He says Trump's call for the "death penalty" helped fuel the media firestorm before the suspects even went to trial. "It says a lot about his character. If he can give the death penalty to 14-year-old, 15-year-old kids then there's nothing he would not do. Those are characteristics of a tyrant, not characteristics of a president," Santana said.

All five are now suing New York for malicious prosecution.

According to the New York Times (October 23, 2002), Trump rejected requests to apologize, when the evidence came to light someone else committed the rape:

No," Mr. Trump said yesterday. "They confessed. Now they say they didn't do it. Who am I supposed to believe?"

Trump's ads are widely believed to have poisoned the potential jury pool. As Michael Warren, one of teen's lawyers told the Times:

"It was outrageous," Mr. Warren said, "the manner that Mr. Trump used to engage in his own personal form of rhetoric. A lot of people felt it colored the eyes of prospective jurors who ultimately sat on the case. Now it's even more appalling, with new evidence that points exclusively to another person. I think Donald Trump at the very least owes a real apology to this community and to the young men and their families.

No physical evidence linked any of the five youths to the crime. Only only one person's semen was recovered and DNA has proven it was that of Mattias Reyes, a serial rapist serving 33 years for murder and rapes, who finally confessed 13 years later. The exonerated teens' confessions were coerced. In addition, the prosecutors misstated the evidence at trial.

The wrongfully convicted teens provided this account of the effect of the wrongful convictions in November, 2002. Their families revealed what it was like for them.

Their convictions were reversed in December, 2002. You can read summaries here and in this article, A Journey Through the Tangled Case of the Central Park Jogger: When Justice Is a Game.

Trump's ads were met with condemnation at the time. He defended them ("Deadly Donald", United Press International, April 30, 1989:)

''How can our great society tolerate the continued brutalization of its citizens by crazed misfits?'' Trump says in the ad. ''Criminals must be told that their civil liberties end when an attack on our safety begins!'' In a telephone interview, Trump expanded by saying, ''The criminal is being protected and the victim is getting zero protection. How does she (the jogger) have civil liberties lying in hospital, close to death and these criminals are already chanting 'police brutality?' It's absolutely disgraceful, disgraceful.''

[Articles available on Lexis.com)