A man who was wrongfully imprisoned for 32 years for a murder that he didn't commit has been awarded $13 million in compensation.
Victor Rosario was arrested in 1982 when he was 24 after being convicted of arson and murder following a fire that took the lives of eight people, which included five children.
As reported by NBC News, Rosario's attorneys claim that he attempted to help those in the burning Massachusetts building, but was wrongly arrested as the perpetrator.
Mark Loevy-Reyes, one of the attorneys representing Rosario as he filed a legal claim against the city of Lowell said that the police forced a confession out of his client.
"There has never been any physical evidence that there was an arson on Decatur Street. Not one shred of evidence yet, a couple of hours afterward, investigators determined that it was arson and they had to find a suspect," Loevy-Reyes said.
He continued: "They coerced a confession after keeping him up all night. Victor was traumatized because he had tried to save children from the burning fire. He heard their screams. He hadn't slept. And after an all-night interrogation, they told Victor, if you sign this piece of paper, you can go."
Rosario confirmed: "It was basically a language issue, I don’t understand, they give me a piece of paper to sign thinking that I'm going home. And when I turn around, the home was for me the handcuffs in my hands."
Following 32 years behind bars, Rosario was released in 2014 after the appeals court ruled that his confessions were not voluntary and the district attorney declared that the case would not be bought to another trial.
The legal claim against the City of Lowell was due to go to court but a settlement agreement of $13 million was agreed before it went to trial.
This is the biggest settlement in the history of New England.
The lawsuit claimed that the fire department and police officers fabricated the claims against Rosario in order to solve the case "quickly".
"Back in the day, you would have firefighters and police, they'd go into a building and say, yeah, it looks like arson to us. And then they would find a suspect. We know that that was junk science," Loevy-Reyes said.
"What we found out in this case and again, we intended to present this to a jury was, Lowell had what was called an arson squad, and they were in constant communication with the insurance industry, which did provide approximately funding for the arson squad and it was in the insurer's best interest if arson was found because they wouldn't have to pay."
Rosario admitted that the hardest part of his sentencing was the heartbreak that it caused his mother, and tragically she died seven years before his release.
Following his release, Rosario has been working with those wrongfully convicted as well as helping inmates readapt to life in society.
"What I would like to do is basically try to help those that need help. Right from the beginning, that's what I'm trying to do. It was trying to help," he said.
