#And then there was light 1989 trial

KELLY: And I gather this came back in front of your office due to Mr. And so.īRAGG: That may have been why it was - went down a different track. Lopez, as you said, albeit to a different charge - but his conviction was by plea.

#And then there was light 1989 trial

And that is just that, you know, procedurally, the posture was different in that the other went to trial and were convicted by juries. I'm going to do what lawyers should seldom do, which is speculate a little bit. But why was his case not vacated years ago, when the other five were?īRAGG: You know, you're right that I do not know the answer to that. So why - and I - this is to the best of your knowledge because I know you only took over as Manhattan D.A. And that evidence has now all certainly, I think, been rightly questioned. And then as with the other five as well, you know, the crux of the case were statements all given by, you know, very young men - boys, in fact - that have, you know, since been recanted and certainly shouldn't form the basis. And there's no - so there's no physical evidence tying him to the charge conduct. KELLY: Hair comparison - so DNA evidence that's come to light. Like the other five before him, here we had - there had been some hair comparisons that were done that now has been shown to be a kind of faulty analysis. You know, and you just framed the history so well. And so he's certainly, like the rest of us, presumed innocent, as I said in court today. I want to start just by - to be clear, does your office believe he is not guilty, never was of that charge?īRAGG: Well, certainly, as a matter of law, as you said, you know, his indictment was vacated.

KELLY: So what Steven Lopez did plead guilty to was a robbery charge involving a male jogger.

Welcome.ĪLVIN BRAGG: Thank you so much for having me. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg joins us now live from Manhattan. His name is Steven Lopez, and today Manhattan's district attorney moved to vacate his conviction. He, too, went to jail but struck a plea deal to a lesser charge. Well, there was actually a sixth teenage defendant forgotten in much of the history. They're now often called the Exonerated Five because even though they all spent years in prison, they were innocent and were eventually freed as new evidence came to light. They were originally called the Central Park Five, five Black and Latino teenagers between 14 and 16 years old convicted for the rape and assault of a white woman in New York City back in 1989.