Since “When They See Us” — a miniseries about the wrongful convictions of five black and Latino youth in New York — premiered on Netflix at the end of May, the University of Colorado Boulder’s Korey Wise Innocence Project has received more than $11,000 in donations.
That’s 10 times as much money as had been contributed over the first five months of 2019 to the organization that offers pro-bono legal assistance to people believed to have been wrongfully convicted.
Korey Wise, one of the so-called Central Park Five portrayed in the series, is tied to the Boulder campus after donating $190,000 to the project in 2015, hoping to give back to a program.
The Netflix series has reinvigorated interest in the case stemming from the 1989 assault and rape of a jogger in New York City’s Central Park. The ensuing criminal case spotlighted racial injustice in the legal system and now has compelled viewers to reach for their wallets and give to groups standing up for the wrongfully convicted.
Since the Ava DuVernay-directed series debuted May 31, CU’s Korey Wise Innocence Project has received 152 donations amounting to $11,256. From January to the show’s launch, the project only received nine gifts and pledges amounting to less than $1,100.
“It’s very inspiring to see people be moved by an issue that I care so much about,” said Anne-Marie Moyes, director of the Korey Wise Innocence Project. “I think a lot of what happens in our criminal justice system ends up being invisible by a lot of people. There are so many injustices within our system. For people deeply immersed in this work, it’s very heartening to see how much this moves others to do something and to learn more.”
“When They See Us” focuses on the convictions of the Central Park Five — five black and Latino youth, including Wise — in connection with the rape and assault of the jogger.
Wise was 16 when he was tried and convicted as an adult, spending more than a decade in prison for a crime DNA testing later confirmed another man committed. Wise was exonerated in 2002, and the convictions of the four other men also were overturned. The exonerated men filed a lawsuit against the city in 2003 for wrongful conviction. The suit was settled in 2014 for $41 million — the largest in New York state history, according to the series.
At the end of “When They See Us,” viewers are updated on where the Central Park Five are now. Wise’s update notes his funding of the Innocence Project at the Boulder law school to support pro-bono legal advice for the wrongfully convicted.
Jane Fisher-Byrialsen, an attorney who helped exonerate Wise, said she has been keeping Wise, who she now considers a friend, updated on the funding boost to the Boulder campus’ program.
“He’s super grateful and really proud that he was able to get something like this going,” Fisher-Byrialsen said. “I really can’t imagine work that’s more important than innocence work and getting people out of prison who shouldn’t be here. We’re super, super psyched the Netflix series is having this effect.”
Moyes is the sole full-time staffer of the CU Innocence Project. Wise’s 2015 donation paid for her position, but she’s hoping this new influx of money can go toward hiring a staff attorney who can help her, program volunteers and law students sift through the hundreds of applicants vying for someone to look into their cases.
“One of the things that’s so hard is you get all these requests, and you’re deeply aware of the need and desperation of people coming to you for help and it’s very hard to just know you can’t serve more of that need,” Moyes said. “There is a much higher demand than we can serve.”
Because of the time it takes to successfully maneuver an exoneration through the criminal justice system, Moyes said the CU Innocence Project hasn’t walked anyone out of prison just yet. But she hopes the increased attention and funding can nudge the project closer in its pursuit of justice.
“There’s probably nothing more destructive to a life than being in prison for something you haven’t done,” Fisher-Byrialsen said. “It sticks with you for the rest of your life even when you are free. I hope the donations continue because it’s very costly work.”
