UNITED STATES NEWS

Wrongfully convicted Massachusetts man gets $13M settlement

May 3, 2023, 12:36 PM

BOSTON (AP) — A Massachusetts man who spent 32 years in prison after he was wrongfully convicted of setting a fire that killed eight people will receive $13 million from the city where he was arrested.

Victor Rosario, 65, said Wednesday he has forgiven those who put him behind bars.

“One of the things for me to be able to continue moving forward is basically to learn how to forgive,” he said at a news conference the day after the Lowell City Council voted to settle a $13 million civil rights lawsuit he brought against the city.

Rosario was 24 years old when he was convicted of arson and multiple counts of murder in connection with the 1982 fire in Lowell, Massachusetts. Three adults and five children died in the fire.

Rosario tried to help the victims escape the flames, his attorneys said.

But investigators identified Rosario as a suspect, and then fabricated evidence and hid evidence that the fire was actually an accident, attorney Mark Loevy-Reyes said.

“They brought Victor Rosario for questioning; They coerced a confession after keeping him up all night,” Loevy-Reyes said. “Victor was traumatized because he had tried to save children from the burning fire. He heard their screams.”

He was told if he signed a piece of paper, he could go, Loevy-Reyes said. It was in English, and Rosario didn’t understand it because his native language is Spanish. He signed it anyway and ended up with a life sentence.

Rosario missed all the highwater moments in his four children’s lives. But the worst thing about being wrongfully imprisoned, Rosario said, was not being there for his mother when she died in 2007.

“Thirty-five years, more than half of my life, I spent behind the wall of a Massachusetts state prison,” Rosario read from a written statement at the news conference outside Boston’s federal courthouse. “Today this chapter is ended and a new chapter begins. Nothing can ever compensate me for those years taken from me.”

Rosario’s attorneys, with assistance from the New England Innocence Project and the Committee for Public Counsel Services, persuaded a judge to vacate the convictions in 2014 and set him free pending a new trial. After the state’s highest court upheld the ruling in 2017, Middlesex County prosecutors said they would not retry him, citing the passage of time.

In 2019, he filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Lowell as well as about a dozen police officers and firefighters involved in the investigation, alleging constitutional violations. The settlement was announced just a couple of weeks before the trial was scheduled to start.

The lawsuit said investigators used “outright lies, coercion, threats, mistreatment, and sleep deprivation” and took advantage of Rosario’s “obvious mental health breakdown” to get their client to sign a confession.

There was pressure to quickly solve a high-profile tragedy, his lawsuit said.

Prosecutors said at trial that Rosario and two brothers, who have since died, set the fire by throwing Molotov cocktails at the building. The brothers were never tried because Rosario refused to testify against them.

Locke Bowman, another of Rosario’s attorneys, credited the Lowell City Council for settling the case.

”$13 million does not begin to compensate Victor for all that he has lost but it reflects the acknowledgement of the city of Lowell that what happened wasn’t right,” he said.

The settlement covers all of the police officers and firefighters named individually in the lawsuit.

Messages seeking comment were left with the Lowell mayor’s office, the city manager’s office and the city’s legal department.

Since he’s been freed, Rosario has started helping prisoners still behind bars and even competes in marathons.

“I ask the criminal justice system, the universities preparing lawyers, prosecutors and investigators, to do their very best to not let what happened to me be the future of one more wrongfully convicted individual,” he said in his statement.

United States News

Associated Press

US makes offer to bring home jailed Americans Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkovich. Russia rejected it

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration has made a new and significant offer aimed at securing the release of American detainees Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkovich, but Russia has rejected the offer, the State Department said Tuesday. Spokesman Matthew Miller did not reveal the details of the offer nor why Russia had turned it down, […]

18 minutes ago

Actor Jonathan Majors arrives at court for his domestic assault trial, Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023, in Ne...

Associated Press

Jonathan Majors’ accuser said actor’s “violent temper” left her fearful before alleged assault

NEW YORK (AP) — Jonathan Majors’ former girlfriend told a Manhattan jury that the actor was prone to fits of rage that escalated in the months leading up to his arrest for allegedly attacking her in the backseat of a car last spring. During hours of tearful testimony on Tuesday, Grace Jabbari described Majors as […]

37 minutes ago

Associated Press

Atmospheric river brings heavy rain, flooding and warm winter temperatures to the Pacific Northwest

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An atmospheric river has brought heavy rain, flooding and warm winter temperatures to the Pacific Northwest, closing roadways and schools as it shattered daily rainfall and temperature records in Washington state. The National Weather Service on Tuesday issued flood warnings in parts of western Washington, including in areas north and east […]

1 hour ago

This undated family photo shows David Schultz with his two sons. Schultz’s semi-truck was found t...

Associated Press

Midwest mystery: Iowa man still missing, 2 weeks after semi holding baby pigs was found on highway

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — David Schultz’s semi-truck was found two weeks ago on a rural highway in northwest Iowa, its trailer still filled with baby pigs he was transporting. Schultz’s wallet and phone were inside, and his jacket was on the side of the road. But Schultz was nowhere to be found, and his […]

1 hour ago

FILE - Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., listens to a question during a news conference, March 30, 202...

Associated Press

Tuberville is ending blockade of most military nominees, clearing way for hundreds to be approved

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Tommy Tuberville announced on Tuesday that he’s ending his blockade of hundreds of military promotions, following heavy criticism from many of his colleagues in the Senate and clearing the way for hundreds to be approved soon. Tuberville’s blockade of military promotions was over a dispute about a Pentagon abortion policy. The […]

2 hours ago

Associated Press

Former DEA informant pleads guilty in 2021 assassination of Haiti’s president

MIAMI (AP) — A former confidential informant for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiring to assassinate Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, whose killing in 2021 caused unprecedented turmoil in the Caribbean nation. Joseph Vincent, a dual Haitian-American citizen who lived in the U.S. and attended meetings in South Florida and Haiti ahead […]

2 hours ago

Sponsored Articles

(KTAR News Graphic)...

KTAR launches online holiday auction benefitting Boys & Girls Clubs of the Valley

KTAR is teaming up with The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Valley for a holiday auction benefitting thousands of Valley kids.

...

Desert Institute for Spine Care

Desert Institute for Spine Care (DISC) wants to help Valley residents address back, neck issues through awake spine surgery

As the weather begins to change, those with back issues can no longer rely on the dry heat to aid their backs. That's where DISC comes in.

...

DAY & NIGHT AIR CONDITIONING, HEATING AND PLUMBING

Importance of AC maintenance after Arizona’s excruciating heat wave

An air conditioning unit in Phoenix is vital to living a comfortable life inside, away from triple-digit heat.

Wrongfully convicted Massachusetts man gets $13M settlement