Central Park Five members: This is why NY still needs wrongful conviction reforms | Opinion

Last month’s opening of the Gate of the Exonerated in Central Park marked a major milestone in recognizing wrongful convictions in New York. The event took place on the 20th anniversary of the day that we, along with our brothers Korey Wise, Antron McCray and Yusef Salaam, were officially exonerated of a horrific attack on a Central Park jogger in 1989.

As wrongfully convicted teenagers, the world seemed to turn against us. We never thought we would see this type of recognition of the injustices that we suffered. Yet in this moment of victory, we could not help but think of our innocent brothers and sisters who are still behind bars or are otherwise unable to clear their names.

Two decades after our exoneration, New York still has among the toughest laws in the nation for overturning wrongful convictions. The state legislature should ensure that innocent people get justice and public safety is protected by passing the Challenging Wrongful Convictions Act — Senate Bill 215 — this session.

Despite the years that were taken from us for a crime we did not commit, we are fortunate to have been exonerated when the process is so needlessly difficult in New York. Our state’s “actual innocence law” is supposed to be a pathway to justice, but it is full of roadblocks.

First, there is a significant hurdle for innocent people who plead guilty. While we did not take pleas in our case, as 14 year olds who were subjected to hours of brutal police interrogations, we can certainly understand the pressure to do so. In the United States, 97% of criminal cases are resolved through guilty pleas. According to the National Registry of Exonerations, 1 in 4 wrongfully convicted Americans who were later exonerated pleaded guilty.

Yet in 2018, the New York State Court of Appeals ruled that New Yorkers cannot claim actual innocence to have their convictions overturned if they took a plea, unless there is DNA evidence. This put New York out of step with other states that recently changed their ‘actual innocence’ laws without barring guilty pleas, like Maryland, Nevada, Texas, Virginia, Utah and Wyoming.

Second, we were fortunate to have lawyers who helped to fight against our wrongful conviction. New York is one of only five states in the country that does not provide post-conviction right to counsel, meaning that lawyers are available only to those who can afford one are fortunate enough to obtain limited pro-bono representation. That leaves wrongfully convicted people to navigate the complicated post-conviction legal system on their own.

Third, we were able to obtain access to the evidence used to convict us, which allowed a reinvestigation and identification of the person who actually committed the crime. In New York there is no right to post-conviction discovery and materials that can be used to reinvestigate the case might not be accessible.

Senate Bill 215, the Challenging Wrongful Convictions Act sponsored by state Sen. Zellnor Myrie, D-Brooklyn, would remove hurdles in the current law and provide resources for exoneration. The legislation would remove the guilty plea bar on actual innocence claims. It would also provide for a post-conviction right to counsel and discovery to provide important legal tools for overturning wrongful convictions.

The Gate of the Exonerated is just the start, and New York now needs a law that is a true gateway for proving innocence. Too many Black and brown people like us have suffered from injustice, and the Challenging Wrongful Convictions Act would help right the wrongs of the past.

Raymond Santana and Kevin Richardson are two of the Central Park Five and were exonerated of charges that they attacked a jogger in Central Park.