Members of the Central Park 5 reunite at the Democratic National Convention and recall how Trump called for their execution on false assault charges

Members of the Central Park Five – now known as the Exonerated 5 – spoke at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Thursday, August 22, to support Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential candidacy.

Yusef Salaam, Korey Wise, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson and Antron McCray were wrongfully convicted of rape and assault as teenagers in 1989. Salaam, 50, Wise, 52, Santana, 49, and Richardson, 49, appeared on stage alongside the civil rights activist. Rev. Al Sharpton during the fourth and final night of the DNC. McCray, 50, was not present.

During the trial, Trump took out full-page ads in New York newspapers calling for the death penalty.

“Thirty-five years ago, my friends and I were in prison for a crime we didn’t commit. Our youth was stolen from us,” Wise said on stage. “Every day when we went into courtrooms, people were yelling at us and threatening us – because of Donald Trump.”

“Vice President Harris has also worked to advance justice. I know she will do the same as president,” Wise added.

“45 wanted us dead. He wanted us killed. Today we are vindicated,” Salaam, now a member of the New York City Council, said of former President Donald Trump – who was the 45th president and is now Harris’ Republican challenger for the White House.

“He has never changed and he never will. This man believes hate is the driving force in America. That is not the case,” Salaam added.

On April 19, 1989, Patricia “Trisha” Meili was found barely alive in New York’s Central Park at around 1:30 a.m. after being beaten unconscious and sexually assaulted.

The five teens were arrested in the days that followed. Santana and Richardson were 14 years old, McCray and Salaam were 15, and Wise was 16 when they were taken into custody for Meili’s attack.

After hours of interrogation in the Central Park Precinct on April 21, the boys confessed under duress to attacking her. However, they recanted their confessions, saying they only confessed on the understanding that they could go home afterward, and this ultimately led to one of the most famous miscarriages of justice in modern American history.

Between April 27 and 28, 1989, all five teenagers were charged with rape, assault, attempted murder and riot. Each of them served between five and 13 years in prison until convicted murderer Matias Reyes confessed and they were released in 2002 thanks to DNA evidence.

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Since the five men were exonerated, Trump has refused to apologize to the group for their calls for their execution. During his first presidential bid in October 2016, Trump reiterated his earlier stance.

Even while he was still president, he was asked about the exonerated men in June 2019 and reiterated his stance: “They have admitted their guilt.”