Central Park Five codefendant Steven Lopez's guilty plea vacated, indictment dismissed
NEW YORK -- Steven Lopez, the forgotten defendant in the notorious Central Park Five case, had his indictment overturned after three decades on Monday.
In 1989, some 20 teenagers were arrested following the rape of a jogger. Seven of those teens were later charged and convicted.
Lopez is the sixth man to watch his case get dismissed after five men were already exonerated, CBS2's Kevin Rincon reported.
"I'm sure that he's feeling a range of emotions, but I'm hoping today, at the very least, vindicated," Defense Attorney Eric Shapiro Renfroe said.
Lopez, dress in a black suit, sat quietly in court and listened as a judge agreed to overturn his conviction on a robbery charged.
The judge said, "Mr. Lopez, we wish you peace and healing," and Lopez stood up, hugged his attorney and walked out with his name cleared.
WATCH: Central Park Five speak with Maurice DuBois
Lopez was 15 when he was accused of raping a jogger in Central Park. Amid immense public pressure, he took a plea deal and went to prison.
"Anyone in that situation, knowing that you're innocent, you lose time, you lose time with your family," Shapiro Renfroe said.
"At the end of the day it's the possibilities to become something, it's the possibilities to be productive, the possibility just to live life and just to enjoy," said Raymond Santana, one of the exonerated Central Park Five.
"You can see it in his face. He has a lot of pain. This man has lived through some things," Santana said.
He said this moment is bittersweet. On one had, justice has been done. But on the other, the court proceedings don't erase what happened.
"The same notoriety that he received as being wolfpack, as being urban terrorist, as being part of a wilding group, let's give him the praise that he's an innocent man," Santana said.
The overturned conviction was an effort led in part by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
"I am sorry for the circumstances that led to this day, but I hope that this moment is a step forward for him and his loved ones," Bragg said.
And potentially a step forward for those who have their own reservations about the criminal justice system.
"When we accuse the wrong person of committing a violent crime, it means we fail to ensure real accountability," Bragg said.
The five men already exonerated received $41 million in a settlement after suing New York City. Lopez was not part of that deal, but his lawyer did not rule out the potential for a similar effort.
