Sixth Teenager Charged in Central Park Jogger Case Is Exonerated

The New York Times, July 25, 2022: Sixth Teenager Charged in Central Park Jogger Case Is Exonerated

“A forgotten co-defendant of the Central Park Five, who, like them, was charged with the rape of a jogger in a case that shook New York City and the nation, had a related conviction overturned Monday in downtown Manhattan.

“The case against the Five — teenagers of color who were innocent of the 1989 sexual assault on a white woman but who were convicted on the basis of false confessions that the police elicited — continues to shape attitudes surrounding racism in the criminal justice system, the media and society. But the story of the sixth man — Steven Lopez — had previously been all but ignored.

“Mr. Lopez, who was arrested when he was 15, struck a deal with prosecutors just before his trial two years later to avoid the more serious rape charge, instead pleading guilty to robbery of a male jogger.

“Like his peers, he went to prison; collectively, the group served close to 45 years. Soon after the true assailant in the Central Park rape was identified in 2002, the authorities overturned the rape convictions against the five men. They have gone on to win a $41 million settlement from New York City and become the subjects of films, books and television shows.

“The story of Mr. Lopez, now 48, is far less well-known.”

Additional reading:

The New York Times, May 30, 2019: The Central Park Five: ‘We Were Just Baby Boys’

Vulture, September 19, 2019: How Ava DuVernay Made When They See Us, the Year’s Best Miniseries