A sixth teenager who pleaded guilty in the 1989 Central Park jogger case will be exonerated on Monday (July 25), ABC News reports.
While the other five teenagers famously known as the “Central Park 5” went to trial, Steven Lopez pleaded guilty to avoid the rape charge.
His guilty plea is now set to be vacated and his charges dismissed by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr.
Lopez was among the teenagers arrested and interrogated by police after Trisha Meili was raped and brutally beaten while jogging in Central Park on April 19, 1989.
Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, and Korey Wise, the Central Park 5, falsely confessed to Meili’s assault after brutal interrogations and went on to face high-profile trials.
As a result of their trials, Salaam, Santana, and McCray were convicted of rape, assault, and robbery. Wise was found guilty of sexual abuse, assault, and riot, according to ABC News.
Richardson was convicted of attempted murder, rape, sodomy, robbery, assault, and riot.
In 2002, Matias Reyes confessed to the violent assault of Meili, and the convictions of the Central Park 5 were overturned.
Lopez, at the time of his arrest, struck a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to robbing a male jogger on the same night as the assault, the New York Times reports.
He served three years behind bars to avoid the rape charge.
Lopez’s case is still not as well known as the other five teenagers who received settlement money from the city after their exonerations.
According to reports, there’s no word of a settlement for Lopez despite his impending exoneration.
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