Linda Fairstein oversaw the false prosecution
of the Exonerated Five and hundreds of other
cases.
[ [link removed] ][IMG]
Demand Manhattan DA Cy Vance reopen and
investigate her cases!
[ [link removed] ]Take Action!
John,
Linda Fairstein, responsible for the false prosecution of the 'Exonerated
Five' (fka "the Central Park Five) ^1^, oversaw hundreds of cases during
her tenure in the Manhattan DA's office. And there's no telling how many
of those convictions should be overturned too.
Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray, Yusef Salaam, and Korey
Wise collectively spent 37 years in prison for a crime they did not commit
due to Linda's false conviction.^2 Fairstein used her power as a
prosecutor to pursue these false convictions even though there was no
physical evidence tying the boys to the rape. This brazen denial of hard
facts and evidence calls her judgment into question and the 30 years she
wielded unchecked prosecutorial discretion and power. Despite elected
officials like Jumaane Williams joining the call for an investigation into
her past cases, Manhattan DA Cy Vance is refusing to re-open the
cases,^3 and just this week released a statement ignoring the calls of
families and directly impacted communities that have been calling for him
to do his job.
That's why we're joining forces nationally with Justice League NYC,
BYP100, Daily Kos, CREDO Action, Vocal-NY, and other partners across the
country to demand that DA Cy Vance immediately reopen all of Fairstein’s
cases and conduct an independent audit. Ava Duvernay's powerful 4-part
series When They See Us^4 has brought Fairstein's wretched practices back
out into the open and sparked new outrage. Prompted by the series, Linda
has been forced to step down from the boards of 3 nonprofit organizations,
Vassar College, dropped from one of her publishing companies, and have had
awards rescinded^5. It's not enough just to affect Fairstein's ability to
profit from this injustice--we have to make sure ALL of her past harms are
undone. If there are any other people wrongfully convicted, like the
'Exonerated Five', then we must go back and clear their records. Will you
join us in calling on Manhattan DA Cy Vance to do the right thing and
review all of Fairstein's convictions?
[ [link removed] ]Sign the petition: Tell the Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance to
reopen all of Linda Fairstein's cases.
Linda was a prosecutor in the Manhattan DA’s office for 30 years and
served as the head of the sex crimes unit where she acted with impunity.
As illuminated in Ava Duvernay’s 4-part series, When They See Us, Linda
oversaw the Exonerated Five case with very little oversight and there were
no lengths she would stop at to secure a conviction. But what's even more
troubling is her doubling down more than a decade after the truth was
revealed. Even after the true rapist confessed--with DNA evidence matching
him to the crime and a thorough investigation illuminating every single
place where the DA's office went wrong and that none of the boys' coerced
confessions actually matched the facts of the crime--Fairstein still to
this day maintains that they were guilty of "something."^6 This case
signals that Linda Fairstein was likely more motivated by racking up
racist prosecutions on her record, rather than delivering justice to
victims of sex crimes.
Every year, dozens of innocent people are exonerated after false
convictions, misused forensic evidence, false confessions, and inadequate
defense is brought to light from reopening investigations. We must make
every effort and use every opportunity to exonerate and vacate the
convictions of the many innocent people. Within the last year alone, more
than 100 men and women had their cases exonerated^7 from reopened
investigations and we know there are still hundreds and even thousands of
more innocent falsely prosecuted people. By vacating false convictions, we
can attempt to restore the livelihood of so many people whose lives were
diminished by vicious prosecutors like Linda Fairstein.
[ [link removed] ]What if there are other falsely prosecuted cases that she prosecuted?
DA Vance must reopen and investigate Linda's cases NOW.
Since Ava Duvernay's series was released, Linda has already been dropped
from her book publisher and resigned from 3 nonprofit board positions, and
now we must turn our direction to DA Vance because he has the power to
reopen her cases in search of any other false convictions. If he fails to
do so, this wouldn't be the first time that DA Vance failed to bring
justice to the light. He failed to bring charges against Harvey Weinstein,
who sexually assaulted a woman and it was revealed that Weinstein and his
lawyers gave DA Vance more than $55,000 in donations after the case was
dropped.^8 In another case, DA Vance failed to bring charges against two
of Donald Trump’s children in a high profile real estate scam.^9 But we
can't allow Vance and Fairstein to continue escaping accountability. Vance
thinks that this will go away, but we will not back down. If we all stand
up together, lift up the voices of families whose loved ones were
wrongfully incarcerated, we can build up enough pressure to force his
office to re-investigate these cases.
[ [link removed] ]Join us in calling on the Manhattan DA Cy Vance to do the right thing
and reopen and investigate all of Linda Fairstein's cases.
Until justice is real,
Clarise, Rashad, Arisha, Scott, Erika, Leonard, Kristen M., Marena,
Marybeth, Tamar, Madison, Kristen P. and the rest of the Color Of Change
team
References:
1. "When They See Us Sparked a Boycott Against Central Park Five
Prosecutor Linda Fairstein". Esquire, 7 June
2019 [ [link removed] ][link removed]
2. "Central Park Five: What to know about the jogger rape case". AM New
York, 5 June
2019 [ [link removed] ][link removed]
3. "Manhattan District Attorney Refuses to Reopen Cases Handled by Central
Park Five Prosecutor Linda Fairstein". The Root, 18 June
2019 [ [link removed] ][link removed]
4. "Central Park Five Tragedy Reframed in Netflix Series When They See
Us". The Innocence Project, 24 May
2019 [ [link removed] ][link removed]
5. "Little, Brown and Dutton drop Linda Fairstein". The Bookseller, 11
June
2019 [ [link removed] ][link removed]
6. "Linda Fairstein Is Still Trying to Take Down the Central Park Five".
The Nation, 13 June
2019 [ [link removed] ][link removed]
7. The National Registry of Exonerations, Exonerations By Year, Accessed
21 June
2019 [ [link removed] ][link removed]
8. "New York pols’ strange silence on Cy Vance’s Harvey Weinstein
horrors". New York Post, 22 March
2018 [ [link removed] ][link removed]
9. "Why did Cy Vance give Weinstein special treatment?". City and State
NY, 4 June
2018 [ [link removed] ][link removed]
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[ [link removed] ]Color Of Change is building a movement to elevate the voices of Black
folks and our allies, and win real social and political change. [ [link removed] ]Help
keep our movement strong.
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