Raymond Santana, one of the wrongfully convicted “Central Park Five,” breaks his silence about a judge shutting down Trump’s attempt to have a defamation lawsuit against him thrown out.
Santana spoke with TMZ and said Trump has been a bother to him since 1989. He ran a full-page newspaper ad calling for the five young boys’ execution. Santana said that Trump has no remorse for his actions towards him and his friends over the years. He also mentioned how Trump doubled down on their guilt during the 2024 presidential debate with Kamala Harris.
When asked about the judge’s decision to uphold the lawsuit against Trump, Santana said, “It just proves our point. We’ve been dealing with this man since 1989, and he has doubled down, tripled down, and sometimes quadrupled down on our guilt, and it just shows that justice is going to be served.”
He continued, “The courts are not going to fall for the BS. They are going to call it how they see it, and that we have a case. We deserve to be heard in court, and the right to face our accuser.” Santana was asked if this presidency makes it easier for their case against Trump. “Well, I mean, the proof is there with us. This isn’t the first time he has made these statements about us; at the presidential debate, he also made several statements throughout the year.”
Santana hopes to get justice from this case and wants to put it all behind him. In 1989, five young boys were accused of beating and raping a female jogger in NYC. They were all teenagers and confessed under bad circumstances. The boys were all convicted in jury trials, but they never pleaded guilty to the crime. In 2002, their convictions were vacated after another person confessed to the crime.
Now known as the “Exonerated Five,” Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Antron Brown, and Korey Wise are suing Donald Trump for “defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress.” They are seeking punitive and compensatory damages.