One of the five men exonerated in the notorious Central Park rape case that sparked fierce debate and even a request from Donald Trump for the death penalty in New York, has all but secured a seat in the city's local government.
Yusef Salaam will likely be the next councilman for central Harlem after securing 50 per cent - roughly 5,403 votes - of the total ballot count, the New York Post reports.
Salaam, 49, beat out state Assemblywoman Inez Dickens, 73, and 65-year-old Assemblyman and pastor Al Taylor - who won 25 per cent and 14 per cent of the vote respectively.
During his victory speech, Salaam praised the Harlem community for coming out to vote for him.
“I’m here because Harlem you believed in me. Harlem has spoken,” he said.
The father of 10 - seven girls and three boys - is currently a board member of the Innocence Project and a founding member of the Justice 4 the Wrongfully Incarcerated.
According to their website, the Justice 4 The Wrongfully Incarcerated is a volunteer organization that works to "create and promote statewide legislation that will automatically provide compensation, education, and other support to help wrongly imprisoned people restart and rebuild their lives upon release."
Salaam's own journey surviving a wrongful conviction has been one of the most controversial legal decisions in the last few decades.
Along with four other defendants - Antron McCray, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson and Korey Wise - Salaam was found guilty in the infamous case surrounding the rape of a jogger in Central Park. The group served between six and 13 years in prison but had their convictions tossed in 2022 after serial rapist Matias Reyes confessed to the crime.
The five defendants would eventually settle a civil rights suit against New York City in 2014, getting a hefty $40.75million payout.
In 2019, then US President Donald Trump came under fresh fire after the series "When They See Us" highlighted his call for the death penalty to be brought back in New York when the five Black and Hispanic teenagers were accused of raping a white woman.
Trump - a real estate magnate at the time- spent $85,000 taking out adverts in New York newspapers saying "crazed misfits" should be "made to suffer."
He later told talk show host Larry King he was referring to the five - who were later acquitted after DNA evidence revealed who the real rapist was.
Lawyers for the five said Trump had inflamed public opinion against the defendants and Salaam later described Trump as a " fire starter".
Despite the city making a $40 million settlement to the five in 2014, Trump maintained their guilt while campaigning to be president.
He wrote in 2014: "Settling doesn't mean innocence."
Salaam would speak about the entire ordeal while giving his victory speech.
“Having to be kidnapped from my home as a 15-year-old child, to be lodged in the belly of the beast. … I am my ancestor’s wildest dreams," he declared. "I was gifted because I was able to see it for what it really was, a system that was trying to make me believe that I was my ancestor’s worst nightmare. I am here because Harlem, you believed in me.”
The victory for Salaam serves as a major blow to New York City Mayor Eric Adams, Congressman Adrian Espaillat and members of the Harlem elite who threw their support behind Dickens.
Salaam had the support of Keith Wright, a prominent Manhattan Democrat whose son was a campaign manager for the exonerated politician.
