A Manhattan District Attorney’s office is refusing to review previous cases handled by the Central Park Five prosecutor, Linda Fairstein. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Following the release of Ava DuVernay’s Netflix four-part series #WhenTheySeeUs, there has been a resurgence of outcry for the life and time lost for Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam, and Korey Wise. The five boys, now men, were wrongly arrested, charged, convicted and imprisoned for the raping of a white woman in New York’s Central Park.
Linda Fairstein was the lead figure behind the persecution of the men, and now the world wants justice served to her as well as other cases she may have mishandled.
But Manhattan District Attorney #CryrusVance has turned down the opportunity to review Fairstein’s previous cases. In response to a letter from a city council official, sent in by New York Public Advocate #JumaaneWilliams, Vance says he will not be reopening the thousands of cases that were managed by Fairstein. Fairstein was the chief of his office’s Sex Crimes Unit from 1976 and 2002. In addition, Vance also declined to dismiss Elizabeth Lederer, an attorney who was also directly involved in prosecuting the #ExoneratedFive.
“I do not intend to take either action at this time. Instead, I seek your help in publicizing to New Yorkers the availability of my Office’s Conviction Integrity Program process,” Vance wrote in response Friday.
However, in turn, Williams took to Twitter to condemn the decision. “Justice delayed is justice denied, but here, Cy Vance is even denying justice has been delayed. It shouldn’t take another 30 years for us to find out why DA Vance refuses to correct these injustices of the past.”
Ms. Fairstein has called her portrayal “grossly and maliciously inaccurate” Hi Pot, my name is kettle!