STORY: "The case of the Central Park Five revisits a powerful case of injustice in New York," by reporter Sarah Smith, published by the Kansas City Star on April 14, 2013.
GIST: "When police and prosecutors realized they had found the DNA of only one still-unknown attacker, they never checked it against Matias Reyes, a serial rapist who'd been stalking the Upper East Side near the park when he was arrested that August. It would have matched. Instead, the teens watched the rape survivor testify in court, wishing she could remember what had happened to her. They were all convicted, with sentences ranging from five to 15 years......... The city lost that argument, but there's no doubt "The Central Park Five" is a movie with a mission, in the same vein as this year's "West of Memphis," Amy Berg's powerful effort that helped to free three men, one from death row. The West Memphis Three were just a different verse in the same song: a heinous crime, a populace on edge, a desperate police force wringing a false confession from a teenager. Coming soon: Oscar nominee Al Reinert's "An Unreal Dream," which was screened at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, last month, tells the story of Michael Morton, freed by DNA evidence in 2011 after almost 25 years in jail amid allegations of prosecutorial misconduct. These cases are so egregious that they're easy to get behind, which is the problem. All three documentaries are pushing for further resolution, but their subjects are seeking closure, not freedom. With Berg, Burns and others resurrecting the tradition of "The Thin Blue Line," other filmmakers should pick up the phone and call the Innocence Project. Police still feel pressure to make arrests. Healthy skepticism rarely follows a heavy sigh of relief. If documentaries are going to openly fight for social change, it's time for a wave of films about the wrongfully convicted in this country whose stories have not already appeared in The New YorkTimes."
The entire story can be found at:
GIST: "When police and prosecutors realized they had found the DNA of only one still-unknown attacker, they never checked it against Matias Reyes, a serial rapist who'd been stalking the Upper East Side near the park when he was arrested that August. It would have matched. Instead, the teens watched the rape survivor testify in court, wishing she could remember what had happened to her. They were all convicted, with sentences ranging from five to 15 years......... The city lost that argument, but there's no doubt "The Central Park Five" is a movie with a mission, in the same vein as this year's "West of Memphis," Amy Berg's powerful effort that helped to free three men, one from death row. The West Memphis Three were just a different verse in the same song: a heinous crime, a populace on edge, a desperate police force wringing a false confession from a teenager. Coming soon: Oscar nominee Al Reinert's "An Unreal Dream," which was screened at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, last month, tells the story of Michael Morton, freed by DNA evidence in 2011 after almost 25 years in jail amid allegations of prosecutorial misconduct. These cases are so egregious that they're easy to get behind, which is the problem. All three documentaries are pushing for further resolution, but their subjects are seeking closure, not freedom. With Berg, Burns and others resurrecting the tradition of "The Thin Blue Line," other filmmakers should pick up the phone and call the Innocence Project. Police still feel pressure to make arrests. Healthy skepticism rarely follows a heavy sigh of relief. If documentaries are going to openly fight for social change, it's time for a wave of films about the wrongfully convicted in this country whose stories have not already appeared in The New YorkTimes."
The entire story can be found at:
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2013/04/14/2533981/the-central-park-five-revisits.html
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.
The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.
Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
