QUOTE OF THE DAY: "“Here is my message to you, Mr. Trump,” Salaam said. “In response to the multiple federal and state criminal investigations that you are facing, you responded by warning of “potential death and destruction,” and by posting a photograph of yourself with a baseball bat, next to a photo of Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg. These actions, just like your actions leading up to the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, are an attack on our safety.” Salaam said Americans should fight to uphold the civil liberties grounded in the Constitution every day, even as people like Trump seek to “obliterate” them. “Now that you have been indicted and are facing criminal charges, I do not resort to hatred, bias or racism — as you once did,” Salaam said. “Even though thirty-four years ago you effectively called for my death and the death of four other innocent children, I wish you no harm.” Salaam said he is putting his faith in the judicial system to get to the truth of this case and that he hopes Trump gets what the Exonerated Five did not — “the presumption of innocence and a fair trial. “And if the charges are proven and you are found guilty, I hope that you endure whatever penalties are imposed with the same strength and dignity that the Exonerated Five showed as we served our punishment for a crime we did not commit,” Salaam said."
-------------------------------------------------------------------
PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "In 1989, Salaam was one of five Black and Latino teenagers wrongly convicted of sexually a white woman in New York’s Central Park. At the time, Trump bought a full-page ad in The New York Times calling for the state to adopt the death penalty over the case. “I want to hate these murderers and I always will,” Trump wrote in his ad. “I am not looking to psychoanalyze or understand them, I am looking to punish them.” Despite Salaam and the four others — Korey Wise, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, Antron McCray — being exonerated in 2002, as well as DNA evidence identifying the actual attacker, Trump never walked back his comments. “You have people on both sides of that,” Trump said in 2019. “They admitted their guilt.” Last week, after the news of Trump’s indictment broke, Salaam called the moment “karma.”
-------------------------------------------------------------------
STORY: "Exonerated Central Park Five member mimics Trump with full page ad against former president," by Staff Writer Cheyanne M. Daniels, published by The Hill, on April 5, 2023.
GIST: "A member of the Central Park Five has taken out a full-page ad in The New York Times as an open letter to former President Trump after he was arraigned on 34 felony counts related to hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election.
“Over 30 years ago, Donald Trump took out full page ads calling for my execution,” Yusef Salaam, a candidate for New York City Council, tweeted Tuesday. “On the day he was arrested and arraigned, here is my ad in response.”
Salaam detailed how his wrongful conviction, his time entangled with the justice system, and Trump’s ads and subsequent news show appearances was an experience that changed his life.
“Now, after several decades and an unfortunate and disastrous presidency, we all know exactly who Donald J. Trump is — a man who seeks to deny justice and fairness for others, while claiming only innocence for himself,” Salaam wrote.
In 1989, Salaam was one of five Black and Latino teenagers wrongly convicted of sexually assaulting a white woman in New York’s Central Park.
At the time, Trump bought a full-page ad in The New York Times calling for the state to adopt the death penalty over the case.
“I want to hate these murderers and I always will,” Trump wrote in his ad. “I am not looking to psychoanalyze or understand them, I am looking to punish them.”
Despite Salaam and the four others — Korey Wise, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, Antron McCray — being exonerated in 2002, as well as DNA evidence identifying the actual attacker, Trump never walked back his comments.
“You have people on both sides of that,” Trump said in 2019. “They admitted their guilt.”
Last week, after the news of Trump’s indictment broke, Salaam called the moment “karma.”
But despite his wrongful conviction 30 years ago, Salaam said, the issues plaguing Black and brown communities — including inadequate housing, underfunded schools, public safety and lack of job opportunities — are the same as they were when he was a boy, and they “became worse during Donald Trump’s time in office.”
But Salaam also took time to ridicule Trump’s social media posts since his indictment.
“Here is my message to you, Mr. Trump,” Salaam said. “In response to the multiple federal and state criminal investigations that you are facing, you responded by warning of “potential death and destruction,” and by posting a photograph of yourself with a baseball bat, next to a photo of Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg.
These actions, just like your actions leading up to the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, are an attack on our safety.”
Salaam said Americans should fight to uphold the civil liberties grounded in the Constitution every day, even as people like Trump seek to “obliterate” them.
“Now that you have been indicted and are facing criminal charges, I do not resort to hatred, bias or racism — as you once did,” Salaam said. “Even though thirty-four years ago you effectively called for my death and the death of four other innocent children, I wish you no harm.”
Salaam said he is putting his faith in the judicial system to get to the truth of this case and that he hopes Trump gets what the Exonerated Five did not — “the presumption of innocence and a fair trial.”
“And if the charges are proven and you are found guilty, I hope that you endure whatever penalties are imposed with the same strength and dignity that the Exonerated Five showed as we served our punishment for a crime we did not commit,” Salaam said.
Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges during his arraignment in Manhattan on Tuesday."
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. 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/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html 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;
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
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;
—————————————————————————————————
FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
------------------------------------------------------------------
YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:
David Hammond, one of Broadwater’s attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, “Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it’s the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.”
-------------------------------------------------------------------
