The Confession: Matias Reyes
Matias Reyes is taken by detectives from the W. 82nd St. station for booking.
William LaForce Jr./NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images, FILE
In 2002 a convicted murderer and serial rapist serving time for other crimes reached out to the Manhattan district attorney’s office. He was the rapist in the Central Park jogger case, he said, describing how he had, on that April night, grabbed Meili as she ran and attacked and brutalized her.
In 2002 a convicted murderer and serial rapist serving time for other crimes reached out to the Manhattan district attorney’s office.
He was the rapist in the Central Park jogger case, he said, describing how he had, on that April night, grabbed Meili as she ran and attacked and brutalized her.
Matias Reyes was in the same prison as Korey Wise.
When Reyes realized that Wise was still in prison for a crime that Reyes had committed, he came forward.
Matias Reyes is currently incarcerated at the Shawangunk Correctional Facility in Wallkill, New York.
Current Status and Parole
Sentence: Reyes is serving a sentence of 33⅓ years to life for a series of violent crimes committed in 1989, including the murder of Lourdes Gonzalez and multiple rapes.
* Parole Eligibility:
He is scheduled for a parole hearing in August 2026.
Public Opposition: There is significant public opposition to his potential release, including active petitions urging the New York State Parole Board to deny his parole based on his history of predatory violence. Background and Central Park Case
Reyes is best known for his 2002 confession to the 1989 rape and assault of Trisha Meili (the “Central Park Jogger”).
The Exoneration:
His confession, corroborated by DNA evidence, led to the exoneration of the “Central Park Five” (now the Exonerated Five), who had spent 7 to 13 years in prison for the crime.
No Charges: Because the five-year statute of limitations for the assault had already passed by the time he confessed.
Reyes was never charged for the Central Park attack.
Steven Lopez
Steven Lopez
Steven Lopez was the sixth teenager charged in the 1989 Central Park jogger case. Unlike the “Central Park Five,” his conviction was not overturned in 2002; he was officially exonerated in July 2022.
⚖️ Conviction and Sentencing
Original Charges: Arrested at 15 and indicted for the rape and attempted murder of Trisha Meili, as well as the robbery of a male jogger.
Plea Deal: In 1991, to avoid the more severe rape charge, he pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery of the male jogger.
Sentence: Served roughly 3.5 years in a juvenile facility before being released in the early 1990s.
Long-Term Impact: Because he pleaded guilty, his case was largely excluded from the 2002 exonerations of his co-defendants and was not depicted in the Netflix series When They See Us.
The Central Park jogger case, which dominated headlines in 1989 and 1990, made headlines again in December 2002 when the five were officially cleared in the case.
In 2002 a convicted murderer and serial rapist serving time for other crimes reached out to the Manhattan district attorney’s office. He was the rapist in the Central Park jogger case, he said, describing how he had, on that April night, grabbed Meili as she ran and attacked and brutalized her.
Matias Reyes came forward because he was in the same prison as Korey Wise.
When Reyes realized that Wise was still in prison for a crime that Reyes had committed, he came forward.
On December 19, 2002, Justice Charles J. Tejada of the Supreme Court of the State of New York granted a motion to vacate the thirteen-year-old convections in the infamous case. He did so based on new evidence: a shocking confession from a serial rapist, Matias Reyes, and a positive DNA match to back it up.
A year later, the men filed civil lawsuits against the City of New York, and the police officers and prosecutors who had worked toward their conviction.
In 2014, they settled that civil case for $41 million dollars.
Despite their exoneration, the police and prosecutors involved in the case maintain that they were guilty of the crime.
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Stanford v. Kentucky (1989)
Court ruled that it was constitutional for
states to execute juveniles between the ages
of 16 and 18 at the time of the offense.
In Stanford v. Kentucky (1989), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that executing individuals who were 16 or 17 years old at the time of their crimes did not violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.
The Core Ruling
Decision: Upheld the death penalty for 16- and 17-year-olds.
Vote: 5–4 majority led by Justice Antonin Scalia. Reasoning: The Court found no “national consensus” against executing older juveniles, noting that most states with capital punishment allowed it for this age group.
Key Facts
Petitioner: Kevin Stanford was 17 years and 4 months old when he raped and murdered a 20-year-old gas station attendant in Kentucky.
Consolidation: The case was combined with Wilkins v. Missouri, involving Heath Wilkins, who was 16 years and 6 months old when he murdered a convenience store clerk.
Legal Context: This ruling followed Thompson v. Oklahoma (1988), which had banned the death penalty for those under 16.
Overturning the Decision 💡
The precedent set by Stanford v. Kentucky stood for 16 years until it was officially overturned in 2005 by Roper v. Simmons. In that case, the Court declared that the “evolving standards of decency” now prohibited the execution of anyone who committed a crime while under the age of 18.
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© Dale Ricardo Shields 2026
