PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "The four-part Netflix series was a dramatisation of five wrongly convicted black and Latino teenagers who were accused of assaulting and raping a woman in Central Park in 1989. The show includes scenes where New York police interrogate the boys for several days without food and toilet breaks to get them to confess. Ryan's partner says: "You squeezed statements out of them after 42 hours of questioning and coercing, without food, bathroom breaks, withholding parental supervision. "The Reid Technique has been universally rejected. That's truth to you." The police training firm said the show's depiction of the technique was false but the judge ruled When They See Us had only loosely showed the technique - rather than explicitly listing everything it included. "
STORY: "When they see us, Netflix wins defamation case, BBC News reports on March 24, 2020.
GIST: "Netflix has won a defamation case for the show When They See Us, which tells the story of the Central Park Five.
The case was brought against the streaming service and its director, Ava DuVernay, by a US police training firm.
John E. Reid and Associates complained the series had falsely portrayed a interrogation method called the Reid Technique.
Judge Manish S. Shah ruled that the series' depiction of interrogation was protected by law.
The ruling was given under the First Amendment - which protects freedom of speech and expression.
The four-part Netflix series was a dramatisation of five wrongly convicted black and Latino teenagers who were accused of assaulting and raping a woman in Central Park in 1989.
The show includes scenes where New York police interrogate the boys for several days without food and toilet breaks to get them to confess.
Ryan's partner says: "You squeezed statements out of them after 42 hours of questioning and coercing, without food, bathroom breaks, withholding parental supervision.
"The Reid Technique has been universally rejected. That's truth to you."
The police training firm said the show's depiction of the technique was false but the judge ruled When They See Us had only loosely showed the technique - rather than explicitly listing everything it included.
Last week, former prosecutor Linda Fairstein filed her own defamation case against Netflix and Ava DuVernay over the series, claiming that she was falsely portrayed as racist and in charge the prosecution of the Central Park Five.
Netflix said it would defend itself against the "frivolous" lawsuit.""
Who were the Central Park Five?
One spring evening in 1989, a group of around 30 teenagers were hanging out in Central Park, New York.
Some of them were causing serious trouble - including badly hurting others in the park and harassing homeless people.
The same night, a 28-year-old white woman, Trisha Meili, had been out jogging in the park.
She was found beaten and raped and was in a coma for 12 days - and in that time, the case of the Central Park Jogger would grip New York City.
Five young black and Hispanic men, aged between 14 and 16, would be found guilty and jailed for the crime.
They became known as the Central Park Five.
But they never committed the crime.
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The entire story can be read at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-52017601
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Read entire Associated Press story of Former Prosecutor Linda Fairnstein's defamation case against Netflix and DuVernay - 'Former prosecutor sues Netflix over Central Park series' - at the link below: "Former Manhattan prosecutor Linda Fairstein has sued Netflix and film director Ava DuVernay over her portrayal in the streaming service’s miniseries about the Central Park Five case, which sent five black and Latino teenagers to prison for a crime they were later absolved of committing. Fairstein claims in the lawsuit, filed Wednesday in federal court in Fort Myers, Florida, that the four-part series “When They See Us” defamed her by portraying her as a “racist, unethical villain.” “Most glaringly, the film series falsely portrays Ms. Fairstein as in charge of the investigation and prosecution of the case against the five, including the development of the prosecution’s theory of the case,” Fairstein’s lawyer, Andrew Miltenberg, said in a statement. “In truth, and as detailed in the lawsuit, Ms. Fairstein was responsible for neither aspect of the case.” Fairstein was the top Manhattan sex crimes prosecutor in 1989 when the five teenagers were charged with a vicious attack on a jogger in Central Park. The convictions were overturned in 2002 after convicted murderer and serial rapist Matias Reyes confessed to committing the crime alone. DNA linked him to it. Fairstein, who became a best-selling crime author after retiring from the Manhattan district attorney’s office, observed the boys’ interrogation but didn’t personally try the case.
Fairstein was dropped by her publisher and resigned from several boards she served on after “When They See Us,” which dramatizes the events surrounding the trial, debuted last year. Netflix called Fairstein’s lawsuit “frivolous” and said in a statement, “We intend to vigorously defend ‘When They See Us’ and Ava DuVernay and Attica Locke, the incredible team behind the series.”Emails seeking comment were sent to a representative for DuVernay and to Locke, a writer and producer of the series who was named as a defendant in the lawsuit."
https://www.thesunchronicle.com/ap/entertainment/former-prosecutor-sues-netflix-over-central-park-series/article_60cb404a-8f93-5564-b801-f98f232cd51a.html.
https://www.thesunchronicle.com/ap/entertainment/former-prosecutor-sues-netflix-over-central-park-series/article_60cb404a-8f93-5564-b801-f98f232cd51a.html.
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FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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