Why Must Read The Central Park Five: The Untold Story Behind One of New York City's Most Infamous Crimes?

I had a renewed interest in this case after the money judgement settlement. The author writes well, but her premise is that a jury in NYC, at the time, could not give a fair trial to five black and hispanic youths being tried for raping a white woman. I respectfully disagree, and the the juries were racially diverse and deliberated for over 10 days in both trials. If these youths are so innocent, than answer the following: 1. Why did Anton McCray only open up on the videotape confession after his mother said "Tell the truth, we brought you up better than that?." I watched the confession. This was interestingly left out of the book. I believe his confession is the most honest and accurate for this and other reasons. If you watch any one of the confessions, watch Anton's. 2. Why were Kevin Richardsons underpants full of debris, grass stains, and semen? The jury actually discovered this and it was never pointed out at trial. 3. Why did Korey Wise tell two different people, outside the police station, "that was us" when referring to the rape of the jogger? Why did he also tell another person that he either held or fondled the joggers legs (but did not rape her)? I admit that his videotape confession is the weakest, and that is why it is the only one played in the documentary. 4. If Yusef was innocent, how did the pipe get out of his pocket and wind up being so instrumental in what happened that night? He portrays himself as a mere observer of the events, yet admits bringing the pipe. 5. Why did Raymond Santana spontaneously say, outside the police station, that he grabbed the lady's breasts (he used another word)? 6. Why did Steve Lopez say, before the jogger was found, "I didn't do the murder"? Why did Kevin Richardson then say "Anton did it?" Again, at this point the police did not know about the jogger, so no interrogation had occurred. 7. Why did several boys name a "Tony" as one of the rapists? The author conveniently leaves out that Mattais Reyes went by the nickname "Tony", and that was well known. Also, Korey Wise said a "Rudy" stole the jogger's walkman, that Reyes actually did. The police did not know about this at the time, and it is admitted that Wise had a hearing issue, so it is possible he just misheard the name. 8. If the police were orchestrating the confessions, why did they allow so many inconsistencies in the statements? I will also submit to you that the statements are more alike then they are different, and at night, in the dark, while attacking numerous people, I would never expect 33 teenagers to get the facts all the same. Reyes raped her, but these kids were there and participated. They were guilty under the acting in concert theory, and the jury got it right. Several of them were not convicted that were clearly there, like Thomas and Lopez, but that is just evidence that our system works in erring on the the side of innocence. Even if these kids did not engage in the jogger attack, and I believe they did, they all served about 6 years, which is very fair for attacking numerous people that night and gravely wounding several of them. The only person that has been racially attacked in all of this was Elizabeth Lederer. That woman deserves sainthood.