Tawana Brawley Family Wants Case Reopened
1010 WINS
November 18, 2007
New York — Twenty years after her allegations of a racially charged rape became a national flashpoint, Tawana Brawley’s mother and stepfather want to reopen the case, a newspaper reported Sunday.
Glenda Brawley and Ralph King want to press Gov. Eliot Spitzer and state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to re-examine the November 1987 incident, which a state grand jury ultimately concluded was a hoax, the Daily News reported.
“New York State owes my daughter. They owe her the truth,” said Glenda Brawley, reiterating her stance that her daughter was indeed raped by a group of white men who smeared her with feces and scrawled racial epithets on her body.
Representatives for Spitzer and Cuomo did not immediately respond to telephone and e-mail messages.
Brawley was 15 when she went missing for four days from her home in Wappingers Falls, about 75 miles north of New York City. After being found, she made the shocking allegations: She had been abducted and raped by six white law enforcement officials.
The case quickly made headlines and drew the attention of the Rev. Al Sharpton, who became an outspoken advocate for the teen.
But a special state grand jury found evidence Brawley had fabricated her story. A former Dutchess County prosecutor who had been implicated in the case later sued Brawley, Sharpton and other Brawley advisers for defamation, winning a $345,000 judgment against the advisers and a $185,000 judgment against Brawley. Sharpton was held liable for $65,000.
Brawley has changed her name and become a nurse, the Daily News reported.