CHELSEA, Mass. — Tommy Rosa is overjoyed after he was released from prison in Norfolk this weekend.
He served 34 years for a crime he says he did not commit.
“Sometimes you thought this day would never happen,” said Rosa.
“I think he really believed the truth would come out eventually, I don’t think he ever imagined it would take 34 years,” said Radha Natarajan, executive director of the New England Innocence Project.
Natarajan started looking into Rosa’s case a few years ago.
He was convicted for murdering a woman in 1985 based on eyewitness testimony.
“The opportunity for the witnesses to view the perpetrator were extremely limited,” said Charlotte Whitmore, Rosa’s co-counsel through the Boston College Innocence Program. “Less than 10 seconds in the dark, there were a number of factors that we now know make those identifications very unreliable.”
After years of digging through this Chelsea man’s case, the New England Innocence Project found DNA evidence on the victim that did not belong to Rosa.
“He had never even met the victim, there was nothing connecting the two of them,” said Whitmore.
Now, decades later, after seeing this new exculpatory DNA evidence, a judge decided to release Rosa from prison.
“We always knew this day would come but did not know when,” said Natarajan.
But the fight for Rosa’s freedom isn’t over.
His lawyers say next, they’ll have a hearing on whether his conviction will be overturned, and then it’s up to the district attorney to decide whether to re-try his case.
“We’re really grateful that now the courts recognize how eyewitnesses can get it wrong, and also we have DNA evidence that can help show that it was somebody else,” said Natarajan.
While they wait for this next step in court, Rosa is beyond thankful to be free with his family.
“I’m telling you it was the greatest feeling ever,” said Rosa.