April 19, 1989: Trisha Meili -- an economist, she would reveal her identity in a memoir published in 2003 many years later -- is attacked in New York's Central Park.
She was brutally beaten and raped. The initial medical prognosis was that she would die of her injuries, or remain in a permanent coma. She was given the last rites of the Roman Catholic Church. She came out of her coma after 12 days, unable to talk, read, or walk. She largely recovered, with some lingering disabilities related to balance and loss of vision. As a result of the severe trauma, she had no memory of the attack or any events up to an hour before the assault, nor of the six weeks following the attack.
The case of "The Central Park Jogger" absorbed New York for years. Eventually, 5 young black men were convicted, and sentenced to life in prison. Death penalty advocates wanted them executed. These included real estate tycoon Donald Trump, who took out a full-page at in the May 1 edition of the New York Daily News, a Sunday edition to maximize readership, with all-capitals headlines reminiscent of the tabloid itself: "BRING BACK THE DEATH PENALTY. BRING BACK OUR POLICE!"
When the State of New York has had the death penalty, up until 1972, and again from a law passed in 1995 until that law was ruled unconstitutional in 2004, it was never administered by the State except in cases of murder. Not even attempted murder. In other words, Trump, who was already a criminal himself, and would go on to commit crimes even more serious than murder, did not understand the law.
In 2001, Matias Reyes, in prison on a later rape charge, confessed to the attack on Meili, and "The Central Park Five" were released. To this day, in spite of all the available evidence, Trump still says they were the guilty ones, and should be executed, for a crime that has never been accompanied by the death penalty in New York State.
Through the efforts of local activists such as the Rev. Al Sharpton, "The Central Park Five" became known as "The Exonerated Five": Yusuf Salaam, Korey Wise, Raymond Santana Jr., Kevin Richardson and Anton McCray. They all worked on The Innocence Project, designed to help wrongfully convicted people prove their cases. In 2019, filmmaker Ava DuVernay directed a miniseries about them, which appeared in 4 parts on Netflix.
UPDATE: In 2024, Salaam was elected to the New York City Council.
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April 19, 1989 was a Wednesday. Actor Simu Liu was born. This was also the day of the deadly explosion aboard the battleship USS Iowa. I have a separate entry for that event.
These baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 4-2 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. John Candelaria outpitched future Yankee Jimmy Key. Steve Sax, Bob Brower and Álvaro Espinoza each had 2 hits for the Yankees. Don Mattingly and Rickey Henderson each went 1-for-5.
* The New York Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-2 at Shea Stadium. Lee Mazzilli hit a 3-run home run in the bottom of the 8th inning, to make Randy Myers a winning pitcher in relief of David Cone. Mike Schmidt, entering his final season, went 1-for-3 with a walk.
* The Montreal Expos beat the Chicago Cubs, 3-2 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.
* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Kansas City Royals, 6-5 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Cal Ripken went 1-for-4. George Brett and Bo Jackson hit home runs for the Royals.
* The Atlanta Braves beat the Houston Astros, 4-3 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the Cleveland Indians, 8-4 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.
* The California Angels beat the Chicago White Sox, 7-2 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins, 3-2 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-5 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Barry Bonds went 2-for-5.
* The Texas Rangers beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-1 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Robin Yount went 0-for-3 with a walk. Paul Molitor went 2-for-4.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds, 3-0 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. How many Dodgers does it take to pitch a 5-hit shutout? On this night, 4: Mike Morgan, 4 over 5 2/3rds innings; Tim Crews, 1 before getting the last out in the 6th; Ray Searage, a perfect 7th; and Jay Howell, a perfect 8th and 9th.
* The San Diego Padres beat the San Francisco Giants, 4-3 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Tony Gwynn went 0-for-3 with a walk.
* And the Oakland Athletics beat the Seattle Mariners, 7-5 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Ken Griffey Jr. went 2-for-4.
Football was out of season. There were 4 games played in the NBA:
* The Phoenix Suns beat the Miami Heat, 117-91 at the Miami Arena.
* The Detroit Pistons beat the Indiana Pacers, 115-105 at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan.
* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 100-92 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.
* And the Houston Rockets beat the San Antonio Spurs, 99-84 at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio.
There were 2 games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, both in Game 2 of the Prince of Wales Conference Finals. The Montreal Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins, 3-2 at the Montreal Forum, in Game 2 of their series. Bobby Smith scored the winner, at 12:24 of the 1st overtime. And the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-2 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.
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