April 19, 1989 started off as a normal day for 14-year-old Kevin D. Richardson, but that night would change the course of his life and American society forever. After the brutal attack and sexual assault of jogger Trisha Ellen Meili in Central Park, the New York Police Department rounded up and arrested a total of 10 suspects, including Richardson. Despite there being no DNA and little evidence connecting himself and the four other teens to the crime, Richardson was charged and sentenced to serve 5 to 10 years in jail. After serving five-and-a-half years for a crime he did not commit, Richardson was put on probation and released from prison.

However, years later the conviction for the attack remained on his record. In 2002, New York District Attorney Robert Richardson joined forces with the other men falsely convicted and filed a lawsuit for $41 million, which was finally settled in 2014. In 2019, Netflix released When They See Us, a mini-series portraying the famous events of the case. The celebrated and award- winning show has brought the injustices Richardson and the Central Park Five experienced back into the public’s attention.

30 years later, Kevin Richardson is an advocate for criminal justice reform and uses his personal experience with false coercions and unjust convictions to bring about change. He has partnered with the Innocence Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted people through DNA testing. Join us as some SSU faculty engage Kevin in a dialogue about his experiences then and how they have brought him to where he is today.

We will also be hosting a dinner for some students/staff/faculty and Kevin. If you are interested in participating in the raffle to attend this dinner, please email mo.phillips@sonoma.edu