Central Park Jogger Case Essay Example

In the case of the central park jogger, one of the most controversial cases of its time the culprit of the crime is not certain at the conviction. There are two articles of evidence that were key in solving and in committing a huge error in this case. The firs item of evidence is hair found on the defendants clothing and the second key article of evidence is the semen found on the victim after she was left for dead in a poodle of mud in central park. In April 1989 five; fifteen year old suspects were convicted of rape and sentenced to nine to fifteen years of jail time. The conclusion was made because of one peace of evidence, hair on the defendant's cloth that matched the hair of the victim. But oddly enough the semen found on the victim did not mach any of the five defendants. The five defendants confessed which reinforced the notion that the five teenagers had anything to do with the rape, which lead to their conviction. More then three months later Matias Reyes confessed to the central park rape. He confessed shortly after being convicted of killing a pregnant woman while her children watched, he said he confessed because it was what god wanted him to do. When the lab tests returned it was determined that the semen found on the victim match Matias Reyes, and later after further investigation the hair found on the defendants clothing was found to not belong to the victim. The five teenagers were released from prison because without the hair there is no case against them. There are still some questions that can be asked of this case like, it the teenagers had nothing to do with the rape why did they confess to it, and why then if the hair on the defendant didn't match up to the victim's hair why did they say it did? Could the hair have been a fabrication of the police or could the hair have been planted there? All these things are unknown for sure but some will speculate that the boys were in reality part of the crime. That's what makes this case one of