Exonerated Chelsea man is suing for $1 million after 34 years in jail
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Rosa is suing for the utmost $1 million allowed beneath state regulation, a cap which some exonerees are calling on state lawmakers to boost.
After prosecutors introduced {that a} Chelsea man who spent greater than three a long time in jail and was granted a brand new trial wouldn’t be retried, he’s suing the state for the utmost $1 million.
Thomas Rosa, who has at all times maintained his innocence, was convicted of homicide, kidnapping, and aggravated sexual assault associated to the 1985 homicide of 18-year-old Gwendolyn Taylor in Dorchester. He spent 34 years in jail.
Rosa was tried in three separate trials for the killing, with the ultimate trial ending with a conviction of homicide and kidnapping in 1993. However, he was freed in 2020 because the courts thought of his movement for a brand new trial.
In 2023, Suffolk Superior Court docket Justice Michael Ricciuti vacated Rosa’s earlier conviction and granted him a brand new trial after new DNA proof “casts doubt concerning the reliability of the eyewitness testimony” within the case.
In March, nevertheless, Suffolk County prosecutors stated they might not retry Rosa, citing new forensic testing, misplaced proof, and modifications in case regulation because the grounds for its resolution.
“The proof was so weak, and the presence of regulation enforcement misconduct so blatant, that Mr. Rosa’s convictions for such crimes had been overturned after three separate trials, the final two of the convictions had been vacated solely after a long time of Plaintiff’s lengthy wrongful imprisonment,” the lawsuit filed in Suffolk Superior Court docket stated.
Within the lawsuit, Rosa’s lawyer alleges that Boston police investigators fabricated data from his then-wife and alibi, ignored proof pointing to different suspects, and destroyed or hid proof that would have confirmed his innocence.
“The case towards Mr. Rosa was weak from the beginning,” the lawsuit stated. “No bodily proof tied him to the crimes. The prosecution’s case rested on the identification testimony of witnesses who had little alternative to see the person that the sufferer was with earlier than she was murdered, beneath circumstances that will result in unreliable identifications.”
Rosa is suing for the utmost $1 million allowed beneath state regulation, a cap which some exonerees are calling on state lawmakers to boost.
The lawsuit can also be asking for the courts to order the state to expunge all data associated to the conviction, give Rosa a 50 % discount in tuition for state school, and supply healthcare companies and housing help, in keeping with court docket paperwork.
The Legal professional Common’s workplace, who represents the state, didn’t return a request for remark concerning the lawsuit.
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