The blowback for the real-life prosecutorsΒ ofΒ Ava Duvernay’s Netflix mini-series “When They See Us” continues.Elizabeth Lederer,Β lead prosecutor in the Central Park Five case, has resigned from her part-time lecturer post at Columbia Law School after a petition calling for her firing garnered over 10,000 signatures.In a letter published Wednesday, Columbia Law School dean Gillian Lester said that the miniseries “reignited a painful β and vital β national conversation about race, identity, and criminal justice.”Lederer said in a statement, “Given the nature of the recent publicity generated by the Netflix portrayal of the Central Park case, it is best for me not to renew my teaching application.”In 1989, Lederer prosecuted Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise β known as the Central Park Five β in the assault and rape of a white female investment banker in Central Park.They were exonerated in 2002 after Matias Reyes confessed to the crimes, which was corroborated by DNA evidence.The petition to fire Lederer was written by the Black Law Students Association at Columbia Law.”[T]hat is just a start,” they said in the petition. “The School must do more because letting one professor go does not improve the lives of Black and Latinx law students, nor does it improve the learning experience of students of color at Columbia Law School.”The resignation comes a week after Linda Fairstein, who helmed the Manhattan District Attorney’s sex crimes unit, published a rebuke of “When They See Us” in the Wall Street Journal.She endured a series
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