Victor Rosario, wrongfully convicted in deadly 1982 Lowell fire, awarded $13 million
LOWELL - A Lowell man who spent more than 30 years behind bars wrongfully convicted of a crime was awarded $13 million Wednesday, the largest wrongful conviction settlement in New England history.
Victor Rosario was arrested in 1982 and convicted for arson and murder in a fire that killed eight people, including five children. Those convictions were tossed out in 2014 when the appeals court was concerned that his confession wasn't voluntary. Rosario was then released from prison when the DA decided not to re-try the case.
"Today, this chapter is ending and a new chapter begins for me," said Rosario. "Nothing can ever compensate for those years taken from me and I'm asking the criminal justice system, the universities, to prepare lawyers, prosecutors and investigators to do their very best to not let what happened to me be the future of one more wrongly convicted individual."
Rosario's attorneys said on the day of the fire, he actually ran into the home to save people.
