“Central Park Five” Exoneree Raymond Santana Calls Trump’s Recent Conviction “Karma” and a “Surreal Moment”

“Central Park Five” exoneree Raymond Santana is speaking out on Donald Trump‘s recent guilty verdict.

During his Saturday appearance on CNN, Santana spoke with anchor Victor Blackwell on Trump’s being found guilty on 34 felony charges in his New York hush-money case.

“For me, it was about karma,” Santana said. “It was the example of, this is what happens when rich billionaires who stand on white privilege now have to answer, right?”

He continued, “So it becomes a surreal moment. It also becomes a moment where you just got to take it in, right? This is the stuff that we had to deal with of 1989: going through trial, hearing the conviction, hearing a guilty verdict. And then, now having to sit there and wait for sentencing. I understand that process all too well.”

Santana was one of the five black and Hispanic boys, who were 14 and 15 years old at the time, wrongfully convicted in 1989 of raping a white woman in Central Park. As a result, the boys served prison time until DNA evidence proved their innocence in 2002. During the segment, Blackwell mentioned that at the time, Trump had purchased a full-page newspaper ad demanding the death penalty be reinstated in New York following the accusations.

To no surprise, Santana says that learning of Trump’s guilty verdict felt like a “surreal moment,” as he witnessed someone of the former president’s “stature” have a similar legal experience.

“And, so, I think now, it’s like, you get to see a person of Donald Trump’s stature right,” he added. “Who was a former president, and now you get to see that he’s not above the law, that he can be touched. That he can have this experience that’s very similar to mine. It becomes a moment that is a surreal moment. It’s a full circle moment for me.”

Nevertheless, when questioned about Trump’s sentencing, Santana said that “in a perfect world,” he would enjoy seeing Trump go to prison. However, Santana added that the main thing on his mind that he wanted to ask Trump was, “Do you still think we’re guilty?”