Judge refuses to dismiss Central Park Five’s defamation case against President Trump
By MARC LEVY Associated Press HARRISBURG Pa AP A federal judge has rejected President Donald Trump s effort to dismiss a defamation lawsuit against him filed by the men formerly known as the Central Park Five who were exonerated after spending more than a decade in prison for the rape and beating of a woman who was jogging U S District Judge Wendy Beetlestone in Philadelphia denied Trump s motion to dismiss in a brief Thursday night order The five men the sued Trump in the midst of last fall s presidential electoral process campaign accusing him of making false and defamatory statements about them during the Sept debate in Philadelphia with then-Vice President Kamala Harris Related Articles Head of US Space Force base in Greenland is fired after Vance visit Senate confirms Trump nominee Caine for chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff in overnight vote RFK Jr says HHS will determine the cause of autism by September Trump will undergo his annual physical Friday after years of reluctance to share clinical information Now that they ve passed a budget plan the hard part begins for Republicans Trump misstated key facts of the episode when Harris brought up the matter saying They admitted they mentioned they pled guilty And I announced well if they pled guilty they badly hurt a person killed a person ultimately And if they pled guilty then they pled we re not guilty Trump announced The men Yusef Salaam Antron McCray Kevin Richardson Raymond Santana and Korey Wise never pleaded guilty they were convicted after jury trials Also no victim died In a comment their lawyer Shanin Specter commented they are gratified by the Court s ruling and thorough analysis and look forward to discovery trial and the ultimate vindication of these five fine men Trump s lawyer did not right away respond to an inquiry Friday The men had urged for compensatory and punitive damages saying Trump had knowingly defamed them purposefully made false statements about them and sought to inflict severe emotional distress on them Judge Beetlestone s order dismissed one of the indicates for intentional infliction of emotional distress In the request to dismiss the occurrence Trump s lawyer had announced the president s statements were protected under Pennsylvania laws that grant civil immunity over statements made on a matter of masses concern The request to dismiss also noted Trump s statements were substantially true that he didn t dispute the men were ultimately exonerated and that he had intended to portray his thinking in when following the men having confessed Trump purchased a full-page ad in The New York Times calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty At the time multiple in New York considered Trump s ad was akin to calling for the teens to be executed The five men had been teenagers when they were accused of the rape and beating of a white woman jogging in New York City s Central Park The five who are Black and Latino stated they confessed to the crimes under duress They later recanted pleading not guilty in court and were later convicted after jury trials Their convictions were vacated in after another person confessed to the crime When the lawsuit was filed Specter disclosed Trump defamed them in front of million people which has caused them to seek to clear their names all over again A Trump campaign spokesperson attacked it at the time as a frivolous vote interference lawsuit
