NEW YORK (AP) – All but closing the books on one of the most sensational crime cases in New York history, the city has agreed to a $40 million settlement with five men who were falsely convicted in the vicious 1989 rape and beating of a Central Park jogger, a city official said Friday.
The official had direct knowledge of the agreement but wasn’t allowed to discuss it publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The deal still needs the approval of the city comptroller and a federal judge.
The five black and Hispanic defendants were found guilty as teenagers in 1990 in the attack on a white woman who had gone for a run in the park.
They served anywhere from six to 13 years in prison before their convictions were thrown out in 2002 when evidence connected someone else to the crime.
More than a decade ago, they brought a $250 million civil rights lawsuit against police and prosecutors.