Two More Youths Given Prison for Central Park Jogger Attack

One of two teen-agers convicted in the near-fatal attack on a Central Park jogger was given the maximum sentence for a juvenile Wednesday for acts that the judge called “cowardly, mindless, mob-induced madness.”

Kevin Richardson, who was 14 at the time of the attack, was sentenced to five to 10 years in prison, despite his lawyer’s claim that he was as “much a victim as the Central Park jogger.”

Judge Thomas Galligan sentenced Kharey Wise, who was 16 at the time of the attack, to five to 15 years in prison. Wise, who was sentenced as an adult, could have received up to 26 years.

Five youths have been convicted in the 1989 attack on a woman jogger. The 28-year-old investment banker was gang-raped, beaten and left for dead in a muddy ravine. Although she lost 75% of her blood before she was found by passers-by, the woman recovered and has returned to her job.

Three teen-agers convicted of rape and assault in a previous trial, all 16, were sentenced as juveniles to the maximum five to 10 years in prison.

Kevin Lopez, 16, the last youth indicted, faces trial next month.

Richardson and Wise tearfully told the judge that they were innocent, but Galligan said that “the horror that was April 19, 1989, was relived through the trial of these two defendants. It is clear that their guilt was established beyond any reasonable doubt--beyond any doubt.”

Richardson was the first defendant convicted of attempted murder in the attack. He also was convicted of rape, sodomy and other charges.

“Criminal justice is railroading black and Hispanic people,” Richardson said. “I’m innocent. The truth will come out. I’m never going to stop fighting.”