PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "But the complaint also blasts Boston Police detectives for allegedly getting witnesses to change their stories when their accounts did not match Rosa's description. When police focused on Mr. Rosa as the suspect, they convinced the roommate to alter her physical description of the man she saw to avoid the obvious mismatch with Mr. Rosa. ... Police also convinced the roommate, and the roommate's siter who was in the apartment the night of Taylor's killing, to change their description of the coast they saw on the unfamiliar man after learning that Mr. Rosa had a different coat."
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "The Commonwealth argued to the jury that biologic evidence on Mr. Rosa's coat connected the victim to the coat, but DNA evidence refutes that claim. In contrast, the complaint continues, Rosa immediately cooperated with detectives once they began to go after him as the suspect - he willingly gave police hair, blood and saliva samples. And, the complaint alleges, the detectives made up statements by Rosa's wife, who did not speak English, but who was not provided a translator, to rebut his alibi."
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STORY: "Man sues state over the 34 years he spent in prison for a Dorchester murder he didn't commit, by Adam Gaffin, published by The Universal Hub on May 12, 2026.
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GIST: Thomas Rosa of Chelsea, who was only officially absolved in March of the 1985 murder of Gwendolyn Taylor of Dorchester yesterday sued the state for the 34 years he spent in prison for her murder.
In his suit, filed in Suffolk Superior Court, Rosa is seeking the maximum $1 million fee state law allows for wrongful imprisonment, along with expungement of his conviction from state records, state-funded medical and mental-health care, at least 50% off any classes at state colleges, housing assistance and attorney's fees.
Rosa was charged with the murder, rape and kidnapping of Taylor, an 18-year-old Talbot Avenue resident, whose body was found in a car parked at a repair garage on Norfolk Street in December, 1985.
His first trial, in 1986, ended in a mistrial. The next month, a Suffolk Superior Court jury convicted him, but the Supreme Judicial Court overturned the verdict and ordered a new trial, which resulted in a guilty verdict in 1993 - for first-degree murder and kidnapping, with an acquittal on the rape charge.
In 2020, a single justice of the Supreme Judicial Court ordered him freed as he pursued a new trial, based on new evidence, such as the fact that the man's DNA found on the victim's body was not his - and that DNA found on a coat at his home was not the victim's.
In 2023, a Suffolk Superior Court judge vacated his conviction and ordered a new trial. At the time, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office said it planned to retry him, but this past March filed a nolle prosequi form formally and finally dropping his case.
In his complaint, Rosa's attorneys say that in addition to physical evidence, eyewitness accounts were faulty - they said the man last seen with Taylor had fine, straight hair and a missing or gap tooth, while Rosa had thick curly hair and no gap between his front teeth.
But the complaint also blasts Boston Police detectives for allegedly getting witnesses to change their stories when their accounts did not match Rosa's description.
When police focused on Mr. Rosa as the suspect, they convinced the roommate to alter her physical description of the man she saw to avoid the obvious mismatch with Mr. Rosa. ...
Police also convinced the roommate, and the roommate's siter who was in the apartment the night of Taylor's killing, to change their description of the coast they saw on the unfamiliar man after learning that Mr. Rosa had a different coat. ...
The Commonwealth argued to the jury that biologic evidence on Mr. Rosa's coat connected the victim to the coat, but DNA evidence refutes that claim.
In contrast, the complaint continues, Rosa immediately cooperated with detectives once they began to go after him as the suspect - he willingly gave police hair, blood and saliva samples.
And, the complaint alleges, the detectives made up statements by Rosa's wife, who did not speak English, but who was not provided a translator, to rebut his alibi."
The entire story can be read at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."Lawyer Radha Natarajan: Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true;