Ken Burns on Fighting a New York City Subpoena

In April 1989, five boys were arrested for the brutal rape and beating of a jogger in Central Park. The boys—who’d been among a larger group of boys in the park that night—became known as the Central Park Five. My film is about what happened between that night in April and the vacation of the boys’ convictions in 2002.

After the sensational trial in 1990, the boys spent upwards of 13 years in prison. All were out of jail except one—who was doing time for a subsequent drug offense—when the real rapist came forward and his DNA matched. The district attorney reinvestigated the crime and found that the cops and prosecutors had missed an incredible number of signs that pointed to the boys’ innocence. In December 2002, they had their convictions vacated. They then launched a civil suit against the City of New York, which is still pending after almost a decade.