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Linda Fairstein

October 21, 2023

Linda Fairstein (born May 5, 1947)[1] is an American author, attorney, and former New York City prosecutor focusing on crimes of violence against women and children. She was the head of the sex crimes unit of the Manhattan District Attorney's office from 1976 until 2002.

Linda Fairstein
Linda Fairstein (2009)
Born (1947-05-05) May 5, 1947 (age 76)
Mount Vernon, New York, U.S.
OccupationNovelist
EducationVassar College (BA)
University of Virginia (JD)
Period1996–present
GenreCrime
Spouses
Justin Feldman
​
​
(m. 1987; died 2011)​

Michael Goldberg
​
(m. 2014)​
Website
Official website

During that time, she oversaw the prosecution of the Central Park Five case, wherein five teenagers, four African-American and one Hispanic, were wrongfully convicted for the 1989 rape and assault in Central Park of a white female jogger. All five convictions were vacated in 2002 after Matias Reyes, a convicted serial rapist and murderer, confessed to having been the sole perpetrator of the crime, and DNA testing showed he was the sole contributor of the DNA of the semen on the victim. After Reyes' confession in 2002, Fairstein still maintained that the wrongfully convicted teenage boys were guilty and she lauded the police investigation as "brilliant".[2] In 2018, she insisted that the teenagers' confessions had not been coerced.[3]

After she left the DA's office in 2002, Fairstein began to publish mystery novels featuring Manhattan prosecutor Alexandra Cooper.[4] Several have been bestsellers. It was not until June 2019, in response to the attention associated with the release of the Netflix series When They See Us about the Central Park Five, that Fairstein's publisher, Dutton, dropped her.[5] She was also asked to resign from the boards of at least two not-for-profit organizations.[5]

Education

Fairstein graduated with honors from Vassar College in 1969, with a degree in English literature. She graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1972, where she was one of a dozen women in her class.[4]

Legal career

Fairstein joined the Manhattan District Attorney's office in 1972 as an Assistant District Attorney. In 1976 she was promoted to the head of the sex crimes unit, where she worked to support victims of crime.[6] During her tenure, she prosecuted controversial and highly publicized cases, such as the "Preppy Murder case" against Robert Chambers in 1986, and the 1998 People v. Jovanovic cases.[6][7]

Fairstein, as Head of Sex Crimes, oversaw the prosecution of five juvenile defendants known as the "Central Park Five" in the 1989 "Central Park Jogger" case. The case was prosecuted by ADAs Elizabeth Lederer and Arthur Clements, with trials held in 1990.[8] The convictions in the case were vacated in 2002 following a confession by the perpetrator, a convicted serial rapist and murderer, and confirmation by a DNA match to evidence at the scene.[9]

Fairstein left the District Attorney's office in 2002, and has continued to consult, write, lecture and serve as a sex crimes expert for a wide variety of print and television media outlets, including CNN, MSNBC and Larry King, among others. She has consulted for a number of media outlets during a number of high-profile prosecutions, including Michael Jackson's molestation charges in 2004,[10] Kobe Bryant's sexual assault charges,[11] and Scott Peterson's trial.[12]

She was also reportedly involved with a defense of Harvey Weinstein, helping to silence one of the sexual harassment complaints against him.[13]

Fairstein founded the Domestic Violence Committee of the New York Women's Agenda. She is a frequent speaker on issues related to domestic abuse.[14]

Central Park Jogger case

Investigation, conviction and appeal

Fairstein's office supervised the prosecution in 1989 and 1990 of the Central Park Jogger case, which ended in the conviction of five teenagers[15] whose convictions were later vacated. In a civil rights lawsuit filed in 2003, the five who were convicted claimed that Fairstein, with the assistance of the detectives at the 20th Precinct, coerced false confessions from them following up to thirty straight hours of interrogation and intimidation, of both the youths and their supporting adults.[16] When Assistant US attorney David Nocenti, a "Big Brother" mentor to Yusef Salaam, one of the defendants, appeared at the precinct while the defendant was being grilled, plaintiffs claimed, Fairstein verbally abused him, demanded he leave immediately, and called her husband to demand the home number of Nocenti's boss, Brooklyn US Attorney Andrew Maloney, so she could get the young attorney fired.[16][17][page needed]

Fairstein said "Nobody under sixteen was talked to until a parent or guardian arrived... Three of the five went home and had a night's sleep before they were ever taken into custody. For most of them, the substance of their admissions came out within about an hour of the time they came in... I think Reyes ran with that pack of kids. He stayed longer when the others moved on. He completed the assault. I don't think there is a question in the minds of anyone present during the interrogation process that these five men were participants, not only in the other attacks that night but in the attack on the jogger. I watched more than thirty detectives—black, white, Hispanic guys who'd never met each other before—conduct a brilliant investigation."[18] Lawyers for the five defendants contested almost every element of Fairstein's statement.[18]

All five accused teenagers later claimed their confessions were coerced during interrogation through lies and intimidation.[19] In 1990 each of the "Central Park Five" were convicted of various assault and sexual battery charges, based in part on the allegedly false confessions obtained from them in 1989.[15] Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise had signed written confessions, while Yousef Salaam made a verbal confession but refused to sign.[16]

Their convictions were upheld on appeal. Appellate court judge Vito Titone specifically named Fairstein in his dissenting opinion on the Salaam appeal. He said in an interview, "I was concerned about a criminal justice system that would tolerate the conduct of the prosecutor, Linda Fairstein, who deliberately engineered the 15-year-old's confession. ... Fairstein wanted to make a name. She didn't care. She wasn't a human."[16]

Vacating of convictions

All five convictions were vacated in 2002 after convicted rapist Matias Reyes confessed to the crime.[20][21][22] Reyes confessed after he "found religion."[5] The police had recovered DNA of only one man at the site of the crime, and none of the Central Park Five matched. The semen found on the victim contained DNA matching that of Reyes, confirming that he was the sole contributor, to a certainty of six billion to one.[23]

Aftermath

In 2003, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana Jr., and Antron McCray sued the city of New York for malicious prosecution, racial discrimination and emotional distress.[24] It wasn't until Mayor De Blasio took office 11 years later that a settlement in the case was reached on June 19, 2014, for $41 million.[15]

Ken Burns and his daughter Sarah and her husband made a documentary film about the case, which he compared to the Scottsboro Boys case.[25] The film, The Central Park Five, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2012 and was released on November 23, 2012. A Pulitzer Prize winning opera, The Central Park Five, was also written about the case.[26]

In May 2019, Netflix released a four-part drama series, When They See Us, about the case, directed by Ava DuVernay. In it, actress Felicity Huffman portrays Fairstein. Soon after the release, Fairstein's publisher, E.P. Dutton, released her as a client.[5] Fairstein was also forced to resign from various non-profit board roles, including Safe Horizon.[27] Fairstein also resigned from the Board of Trustees of Vassar College, her alma mater, after considerable pressure from the student body and members of the administration.[28]

On June 10, 2019, the Wall Street Journal published an op-ed by Fairstein, Netflix’s False Story of the Central Park Five, in which she says that five were not "totally innocent" (citing the other crimes they were convicted for, for which, she asserts, there is still substantial evidence) and that DuVernay had defamed her.[29][30] In March 2020, Fairstein filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida against Netflix, DuVernay, and series writer Attica Locke for defamation based on her portrayal in the series.[31][32]

As of 2021 following Netflix's request for it to be dismissed, the lawsuit had been partially allowed to go forward while other scenes had been deemed not to be defamatory.[33][34]

Jovanovic controversy

In 2004 Oliver Jovanovic sued Fairstein, alleging that she engaged in "false arrest, malicious prosecution, malicious abuse of process and denial of his right to a fair trial".[35] This lawsuit stemmed from Fairstein's successful prosecution of Jovanovic in the case People v. Jovanovic, which was subsequently overturned on appeal.[36] The case was later dismissed with prejudice by a new trial judge. The dismissal was requested "in the interest of justice" by the office of the Manhattan district attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau.[37] There was no physical evidence linking Jovanovic to the crime. While his accuser claimed she had been brutally attacked and left bleeding, she was found to have only a few fading bruises. "If she [Fairstein] couldn't tell this was a false report, well, I am just shocked," said former New York City sex crimes detective John Baeza, who worked in defense of Jovanovic after leaving the force.[16]

The $10 million lawsuit against Fairstein and two co-defendants, former Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Gail Heatherly, who now teaches at the Columbia Law School, and New York City Police Detective Milton Bonilla, was dismissed on summary judgment in September 2010.[38]

Dominique Strauss-Kahn

Fairstein assisted District Attorney Vance in his decision not to prosecute Dominique Strauss-Kahn for sexual assault in 2012. Fairstein's writing skills came into play in writing up the decision not to charge.[39]

Awards

Among the awards Fairstein has received are the Federal Bar Council's Emory Buckner Award for Public Service, Glamour Magazine's Woman of the Year Award, and the Nero Wolfe Award for Excellence in Crime Writing.[40]

In 2018, the Mystery Writers of America announced that it would honor Fairstein with one of its "Grand Master" awards for literary achievement. But two days after renewed controversy erupted in connection with her role in the case, the organization withdrew the honor.[41] In 2019, shortly after the release of the Netflix series When They See Us about the Central Park Five case, Glamour Magazine said that the 1993 Woman of the Year Award to Fairstein was a mistake and that it was given to her before the full facts of the case were known.[42]

Writing career

Alexandra Cooper series

 
Linda Fairstein at the University of Scranton 2003 Royden B. Davis Distinguished Author Award presentation.

Fairstein has written several crime novels featuring Manhattan prosecutor Alexandra Cooper. The novels draw on Fairstein's legal expertise and several have become international best sellers.[43]

The titles are:

  • Final Jeopardy (1996)[1]
  • Likely To Die (1997)[1]
  • Cold Hit (1999)[1]
  • The Dead-House (2001)[1] (Nero Award winner)
  • The Bone Vault (2003)[1]
  • The Kills (2004)[1]
  • Entombed (2005)[1]
  • Death Dance (2006)[1]
  • Bad Blood (2007)[44]
  • Killer Heat (2008)[44]
  • Lethal Legacy (2009)[45]
  • Hell Gate (2010)[46]
  • Silent Mercy (March 2011)[46]
  • Night Watch (July 2012)[46]
  • Death Angel (2013)[46]
  • Terminal City (2014)[46]
  • Devil's Bridge (2015)[47]
  • Killer Look (2016)[48]
  • Deadfall (2017)
  • Blood Oath (2019)

Devlin Quick series

  • Into the Lion's Den (2016)
  • Digging for Trouble (2017)
  • Secrets from the Deep (2018)

Nonfiction

  • Sexual Violence: Our War Against Rape (1993)[1][46]

Awards

Among her awards are the:

Personal life

Fairstein grew up in Mount Vernon, New York.[50] Her father's family were Russian Jews who immigrated in the early 1900s. Her mother is of Northern Irish, Finnish and Swedish descent.[51] She was married to lawyer Justin Feldman from 1987 until his death in 2011 at the age of 92.[52][53] In September 2014 she married lawyer Michael Goldberg, a long-time friend and classmate at the University of Virginia School of Law, at their home in Martha's Vineyard. Fairstein and Goldberg reside in the Upper East Side in New York.[50]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lindsay, Elizabeth Blakesley (2007). Great Women Mystery Writers (2nd ed.). Greenwood Press. pp. 78. ISBN 978-0-313-33428-3.
  2. ^ Dickson, E. J. (June 7, 2019). "Who Is Linda Fairstein, the Prosecutor in 'When They See Us'?". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 8, 2019.
  3. ^ Fairstein, Linda (June 3, 2019). "In Defense of The Central Park 5 Prosecution". New York Law Journal. Retrieved June 8, 2019.
  4. ^ a b "Author, former prosecutor Linda Fairstein 'humbled' by Women of Achievement honorees". SILive.com. Retrieved April 19, 2018.
  5. ^ a b c d "Publisher drops Central Park Five prosecutor". BBC News. June 8, 2019. Retrieved June 8, 2019.
  6. ^ a b Bouton, Katherine (February 25, 1990). "Linda Fairstein vs. Rape". The New York Times Magazine. Retrieved January 23, 2008.
  7. ^ Zraick, Karen (September 28, 2010). "Lawsuit Over Sex Arrest Is Dismissed". City Room. Retrieved April 19, 2018.
  8. ^ Sullivan, Ronald (August 3, 1990). "Father Defends His Son At Central Park Trial". The New York Times. Retrieved April 19, 2018.
  9. ^ Susman, Tina (June 27, 2014). "Central Park Five: Money was not the issue in settlement with NYC". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 19, 2018.
  10. ^ Fairstein, Linda (April 30, 2004). "Michael Jackson Arraigned". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 23, 2008.
  11. ^ "American Morning". CNN. December 19, 2003. Retrieved January 23, 2008.
  12. ^ "American Morning". CNN. December 25, 2003. Retrieved January 23, 2008.
  13. ^ Gross, Terry (November 15, 2017). 'Times' Reporters Describe How A Paper Trail Helped Break The Weinstein Story. NPR Fresh Air. …There was this Italian model who showed up to the Weinstein Co. for a business meeting with Harvey Weinstein. And within hours of leaving, she went to the police department here in New York and said that he had groped her and that she was willing to make a police complaint about it. …there was a whole team that swooped in to help Harvey Weinstein fight that in a counterattack effort. There were private investigators who were dispatched to basically dig up dirt on her. There were stories planted in the tabloids to basically disparage her background. There were high-profile attorneys who stepped up to Harvey's side, including Linda Fairstein, the former sex crimes prosecutor here in Manhattan, (with Cyrus Vance) who was willing to facilitate introductions to the current sex crimes prosecutor who was handling the case. And within weeks that case was dead.
  14. ^ Connic, Jennifer (October 22, 2006). "Fairstein Addresses Issues of Domestic Violence". Westport Now. Retrieved January 23, 2008.
  15. ^ a b c Weiser, Benjamin (June 19, 2014). "5 Exonerated in Central Park Jogger Case Will Settle Suit for $40 Million". The New York Times.
  16. ^ a b c d e Little, Rivka Gewirtz (November 19, 2002). "Ash-Blond Ambition Prosecutor Linda Fairstein May Have Tried Too Hard". Village Voice.
  17. ^ Timothy John Sullivan (November 1992). Unequal Verdicts: the Central Park jogger trials. American Lawyer Books/Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-671-74237-9.
  18. ^ a b Toobin, Jeffrey (November 24, 2002). "A Prosecutor Speaks Up". The New Yorker.
  19. ^ Schanberg, Sydney. . Village Voice. Archived from the original on June 21, 2008. Retrieved April 25, 2009.
  20. ^ Saulny, Susan (December 20, 2002). "Convictions and Charges Voided In '89 Central Park Jogger Attack". New York Times. Thirteen years after an investment banker jogging in Central Park was savagely beaten, raped and left for dead, a Manhattan judge threw out the convictions yesterday of the five young men who had confessed to attacking the woman on a night of violence that stunned the city and the nation.
  21. ^ Saulny, Susan (December 20, 2002). "Convictions and Charges Voided In '89 Central Park Jogger Attack". New York Times. Retrieved April 22, 2017.
  22. ^ Central Park Jogger Convictions Vacated Law.com.
  23. ^ (PDF). Robert M. Morgenthau, District Attorney, New York County. December 5, 2002. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 29, 2007. Retrieved June 22, 2007.
  24. ^ Vincent, Glyn (July 7, 2009). "Ken Burns Illuminates Jogger Case". Huffington Post.
  25. ^ Jensen, Elizabeth (September 10, 2009). "Ken Burns, the Voice of the Wilderness". The New York Times. Retrieved December 4, 2012.
  26. ^ 'Central Park Five' composer Anthony Davis wins the Pulitzer Prize for Music – Yahoo News
  27. ^ Storey, Kate (June 5, 2019). "Central Park Five Prosecutor Linda Fairstein Has Responded to When They See Us Backlash". Esquire. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
  28. ^ "Linda Fairstein, prosecutor in 'Central Park Five' case, resigns as Vassar trustee".
  29. ^ Fairstein, Linda (June 10, 2019). "Opinion | Netflix's False Story of the Central Park Five". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
  30. ^ Harris, Elizabeth A. (June 11, 2019). "Linda Fairstein Attacks Her Portrayal in 'When They See Us'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 13, 2019.
  31. ^ Moghe, Sonia (March 18, 2020). "'When They See Us' creators sued for defamation by former prosecutor". CNN. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
  32. ^ Faughnder, Ryan (March 18, 2020). "She was the villain in 'When They See Us.' Now she's suing Ava DuVernay and Netflix". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
  33. ^ Klasfeld, Adam (August 11, 2021). "Prosecutor Portrayed as 'Villain' of Central Park Five Series 'When They See Us' Can Pursue Defamation Claims — But She Already Lost on More Than Half of the Scenes". Retrieved September 15, 2023.
  34. ^ Gardner, Eriq (August 9, 2021). "Judge Allows Libel Suit Targeting Netflix, Ava DuVernay". Retrieved September 15, 2023.
  35. ^ Shiffrel, Scott (September 28, 2010). "Judge tosses $20 million lawsuit against former prosecutor Linda Fairstein". The New York Daily News. Retrieved July 20, 2021.
  36. ^ Decision of Supreme Court, Appellate Division, December 1999, including summary of all relevant facts
  37. ^ Charges Dismissed in Columbia Sexual Torture Case, The New York Times, November 2, 2001.
  38. ^ Hamblett, Mark. "Court Throws Out Civil Rights Suit Filed After Dismissal of 'Cybersex Torture' Charges". Law.com. ALM. Retrieved September 30, 2010.
  39. ^ John Solomon (June 5, 2012). DSK: The Scandal That Brought Down Dominique Strauss-Kahn. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-1-250-01264-7.
  40. ^ a b Linda Fairstein ’69 - Board of Trustees - Vassar College
  41. ^ Piccoli, Sean; Gold, Michael (November 28, 2018). "After Furor, Literary Group Withdraws Honor for 'Central Park Five' Prosecutor". The New York Times. Retrieved December 28, 2018.
  42. ^ a b "A Note on Linda Fairstein's 1993 Woman of the Year Award". Glamour. June 4, 2019. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
  43. ^ Jeffries, Stuart (February 27, 2004). "The Rapist Hunter". The Guardian. London. Retrieved January 23, 2008.
  44. ^ a b Janet Husband; Jonathan F. Husband (2009). Sequels: An Annotated Guide to Novels in Series. American Library Association. pp. 186–. ISBN 978-0-8389-0967-6.
  45. ^ "Lethal Legacy Review". Kirkus Reviews. February 10, 2009.
  46. ^ a b c d e f "Linda Fairstein". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved June 20, 2014.
  47. ^ Fairstein, Linda A. (2015). Amazon listing. Penguin. ISBN 978-0525953890.
  48. ^ "Killer Look". Penguin Random House. Retrieved July 16, 2017.
  49. ^ "The Academic Nurse". The Journal of the Columbia University School of Nursing. Vol. 18, no. 2. 2001. p. 3.
  50. ^ a b Shattuck, Kathryn (September 12, 2017). "Linda Fairstein Looks Crime in the Face and Smiles". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 19, 2018.
  51. ^ Yona Zeldis McDonough (January 13, 2017). . Lilith. Archived from the original on March 13, 2017.
  52. ^ Grimes, William (September 24, 2011). "Justin N. Feldman, 92, Dies; Opposed Tammany Hall". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 19, 2018.
  53. ^ Kaufman, Joanne (April 24, 2014). "The Case of the Disappearing Chintz". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 19, 2018.

External links

  • Alex Cooper Crime Novels
  • mostlyfiction.com interview with Linda Fairstein, author of Lethal Legacy
  • Linda Fairstein June 26, 2017, at the Wayback Machine Video produced by Makers: Women Who Make America
  • CBS News Sunday Morning interview with Linda Fairstein broadcast July 16, 2017

October 21, 2023
linda, fairstein, born, 1947, american, author, attorney, former, york, city, prosecutor, focusing, crimes, violence, against, women, children, head, crimes, unit, manhattan, district, attorney, office, from, 1976, until, 2002, 2009, born, 1947, 1947, mount, v. Linda Fairstein born May 5 1947 1 is an American author attorney and former New York City prosecutor focusing on crimes of violence against women and children She was the head of the sex crimes unit of the Manhattan District Attorney s office from 1976 until 2002 Linda FairsteinLinda Fairstein 2009 Born 1947 05 05 May 5 1947 age 76 Mount Vernon New York U S OccupationNovelistEducationVassar College BA University of Virginia JD Period1996 presentGenreCrimeSpousesJustin Feldman m 1987 died 2011 wbr Michael Goldberg m 2014 wbr WebsiteOfficial websiteDuring that time she oversaw the prosecution of the Central Park Five case wherein five teenagers four African American and one Hispanic were wrongfully convicted for the 1989 rape and assault in Central Park of a white female jogger All five convictions were vacated in 2002 after Matias Reyes a convicted serial rapist and murderer confessed to having been the sole perpetrator of the crime and DNA testing showed he was the sole contributor of the DNA of the semen on the victim After Reyes confession in 2002 Fairstein still maintained that the wrongfully convicted teenage boys were guilty and she lauded the police investigation as brilliant 2 In 2018 she insisted that the teenagers confessions had not been coerced 3 After she left the DA s office in 2002 Fairstein began to publish mystery novels featuring Manhattan prosecutor Alexandra Cooper 4 Several have been bestsellers It was not until June 2019 in response to the attention associated with the release of the Netflix series When They See Us about the Central Park Five that Fairstein s publisher Dutton dropped her 5 She was also asked to resign from the boards of at least two not for profit organizations 5 Contents 1 Education 2 Legal career 2 1 Central Park Jogger case 2 1 1 Investigation conviction and appeal 2 1 2 Vacating of convictions 2 1 3 Aftermath 2 2 Jovanovic controversy 2 3 Dominique Strauss Kahn 2 4 Awards 3 Writing career 3 1 Alexandra Cooper series 3 2 Devlin Quick series 3 3 Nonfiction 4 Awards 5 Personal life 6 References 7 External linksEducationFairstein graduated with honors from Vassar College in 1969 with a degree in English literature She graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1972 where she was one of a dozen women in her class 4 Legal careerFairstein joined the Manhattan District Attorney s office in 1972 as an Assistant District Attorney In 1976 she was promoted to the head of the sex crimes unit where she worked to support victims of crime 6 During her tenure she prosecuted controversial and highly publicized cases such as the Preppy Murder case against Robert Chambers in 1986 and the 1998 People v Jovanovic cases 6 7 Fairstein as Head of Sex Crimes oversaw the prosecution of five juvenile defendants known as the Central Park Five in the 1989 Central Park Jogger case The case was prosecuted by ADAs Elizabeth Lederer and Arthur Clements with trials held in 1990 8 The convictions in the case were vacated in 2002 following a confession by the perpetrator a convicted serial rapist and murderer and confirmation by a DNA match to evidence at the scene 9 Fairstein left the District Attorney s office in 2002 and has continued to consult write lecture and serve as a sex crimes expert for a wide variety of print and television media outlets including CNN MSNBC and Larry King among others She has consulted for a number of media outlets during a number of high profile prosecutions including Michael Jackson s molestation charges in 2004 10 Kobe Bryant s sexual assault charges 11 and Scott Peterson s trial 12 She was also reportedly involved with a defense of Harvey Weinstein helping to silence one of the sexual harassment complaints against him 13 Fairstein founded the Domestic Violence Committee of the New York Women s Agenda She is a frequent speaker on issues related to domestic abuse 14 Central Park Jogger case Investigation conviction and appeal Fairstein s office supervised the prosecution in 1989 and 1990 of the Central Park Jogger case which ended in the conviction of five teenagers 15 whose convictions were later vacated In a civil rights lawsuit filed in 2003 the five who were convicted claimed that Fairstein with the assistance of the detectives at the 20th Precinct coerced false confessions from them following up to thirty straight hours of interrogation and intimidation of both the youths and their supporting adults 16 When Assistant US attorney David Nocenti a Big Brother mentor to Yusef Salaam one of the defendants appeared at the precinct while the defendant was being grilled plaintiffs claimed Fairstein verbally abused him demanded he leave immediately and called her husband to demand the home number of Nocenti s boss Brooklyn US Attorney Andrew Maloney so she could get the young attorney fired 16 17 page needed Fairstein said Nobody under sixteen was talked to until a parent or guardian arrived Three of the five went home and had a night s sleep before they were ever taken into custody For most of them the substance of their admissions came out within about an hour of the time they came in I think Reyes ran with that pack of kids He stayed longer when the others moved on He completed the assault I don t think there is a question in the minds of anyone present during the interrogation process that these five men were participants not only in the other attacks that night but in the attack on the jogger I watched more than thirty detectives black white Hispanic guys who d never met each other before conduct a brilliant investigation 18 Lawyers for the five defendants contested almost every element of Fairstein s statement 18 All five accused teenagers later claimed their confessions were coerced during interrogation through lies and intimidation 19 In 1990 each of the Central Park Five were convicted of various assault and sexual battery charges based in part on the allegedly false confessions obtained from them in 1989 15 Antron McCray Kevin Richardson Raymond Santana and Korey Wise had signed written confessions while Yousef Salaam made a verbal confession but refused to sign 16 Their convictions were upheld on appeal Appellate court judge Vito Titone specifically named Fairstein in his dissenting opinion on the Salaam appeal He said in an interview I was concerned about a criminal justice system that would tolerate the conduct of the prosecutor Linda Fairstein who deliberately engineered the 15 year old s confession Fairstein wanted to make a name She didn t care She wasn t a human 16 Vacating of convictions All five convictions were vacated in 2002 after convicted rapist Matias Reyes confessed to the crime 20 21 22 Reyes confessed after he found religion 5 The police had recovered DNA of only one man at the site of the crime and none of the Central Park Five matched The semen found on the victim contained DNA matching that of Reyes confirming that he was the sole contributor to a certainty of six billion to one 23 Aftermath In 2003 Kevin Richardson Raymond Santana Jr and Antron McCray sued the city of New York for malicious prosecution racial discrimination and emotional distress 24 It wasn t until Mayor De Blasio took office 11 years later that a settlement in the case was reached on June 19 2014 for 41 million 15 Ken Burns and his daughter Sarah and her husband made a documentary film about the case which he compared to the Scottsboro Boys case 25 The film The Central Park Five premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2012 and was released on November 23 2012 A Pulitzer Prize winning opera The Central Park Five was also written about the case 26 In May 2019 Netflix released a four part drama series When They See Us about the case directed by Ava DuVernay In it actress Felicity Huffman portrays Fairstein Soon after the release Fairstein s publisher E P Dutton released her as a client 5 Fairstein was also forced to resign from various non profit board roles including Safe Horizon 27 Fairstein also resigned from the Board of Trustees of Vassar College her alma mater after considerable pressure from the student body and members of the administration 28 On June 10 2019 the Wall Street Journal published an op ed by Fairstein Netflix s False Story of the Central Park Five in which she says that five were not totally innocent citing the other crimes they were convicted for for which she asserts there is still substantial evidence and that DuVernay had defamed her 29 30 In March 2020 Fairstein filed suit in the U S District Court for the Middle District of Florida against Netflix DuVernay and series writer Attica Locke for defamation based on her portrayal in the series 31 32 As of 2021 following Netflix s request for it to be dismissed the lawsuit had been partially allowed to go forward while other scenes had been deemed not to be defamatory 33 34 Jovanovic controversy In 2004 Oliver Jovanovic sued Fairstein alleging that she engaged in false arrest malicious prosecution malicious abuse of process and denial of his right to a fair trial 35 This lawsuit stemmed from Fairstein s successful prosecution of Jovanovic in the case People v Jovanovic which was subsequently overturned on appeal 36 The case was later dismissed with prejudice by a new trial judge The dismissal was requested in the interest of justice by the office of the Manhattan district attorney Robert M Morgenthau 37 There was no physical evidence linking Jovanovic to the crime While his accuser claimed she had been brutally attacked and left bleeding she was found to have only a few fading bruises If she Fairstein couldn t tell this was a false report well I am just shocked said former New York City sex crimes detective John Baeza who worked in defense of Jovanovic after leaving the force 16 The 10 million lawsuit against Fairstein and two co defendants former Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Gail Heatherly who now teaches at the Columbia Law School and New York City Police Detective Milton Bonilla was dismissed on summary judgment in September 2010 38 Dominique Strauss Kahn Fairstein assisted District Attorney Vance in his decision not to prosecute Dominique Strauss Kahn for sexual assault in 2012 Fairstein s writing skills came into play in writing up the decision not to charge 39 Awards Among the awards Fairstein has received are the Federal Bar Council s Emory Buckner Award for Public Service Glamour Magazine s Woman of the Year Award and the Nero Wolfe Award for Excellence in Crime Writing 40 In 2018 the Mystery Writers of America announced that it would honor Fairstein with one of its Grand Master awards for literary achievement But two days after renewed controversy erupted in connection with her role in the case the organization withdrew the honor 41 In 2019 shortly after the release of the Netflix series When They See Us about the Central Park Five case Glamour Magazine said that the 1993 Woman of the Year Award to Fairstein was a mistake and that it was given to her before the full facts of the case were known 42 Writing careerAlexandra Cooper series nbsp Linda Fairstein at the University of Scranton 2003 Royden B Davis Distinguished Author Award presentation Fairstein has written several crime novels featuring Manhattan prosecutor Alexandra Cooper The novels draw on Fairstein s legal expertise and several have become international best sellers 43 The titles are Final Jeopardy 1996 1 Likely To Die 1997 1 Cold Hit 1999 1 The Dead House 2001 1 Nero Award winner The Bone Vault 2003 1 The Kills 2004 1 Entombed 2005 1 Death Dance 2006 1 Bad Blood 2007 44 Killer Heat 2008 44 Lethal Legacy 2009 45 Hell Gate 2010 46 Silent Mercy March 2011 46 Night Watch July 2012 46 Death Angel 2013 46 Terminal City 2014 46 Devil s Bridge 2015 47 Killer Look 2016 48 Deadfall 2017 Blood Oath 2019 Devlin Quick series Into the Lion s Den 2016 Digging for Trouble 2017 Secrets from the Deep 2018 Nonfiction Sexual Violence Our War Against Rape 1993 1 46 AwardsThis section of a biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification Please help by adding reliable sources Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page especially if potentially libelous Find sources Linda Fairstein news newspapers books scholar JSTOR June 2019 Learn how and when to remove this template message Among her awards are the Federal Bar Council s Emory Buckner Award for Public Service UJA Federation s Proskauer Award Columbia University School of Nursing s Second Century Award for Excellence in Health Care 49 Glamour Magazine s Woman of the Year Award rescinded in 2019 42 American Heart Association Women of Courage Award New York Women s Agenda 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award Nero Wolfe Award for Excellence in Crime Writing 2008 International Thriller Writers 2010 Silver Bullet Award 40 Personal lifeFairstein grew up in Mount Vernon New York 50 Her father s family were Russian Jews who immigrated in the early 1900s Her mother is of Northern Irish Finnish and Swedish descent 51 She was married to lawyer Justin Feldman from 1987 until his death in 2011 at the age of 92 52 53 In September 2014 she married lawyer Michael Goldberg a long time friend and classmate at the University of Virginia School of Law at their home in Martha s Vineyard Fairstein and Goldberg reside in the Upper East Side in New York 50 References a b c d e f g h i j Lindsay Elizabeth Blakesley 2007 Great Women Mystery Writers 2nd ed Greenwood Press pp 78 ISBN 978 0 313 33428 3 Dickson E J June 7 2019 Who Is Linda Fairstein the Prosecutor in When They See Us Rolling Stone Retrieved June 8 2019 Fairstein Linda June 3 2019 In Defense of The Central Park 5 Prosecution New York Law Journal Retrieved June 8 2019 a b Author former prosecutor Linda Fairstein humbled by Women of Achievement honorees SILive com Retrieved April 19 2018 a b c d Publisher drops Central Park Five prosecutor BBC News June 8 2019 Retrieved June 8 2019 a b Bouton Katherine February 25 1990 Linda Fairstein vs Rape The New York Times Magazine Retrieved January 23 2008 Zraick Karen September 28 2010 Lawsuit Over Sex Arrest Is Dismissed City Room Retrieved April 19 2018 Sullivan Ronald August 3 1990 Father Defends His Son At Central Park Trial The New York Times Retrieved April 19 2018 Susman Tina June 27 2014 Central Park Five Money was not the issue in settlement with NYC Los Angeles Times Retrieved April 19 2018 Fairstein Linda April 30 2004 Michael Jackson Arraigned The Washington Post Retrieved January 23 2008 American Morning CNN December 19 2003 Retrieved January 23 2008 American Morning CNN December 25 2003 Retrieved January 23 2008 Gross Terry November 15 2017 Times Reporters Describe How A Paper Trail Helped Break The Weinstein Story NPR Fresh Air There was this Italian model who showed up to the Weinstein Co for a business meeting with Harvey Weinstein And within hours of leaving she went to the police department here in New York and said that he had groped her and that she was willing to make a police complaint about it there was a whole team that swooped in to help Harvey Weinstein fight that in a counterattack effort There were private investigators who were dispatched to basically dig up dirt on her There were stories planted in the tabloids to basically disparage her background There were high profile attorneys who stepped up to Harvey s side including Linda Fairstein the former sex crimes prosecutor here in Manhattan with Cyrus Vance who was willing to facilitate introductions to the current sex crimes prosecutor who was handling the case And within weeks that case was dead Connic Jennifer October 22 2006 Fairstein Addresses Issues of Domestic Violence Westport Now Retrieved January 23 2008 a b c Weiser Benjamin June 19 2014 5 Exonerated in Central Park Jogger Case Will Settle Suit for 40 Million The New York Times a b c d e Little Rivka Gewirtz November 19 2002 Ash Blond Ambition Prosecutor Linda Fairstein May Have Tried Too Hard Village Voice Timothy John Sullivan November 1992 Unequal Verdicts the Central Park jogger trials American Lawyer Books Simon amp Schuster ISBN 978 0 671 74237 9 a b Toobin Jeffrey November 24 2002 A Prosecutor Speaks Up The New Yorker Schanberg Sydney A Journey Through the Tangled Case of the Central Park Jogger Village Voice Archived from the original on June 21 2008 Retrieved April 25 2009 Saulny Susan December 20 2002 Convictions and Charges Voided In 89 Central Park Jogger Attack New York Times Thirteen years after an investment banker jogging in Central Park was savagely beaten raped and left for dead a Manhattan judge threw out the convictions yesterday of the five young men who had confessed to attacking the woman on a night of violence that stunned the city and the nation Saulny Susan December 20 2002 Convictions and Charges Voided In 89 Central Park Jogger Attack New York Times Retrieved April 22 2017 Central Park Jogger Convictions Vacated Law com Affirmation in Response to Motion to Vacate Judgment of Conviction The People of the State of New York against Kharey Wise Kevin Richardson Antron McCray Yusef Salaam and Raymond Santana Defendants PDF Robert M Morgenthau District Attorney New York County December 5 2002 Archived from the original PDF on June 29 2007 Retrieved June 22 2007 Vincent Glyn July 7 2009 Ken Burns Illuminates Jogger Case Huffington Post Jensen Elizabeth September 10 2009 Ken Burns the Voice of the Wilderness The New York Times Retrieved December 4 2012 Central Park Five composer Anthony Davis wins the Pulitzer Prize for Music Yahoo News Storey Kate June 5 2019 Central Park Five Prosecutor Linda Fairstein Has Responded to When They See Us Backlash Esquire Retrieved June 7 2019 Linda Fairstein prosecutor in Central Park Five case resigns as Vassar trustee Fairstein Linda June 10 2019 Opinion Netflix s False Story of the Central Park Five Wall Street Journal ISSN 0099 9660 Retrieved June 12 2019 Harris Elizabeth A June 11 2019 Linda Fairstein Attacks Her Portrayal in When They See Us The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved June 13 2019 Moghe Sonia March 18 2020 When They See Us creators sued for defamation by former prosecutor CNN Retrieved March 18 2020 Faughnder Ryan March 18 2020 She was the villain in When They See Us Now she s suing Ava DuVernay and Netflix Los Angeles Times Retrieved March 18 2020 Klasfeld Adam August 11 2021 Prosecutor Portrayed as Villain of Central Park Five Series When They See Us Can Pursue Defamation Claims But She Already Lost on More Than Half of the Scenes Retrieved September 15 2023 Gardner Eriq August 9 2021 Judge Allows Libel Suit Targeting Netflix Ava DuVernay Retrieved September 15 2023 Shiffrel Scott September 28 2010 Judge tosses 20 million lawsuit against former prosecutor Linda Fairstein The New York Daily News Retrieved July 20 2021 Decision of Supreme Court Appellate Division December 1999 including summary of all relevant facts Charges Dismissed in Columbia Sexual Torture Case The New York Times November 2 2001 Hamblett Mark Court Throws Out Civil Rights Suit Filed After Dismissal of Cybersex Torture Charges Law com ALM Retrieved September 30 2010 John Solomon June 5 2012 DSK The Scandal That Brought Down Dominique Strauss Kahn St Martin s Press ISBN 978 1 250 01264 7 a b Linda Fairstein 69 Board of Trustees Vassar College Piccoli Sean Gold Michael November 28 2018 After Furor Literary Group Withdraws Honor for Central Park Five Prosecutor The New York Times Retrieved December 28 2018 a b A Note on Linda Fairstein s 1993 Woman of the Year Award Glamour June 4 2019 Retrieved June 7 2019 Jeffries Stuart February 27 2004 The Rapist Hunter The Guardian London Retrieved January 23 2008 a b Janet Husband Jonathan F Husband 2009 Sequels An Annotated Guide to Novels in Series American Library Association pp 186 ISBN 978 0 8389 0967 6 Lethal Legacy Review Kirkus Reviews February 10 2009 a b c d e f Linda Fairstein Kirkus Reviews Retrieved June 20 2014 Fairstein Linda A 2015 Amazon listing Penguin ISBN 978 0525953890 Killer Look Penguin Random House Retrieved July 16 2017 The Academic Nurse The Journal of the Columbia University School of Nursing Vol 18 no 2 2001 p 3 a b Shattuck Kathryn September 12 2017 Linda Fairstein Looks Crime in the Face and Smiles The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 19 2018 Yona Zeldis McDonough January 13 2017 This Groundbreaking Lawyer Turned Novelist Has Just Published a New Series Lilith Archived from the original on March 13 2017 Grimes William September 24 2011 Justin N Feldman 92 Dies Opposed Tammany Hall The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 19 2018 Kaufman Joanne April 24 2014 The Case of the Disappearing Chintz The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 19 2018 External linksAlex Cooper Crime Novels mostlyfiction com interview with Linda Fairstein author of Lethal Legacy Linda Fairstein Archived June 26 2017 at the Wayback Machine Video produced by Makers Women Who Make America CBS News Sunday Morning interview with Linda Fairstein broadcast July 16 2017 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Linda Fairstein amp oldid 1176768091, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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