Jogger Case Jurors View Confession Tape

Jurors on Wednesday heard one of three defendants confess on videotape his role in the gang rape and assault of a Central Park jogger.

The woman “was just hollering, like help, help. They kept smacking her,” Raymond Santana, 15, said in the confession.

The videotape played in state Supreme Court capped the prosecution’s case in the trial of three youths charged with taking part in a “wilding” rampage in Central Park that left a 30-year-old female investment banker near death and partially disabled.

Some jurors seemed to doze off during parts of the tape, but their attention was riveted when Santana described how some of his companions hit the jogger in the head with a brick and another dropped his pants to have sex with her.

Santana named three other youths--Kevin Richardson, Steven Lopez and Kharey Wise--who have been indicted and will be tried later.

When the woman kept yelling for help, Santana recalled that Lopez said, “Shut up, bitch,” and “He picked up the brick and he hit (her) with the brick, twice.”

Prosecutor Elizabeth Lederer then asked: “After he hit her in the head with the brick did she stop screaming?”

“Yeah, ‘cause she was like, shocked,” Santana replied.

Earlier in the day, two detectives testified about damaging statements made by Santana and another defendant, Yusef Salaam, 16, while at a police precinct.

“How much time am I looking at for what happened?” Detective Joseph Neenan said Salaam asked him.

The videotape was the second shown during the trial. Jurors last week viewed the confession of the third defendant, Antron McCray, 16. Salaam was never videotaped.

Santana, Salaam and McCray are being tried on 13 criminal counts, including attempted murder, rape and sodomy.