Donald Trump took to his Twitter account to raise questions in and around what the Wall Street Journal reported was a ‘Phenomenal Result’, far exceeding established precedent for wrongful conviction cases.
N.Y. City is paying FORTY MILLION DOLLARS to five men that many think are guilty as hell. So many facts – should have been trial. Politics!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 22, 2014
How much money are the lawyers for the Central Park Five getting out of the 40 million dollars, or are they paid by the City (or both)?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 22, 2014
I’d bet the lawyers for the Central Park 5 are laughing at the stupidity of N.Y.C. when there was such a strong case against their “clients”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 22, 2014
The settlement still has to be approved by both a judge and the city’s comptroller. While the case was extremely high profile, there was on rationale given for the unusually high dollar amount of the settlement.
The expected federal lawsuit settlement between the City of New York and the “Central Park Five” for $40 million would dwarf past wrongful-conviction payouts by the city, plaintiff attorneys said Friday.
The amount–which is subject to the approval of Comptroller Scott Stringer and a U.S. District Judge–works out to almost $1 million for each year each man spent in prison.
“It’s a phenomenal result,” said Nick Brustin, an attorney who has settled several wrongful-conviction suits and isn’t involved in this case. He said it “is right up there with the highest settlement that I’ve ever seen.”
For comparison, in May, Mr. Brustin helped settle a lawsuit for $8.6 million on behalf of an upstate New York man who spent 19 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit.
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