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Dear friends,

I wasn’t sure I would ever get to write this.

I first met Thomas Rosa, or “Tommy,” in December 2015 at MCI-Norfolk prison. When I reviewed his case, I immediately saw the hallmarks of a wrongful conviction: unreliable eyewitness identifications from people who saw a man in the dark for less than 10 seconds and who did not even match Tommy in key features. 

By 2017, Tommy had already endured three trials, multiple appeals, ignored DNA evidence supporting his innocence, many personal losses, and more than three decades behind bars for a crime he didn’t commit.

At the same time, the New England Innocence Project was facing a serious financial crisis. Because of supporters like you, we were able to continue fighting for Tommy while partnering with the Boston College Innocence Program to ensure he would have no gap in representation. 

Then came the pandemic. 

In 2020, Tommy’s health had deteriorated substantially in prison, and we were terrified that we would lose him before the truth was finally recognized. During lockdown, we spent many sleepless nights preparing emergency motions to free him. 

In October 2020, after 34 years wrongfully imprisoned, Tommy finally walked free. We celebrated, but we knew the fight wasn't over. We still needed to clear his name. To do this, we brought in partners Mark Loevy-Reyes and Meg Gould from Loevy & Loevy.

Even though the District Attorney’s office initially supported overturning Tommy’s wrongful conviction, that changed with a new administration. Over the next several years, we saw extraordinary resistance: the D.A.’s office rejected their own DNA expert’s opinion supporting Tommy’s innocence, replaced the assigned prosecutor with those who would be more willing to preserve this wrongful conviction, threatened to try him a fourth time, forced him into repeat court appearances despite his declining health, and opposed nearly every effort to challenge unreliable evidence.

Then, on March 18 of this year, just weeks before jury selection for a fourth trial, everything changed. 

I was sitting in my car when I received a short email from the prosecutors: “We have filed the following in court just now, so there is no need to pick a next date.”

Attached was a notice ending the prosecution of Tommy. 

I immediately called him. I could hear his wife, Virginia, screaming in the background. Tommy was silent because he was crying. My eyes filled with tears, too. It was over. It was finally over.

We’d love to imagine a judicial system that is self-correcting. But Tommy’s case shows the truth: even an innocent person with an expert legal team and compelling evidence has to spend decades fighting for freedom and exoneration.

And Tommy’s story is not an anomaly—not by a long shot. 

Every fight against injustice is fueled by this community. Your generosity made it possible for Tommy to reunite with his family. And your support today will help us continue fighting for people still imprisoned in an unjust system.Right now, every gift made through the end of June will be doubled, thanks to a special match donor.

Will you make a gift today to help free and exonerate the next innocent person?

Thank you for standing with us in this fight against injustice.

With deepest gratitude, 

Radha Natarajan
Executive Director,
New England Innocence Project

P.S. Every dollar you give through June 30 will be matched, up to $25,000.