Photo: Michael Norcia/New York Post Archives /(c) NYP Holdings, Inc. via Getty Images
Elizabeth Lederer, one of the prosecutors inthe 1989 “Central Park Five” trialthat resulted in the wrongful conviction of five teenagers, has resigned from her post at Columbia Law School.
Elizabeth Lederer.Thomas Guercio/New York Post Archives /(c) NYP Holdings, Inc. via Getty Images
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Prior to her resignation, theColumbia Black Law Students Associationhad released a letter criticizing the university’s “inaction” in addressing her connection to the “Central Park Five” case.
Lederer’s resignation is the latest fallout from the Netflix series, which has reignited public discussion and backlash against the prosecutors involved in the trial.
Linda Fairstein, another prosecutor in the case, hasreportedly resigned fromthe board of Vassar College, as well as from the boards of Joyful Heart Foundation and God’s Love We Deliver.
In an op-ed in theWall Street Journalearlier this week, Fairstein claimed that DuVernay’s four-part scripted series is “so full of distortions and falsehoods as to be an outright fabrication.”
The “Central Park Five” were convicted and sentenced to between five and 15 years in prison for the attack on Meili. However, they claimed they had been forced to confess under duress and said the investigators had deprived them of food, water and sleep.
Their convictions were vacated in 2002 after a convicted rapist named Matias Reyes confessed to Meili’s April 1989 rape. DNA evidence confirmed Reyes’ connection to the crime.
source: people.com
