Attorneys at New York City’s Law Department are upset that a judge said they manipulated a quote by filmmaker Ken Burns in trying to win enforcement of a subpoena for outtakes from his controversial documentary, "The Central Park Five." City lawyers have asked Southern District Magistrate Judge Ronald Ellis (See Profile) to modify his Feb. 19 opinion where he quashed the subpoena for outtakes in the $250 million civil rights lawsuit brought by five plaintiffs who claim they were wrongly imprisoned for the infamous 1989 attack on Central Park jogger Patricia Meili.
Ellis said in his ruling that the city had "mischaracteriz[ed]" that Burns said in an interview the purpose of the film was "first and foremost" to put pressure on the city to settle the lawsuit. Ellis also said the "manipulation of the quote" was "troubling" (NYLJ, Feb. 20).
