LOWELL – Worcester exoneree Natale Cosenza (above, left) was in Lowell on Wednesday, May 3, to attend a press conference to announce the $13 million settlement of a civil case of another exoneree, Victor Rosario (above, right), filed against the City of Lowell for his 32 years of wrongful incarceration.
Cosenza, formerly of Worcester, was awarded $8 million in a civil lawsuit in September. He was incarcerated for 16 years before his conviction was overturned in May 2016.
The city was removed as a defendant in Cosenza’s lawsuit in Jan 2021. Worcester Police Sergeant Kerry Hazelhurst and Worcester Police Sergeant John Doherty have been denied qualified immunity, leaving them as the sole defendants. Hazelhurst and Doherty have appealed the jury decision. Cosenza has appealed Judge Hillman’s 2021 decision to remove the city as a defendant.
According to Federal Judge Timothy Hillman, “the jury found Hazelhurst fabricated and suppressed evidence in Cosenza’s criminal trial and that Hazelhurst and Doherty conspired to violate Cosenza’s civil rights,” in the investigation that led to Cosenza’s conviction. The Chicago based civil rights law firm Loevy & Loevy was also awarded over $743,000 in attorney’s fees and costs.
“The City of Lowell did the right thing, allowing Victor to move on with his life,” Consenza told This Week in Worcester on Wednesday. “Worcester should learn something from Lowell and allow me to move on with mine.”
Locke Bowman, part of the legal team for both Cosenza and Rosario at Loevy & Loevy, told This Week in Worcester that he finds the City of Worcester’s actions extraordinary. “I’ve never seen a municipality turn its back on its police officers like this,” Bowman added.
“The City of Worcester had no interest in settling this case before trial,” said Bowman. “After trial, the city continues to fail to address the situation, is leaving its police officers exposed to civil liability, and leaving Mr. Cosenza without the compensation he deserves.”
Worcester Police Chief Steven Sargent told the Boston Globe in October, that he stands by both officers and supports the officers and the city plan to appeal the verdict.
This Week in Worcester asked the city manager’s office for comment on the difference in Lowell’s handling of Rosario’s case from Worcester’s approach to Cosenza’s. The office responded that the city had been removed from the case in 2021 and the defendants, Hazlehurst and Doherty, appealed the case, not the city.
Doherty was one of the interrogators of then 16-year-old Nga Truong in 2008. The judge in that case later ruled her confession couldn’t be used as evidence due to multiple violations during the interrogation. Truong spent nearly three years in jail before prosecutors dropped the charges. Truong’s civil case against the city was settled before trial for $2.1 million.
Cosenza, formerly of Worcester, was incarcerated since his arrest in 2000 and was found guilty of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and armed burglary in July 2002. His conviction was overturned in 2016.
Rosario’s Case
Rosario was convicted of eight counts of murder and one count of arson in 1983 in connection with a fire on Decatur Street in Lowell in 1982 that killed eight children. Rosario said he broke windows in the building in an attempt to help children inside the building.
Motions for a new trial failed in 1985 and 1994. He was denied parole in 1997 and 2002.
In March 2014, Rosario was granted a hearing for review of the case.
A sworn statement from the translator provided to Rosario during his interrogation said Rosario never said he acted as a lookout for the arson and never said he threw a Molotov cocktail into the building. Those allegations were added to the statement Rosario was asked to sign. That statement was in English, which Rosario did not speak at the time.
An arson expert testified that the evidence cited in the original trial was outdated and since debunked. A fire protection engineer agreed with those findings, and testified that investigators failed to follow established protocols when examining the debris after the fire. He also testified that part of the original investigation concluded arson was the cause of the fire because of its rapid growth, which the evidence didn’t support. His conclusion was the fire was burning for some time and when Rosario broke windows to try to help those inside, the added oxygen inside the building fueled its rapid growth.
In July 2014, a Middlesex County Superior Court judge vacated Rosario’s conviction and granted a new trial. Prosecutors appealed and the case eventually reached the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, which upheld the decision to vacate the conviction. In September 2017, prosecutors dropped the charges.
In March 2019, Rosario filed lawsuits in state and federal court. Massachusetts awarded $800,000 to Rosario in July 2021.
