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At Risk Of COVID-19, Massachusetts Man Released From Prison After 34 Years

Thomas Rosa - at his arrest in 1985 and after his release in 2020.
Courtesy
/
New England Innocence Project
Thomas Rosa - at his arrest in 1985 and after his release in 2020.

A Massachusetts man who spent 34 years in prison for murder has been sent home while his lawyers fight for his exoneration.

After three trials, Thomas Rosa was convicted of the 1985 killing of Gwendolyn Taylor, an 18-year-old nurse's aide.

In 2017, attorney Charlotte Whitmore of the Boston College Innocence Program looked at the evidence against him.

"And to me, it was simply not convincing," she said. "All the physical evidence that was used against him at trial has been totally dismantled by the DNA evidence. And that leaves only the two eyewitness identifications."

After taking into account such factors as distance, darkness and stress, Whitmore said both identifications are highly suspect.

Last week, Justice Frank Gaziano of the Supreme Judicial Court agreed that Rosa has a reasonable chance of getting a new trial — and is at high risk for COVID-19 in prison. So Gaziano released Rosa, with some restrictions, while Whitmore and other attorneys from the New England Innocence Project argue the case.

Rosa, 59, is living with his wife and spending time with his son, who was born the year after Rosa was arrested, according to Whitmore.

“There's definitely a psychological toll that it takes on our clients when they go through this,” Whitmore said. “But Mr. Rosa has the support of his family. He gets to be with them now, every day, in person. And I think that that type of support... is invaluable to him. But that weight is not lifted until this process concludes.”

If a judge agrees that the evidence warrants a new trial, the prosecutor's office can decide whether to retry the case or to let Rosa go free.

At least two other Massachusetts inmates convicted of murder have been released during the pandemic under similar circumstances.

James Watson spent 41 years behind bars for the murder of a taxi driver, and was allowed to leave prison last Spring during the pandemic while his lawyers argue for a new trial.

Frances Choy had been serving a life sentence for killing her parents as a teenager. After 17 years in prison, she was released in April, and in September, partly because of racist emails from a prosecutor, her conviction was vacated.

Karen Brown is a radio and print journalist who focuses on health care, mental health, children’s issues, and other topics about the human condition. She has been a full-time radio reporter for NEPM since 1998.
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