Did You Or Did You Not?
Central Park 5 and The Crucible Relation
The Central Park 5
In a similar situation as The Crucible, people are once again wrongfully convicted. A similar case took place in New York City in the Central Park area on April 20,1989. This involved 5 youths by the names of Antron McCray (age 15), Kevin Richardson (age 14), Yusef Salaam (age 15), Raymond Santana (age 14) and Korey Wise (age 16). These youths were accused and convicted of the vicious, inhuman beating and raping of Trisha Meili (age 28). Before this none of these boys had any criminal records. This incident ensued when the accuser, Trisha Meili, was jogging and claims to have been attacked by these 5 boys. Meili also went on to say it was a, "wolf-pack" who had swarmed her(NY Times). These boys then went on to savagely beat and rape this woman and leave her for dead in the park. 24 hours after these young men were taken into custody, they confessed and were sentenced to several years in prison. Later reports say that these 5 boys were coerced by the interrogators to confess as being guilty. After serving 6-8 years in prison, in December 2002, a district attorney revisited the case and found that the DNA sample from previous rape cases matched this DNA sample. This attorney soon discovered that these 5 men were not the blame for this crime. The man who does match this DNA sample and actually did commit the crime is named Matias Reyes. Reyes confessed to committing this gruesome crime and all the small details. Soon afterwards all 5 of the wrongfully convicted men's sentences were expunged and they were released from prison in early 2003.
Central Park 5 as teenagers.
Matias Reyes
Trisha Meili
The Crucible's Interconnect with The Central Park 5
Works Cited
"CENTRAL PARK FIVE: A Film By Ken Burns, David McMahon and Sarah Burns." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 05 Dec. 2014.
Alvarez, Lizette. "Park Case Witnesses: Their Night of Terror." N.p., 5 Apr. 2013. Web.
"Matias Reyes." Matias Reyes - New York. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2014.
"Trisha Meili: About Trisha." Trisha Meili: About Trisha. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2014.
Moran, Jessica Mulvihill. "20 Years After Attack, 'Central Park Jogger' Offers Hope." Fox News. FOX News Network, 20 Apr. 2009. Web. 08 Dec. 2014.