BOSTON — A man who was wrongfully convicted of a 1991 homicide and who has spent 30 years in prison is now free, Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins said in a statement on Wednesday.
Robert Foxworth, who has been incarcerated for nearly 30 years for a murder for which he has continuously maintained his innocence, was ordered by a state judge to be released from prison immediately, Rollins said.
“We now know he was wrongfully convicted,” Rollins said.
Rollins’ Integrity Review Bureau on Tuesday filed an emergency joint petition with Foxworth in the state’s Supreme Judicial Court. The pleading asked the Single Justice to stay the sentence or order a lower court to immediately rule on a motion for a new trial for Foxworth.
During an emergency hearing Wednesday morning before the Single Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office argued strongly for Foxworth’s immediate release.
The Trial Court filed a motion to intervene and argued against the release. Justice Scott Kafker stayed Foxworth’s sentence and ordered his immediate release from incarceration while a Suffolk Superior Court judge reviews the assented-to motion for a new trial.
In the emergency filing to the Supreme Judicial Court, Rollins argued: “Robert Foxworth, a wrongfully-convicted man, currently sits in MCI-Shirley waiting, as he has for nearly thirty years, for justice. He has always maintained his innocence during those thirty years – being denied parole twice at least in part because he would not admit guilt and ‘take responsibility’ for a crime he says he did not commit. Now, justice has finally arrived for Mr. Foxworth. Requiring him to remain in prison for even one additional day is a gross injustice that, due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, may prove to be deadly.”
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