsuit highlights a longstanding conflict between Trump and the Central Park Five, who were falsely convicted of attacking Trisha Meili, an investment banker, during her evening jog in Central Park in 1989. The assault was so brutal—Meili was beaten, raped, and left nearly dead—that medical officials anticipated a fatal outcome, prompting homicide considerations by the district attorney’s office.
The Trump team did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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