May 15, 2013<\/p>\n
\u201cAs one of the lead prosecutors, (Elizabeth Lederer) helped lock up five young people (the Central Park Five) based on false confessions, no DNA evidence and media hysteria, for a collective 30 years….<\/p>\n
\u201cLederer never apologized. Today, she still serves as an assistant district attorney and teaches at Columbia Law School, one of the most prestigious institutions in the country. While those wrongfully convicted lost years of their lives, her efforts to imprison them had no negative consequences for her…. People like Lederer whose failures cost livelihoods should be held accountable for their actions….<\/p>\n
\u201cDefending Lederer\u2019s\u00a0role in the case<\/a>\u00a0as an aggressive lead prosecutor, (New York Times columnist Jim) Dwyer dismissed that as: \u2018Mistakes were made.\u2019 That\u2019s the standard public relations line used when trying to deflect blame. But what kinds of mistakes? What were their effects?\u201d<\/p>\n \u2013 From \u201c<\/em>For Central Park Five, wrongful conviction meets false equivalence<\/em><\/a>\u201d\u00a0by Raymond Santana and Frank Chi at Salon.com (May 3)<\/em><\/p>\n You know where I\u2019m going with this: the Edenton Seven were locked up for some 15 years, and the \u201caggressive lead prosecutor\u201d in their case remains ensconced on the state payroll, still unrepentant \u2013 and always available to share her expertise on \u201chow to defend the forensic interview in the courtroom<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n