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Who is Steven Lopez? 6th member of Central Park Five exonerated 20 years after co-defendants

Steven Lopez was a teenager when he pled guilty to robbing a male jogger in a deal with prosecutors to avoid rape charges

BY DIVYA KISHORE

UPDATED JUL 26, 2022

Steven Lopez was just a teenager (L) when he was falsely convicted; he's a 48-year-old now (R) (NYPD and Michael M Santiago/Getty Images)

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: The sixth member of the Central Park Five has finally been acquitted of the charges against him on Monday, July 25, and for which he was falsely convicted earlier. Steven Lopez along five other Black and Latino teens were arrested in April 1989, over two crimes in Central Park — attack on a White man, and the vicious beating and rape of a 28-year-old White woman named Trisha Meili.

The five young men were eventually exonerated in 2002 after it was found that serial rapist and killer Matias Reyes was actually responsible for the assault on Meili that nearly killed her. “Reyes also confessed to the attack and said he committed it alone,” The New York Post reported. Besides, the released ones — Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, Korey Wise and Yusef Salaam —- won a $40 million settlement in 2014 from the city.

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Lawyer Eric Renfroe speaks during a press conference regarding his client Steven Lopez and the Central Park jogger case at New York State Supreme Court on July 25, 2022 in New York City. Lopez's guilty plea was vacated and indictment dismissed today after a petition by DA Alvin Bragg and Lopez's lawyer Renfroe. Lopez, now 48-years-old, was 15 at the time of the attack. He will be the sixth teenager charged in the Central Park jogger case to be exonerated. The original "Central Park Five", Korey Wise, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, Antron McCray and Yusef Salaam were charged with raping a female jogger in Central Park in 1989, but were finally exonerated in 2002 after the actual assailant in the case was found. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Richardson, who was wrongly imprisoned for nearly seven years, said at the time, “You all don't really understand what we went through. You tried to dehumanize us... but we're still here. We're strong. Nobody gave us a chance except the people that believed in us. People called us animals, a wolf pack... It still hurts me emotionally. Now it feels great to have a voice... All we wanted to tell you all was that we didn't do it.”

Honorees (L to R) Antron McCray, Raymond Santana, Yusef Salaam, Kevin Richardson and Korey Wise appear on stage at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Southern California's 25th annual awards luncheon on June 7, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. The five were wrongfully convicted as teenagers of raping a jogger in New York's Central Park in 1989. They were dubbed 'The Central Park Five' at the time and have since been released from prison and completely exonerated. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Santana had added, “I wake up every morning and put the gloves on and still want to fight because my childhood was taken from me. The opportunity to become a productive man was taken and instead you gave me prison. All I know how to do is ... speak against injustice and fight for somebody else who has been wrongfully convicted.”

But amid all these, Central Park Five’s co-defendant Lopez, who is now a 48-year-old man and was not part of that suit, was forgotten. The then-teenager in 1991 had pled guilty to robbing the male jogger in a deal with prosecutors to avoid rape charges. After which, he was awarded between 1-1/2 and 4-1/2 years behind bars before being freed in the 1990s.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr. prepares for a press conference regarding Steven Lopez and the Central Park jogger case at New York State Supreme Court on July 25, 2022 in New York City. Lopez's guilty plea was vacated and indictment dismissed today after a petition by DA Bragg and Lopez's lawyer Eric Renfroe. Lopez, now 48-years-old, was 15 at the time of the attack. He will be the sixth teenager charged in the Central Park jogger case to be exonerated. The original "Central Park Five", Korey Wise, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, Antron McCray and Yusef Salaam were charged with raping a female jogger in Central Park in 1989, but were finally exonerated in 2002 after the actual assailant in the case was found. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

During the latest hearing, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg said, “Mr. Lopez was charged and pleaded guilty in the face of false statements, unreliable forensic analysis and immense external pressure. All of the factors taken together -- as set forth in our motion papers -- show what the people believe are unique circumstances, combined with Mr. Lopez's youth, made his plea involuntary -- and therefore unconstitutional. A conviction based on an unconstitutional plea cannot stand.”

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr. speaks during a press conference regarding Steven Lopez and the Central Park jogger case at New York State Supreme Court on July 25, 2022 in New York City. Steven Lopez's guilty plea was vacated and indictment dismissed today after a petition by DA Bragg and Lopez's lawyer Eric Renfroe. Lopez, now 48-years-old, was 15 at the time of the attack. He will be the sixth teenager charged in the Central Park jogger case to be exonerated. The original "Central Park Five", Korey Wise, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, Antron McCray and Yusef Salaam were charged with raping a female jogger in Central Park in 1989, but were finally exonerated in 2002 after the actual assailant in the case was found. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Judge Ellen Biben of the New York State Supreme Court on Monday then decided to annul the plea by Lopez when he was just 17. She also told him, “Mr Lopez, we wish you peace and healing,” to which he replied: “Thank you.” “It is so ordered,” Judge Biben added.

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Eric Shapiro Lopez, a defense attorney, also noted, “What happened to you was a profound injustice and an American injustice. They say justice delayed is justice denied and I'm sorry we've had to wait for 30 years.”