Victor Rosario: Flawed arson 'science' case; Massachusetts; (The Lowell Sun): On Tuesday, (November 8, 2016) a prosecutor will ask state's highest court to reinstate his 1980 murder and arson convictions..."Two years ago, acting on an appeal by Rosario, Middlesex Superior Court Judge Kathe Tuttman reversed his convictions and ordered a new trial citin

Source: smithforensic.blogspot.com --- Saturday, November 05, 2016
  "The Middlesex District Attorney's Office will ask the state's highest court on Tuesday to Victor Rosario. The former Lowell man spent 32 years in prison for one of the most deadly fires in Lowell's history before his convictions were overturned. Rosario, now 59, was convicted of arson and murder in the deaths of eight people, including five children, in a March 5, 1982, inferno at 32-36 Decatur Street. As she prepares to argue the case before the state Supreme Judicial Court, Assistant District Attorney Jessica Langsam wrote in her brief that Rosario was incorrectly granted a new trial. Nothing Rosario's defense attorney has presented, she wrote, indicates an "extraordinary confluence of factors" that warrant a new trial. If the SJC sides with the DA's office, Rosario, an ordained Baptist minister, will be sent back to prison for life. If the SJC sides with Rosario, the DA's office must decide if it can retry a 36-year-old arson case. At the time, according to court records, Rosario allegedly confessed to the crime. He spent six weeks at Bridgewater State Hospital, where he was deemed competent to stand trial. But at trial, Rosario said he could not remember what he had said during the police interrogation and did not recognize the statements attributed to him. Despite Rosario's testimony, a judge found Rosario's statements to police voluntary and reliable. Defense attorney Lisa Kavanaugh argues that Rosario was in the throes ...

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