STORY: "Freedom remains tenuous for freed prisoner," by Milton J. Valencia, published by The Boston Globe on October 24, 2016.
PHOTO CAPTION: "Since his release in 2014, ordained minister Victor Rosario has preached widely.
PHOTO CAPTION: "Victor Rosario was led into court in Lowell in 1982 after the three-decker fire that killed eight people."
GIST: "It has been two years since a judge freed Victor
Rosario from prison, and he says it has been a new life. After serving
32 years behind bars for a deadly arson fire he says he did not set, the
59-year-old ordained minister has performed weddings and baptisms, and
founded a church group to help former prisoners adjust back to society.
He has also become a long-distance runner, and is set to run the New
York City Marathon Nov. 6. But two days after the race, Rosario
will be back in court. Middlesex County District Attorney Marian T. Ryan
appealed the 2014 decision that granted Rosario a new trial,
challenging the judge’s assertion that he may have been under a
psychotic episode at the time he confessed to the crimes. On Nov. 8, the
Supreme Judicial Court will hear arguments on whether Ryan has to retry
Rosario in the 1982 fire that tore through a dilapidated three-decker
in Lowell, killing eight people, including five young children.In a recent interview, Rosario said he is learning to enjoy his
freedom, and tries to not think about being sent back to prison. “At
this point, I’m adjusting to the situation, adjusting to the
environment, and I am here enjoying every second of it,” Rosario said.........Lisa Kavanaugh, one of Rosario’s lawyers, the head of the Innocence
Program for the state’s public defender agency, said that Rosario should
be exonerated by prosecutors. His conviction was thrown out in large
part because advances in forensic technology cast doubt on whether the
fire was deliberately set, raising questions about the accuracy of the
confession. Kavanaugh said she welcomes the high court’s review of the
case, saying the court’s decision could settle Rosario’s case and others
like it that have been built on questionable evidence. “We felt
the issues were important and are glad it’s before the highest court,
but our wish is that Victor would be done with this and can move on with
his life,” she said. Within 48 hours of the deadly fire, the
worst in Lowell history, investigators zeroed in on Rosario, 24 at the
time, as their suspect. Fire inspectors reported that burn patterns in
the home indicated the fire was intentionally set. Rosario, then a
drug addict and alcoholic, first told investigators he had gone to the
apartment next door to buy drugs, and then smelled smoke and heard
screams. But after five hours of questioning, Rosario signed a statement
that he and two friends had thrown Molotov cocktails into the building
as revenge for a botched drug deal. Within a year he was convicted and
sentenced to multiple life terms. An investigation by the New
England Center for Investigative Reporting, published in the Globe in
2010, found grave shortcomings in the police inquiry, however, including
in witness identification techniques. The most significant development
was in advances in forensic science, which found that the burn patterns
police took as definitive evidence of arson are now considered a common
occurrence of any house fire, whether intentionally set or not. The
appeal filed on Rosario’s behalf also raised the question of whether he
was suffering from a delirium caused by severe alcohol withdrawal and
submitted to a coerced confession, a finding made by a mental health
analysts who testified for the defense. In her decision vacating the conviction, Superior Court
Judge Kathe M. Tuttman ruled that the questionable evidence of arson,
coupled with evidence of Rosario’s psychosis during alcohol withdrawal,
raised doubts as to the veracity of his confession. Ryan’s appeal
argues that Tuttman overstepped her authority because no new evidence
was presented by the defense. In the original trial, Rosario had already
argued unsuccessfully that he was having a psychotic episode at the
time of the confession, and prosecutors said the new diagnosis that he
suffered from delirium tremens should not alter the initial decision. Prosecutors also argued that the reputed advances in scientific
evidence cited by the defense were not sufficient to overturn the
verdict, saying Rosario’s confession confirmed that the fire had been
arson. Materials used to make the same type of Molotov cocktails Rosario
said he threw at the house were found in the basement of his apartment
building after the fire. Rosario is the only person convicted in
the case; he refused to testify against the two accomplices he named
during his confession, and they have since died."
The entire story can be found at:
.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/10/23/freedom-remains-tenuous-for-freed-prisoner/cwlpsDOBv7Iue1CwRaAGzJ/story.html
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. 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. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent
stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html
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.
