NEW YORK (AP) – After 20 years behind bars for a murder he says he didn’t commit, Richard Rosario was about to get the charges dropped Friday. Until he said no.
Prosecutors conceded he’d been wrongfully convicted and said they would dismiss the charges because they felt they couldn’t retry the 1996 case. But in a highly unusual move, Rosario persuaded a court to leave the case open for more investigation, saying prosecutors should fully exonerate him, not just end the case.
“It’s not acceptable. The public should know the truth,” said Rosario, who told police early on that 13 people could vouch that he was in Florida when Jorge Collazo, also called George Collazo, was killed on a Bronx street. “It’s clear that I’m innocent.”
Surprised, Bronx state Supreme Court Justice Robert Torres agreed to leave the case open at least through Aug. 30, over objections from prosecutors who said they had already robustly reinvestigated the killing.
Rosario had been freed in March after new Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark agreed Rosario had been improperly convicted because his former defense attorneys hadn’t done enough to track down Rosario’s alibi witnesses. Clark didn’t immediately dismiss the charges in March, saying she needed more time to reinvestigate.