Tommy Rosa:

It would be easy for Tommy and Virginia Rosa to chalk up their story as one of loss. High school sweethearts separated by a family move, Tommy wrongfully convicted of homicide at 27, it wasn’t until nearly three decades into his sentence that they found each other again—and eight more years after that until he was released.

While serving time for a crime he did not commit, Tommy lost his mother, brother, aunt, and oldest child to cancer at 21 years-old. But when they tell their story what they keep returning to is hope, faith, and family.

They talk of support—supporting one another, support from friends and kin, but also the support they were able to lend others. Whether it was one of the nine wrongfully convicted persons Tommy helped get out or the inexperienced visitors who needed advice, instruction, or a different blouse to wear.

In prison, Tommy didn’t care for therapists. If he was going to confide in anyone it would be the deacon, who knew how to talk to Tommy. Yet with a future full of only possibility, Tommy wants to be a counselor because he understands the shock a person goes through.

As Tommy and Virginia wait for his exoneration to come through, they can’t help but dream of the places they want to travel, the people they want to see, and the food they want to eat. They have family in Pennsylvania, Missouri and Puerto Rico.

Virginia, who has taken up painting over the past two years, wants to go to Spain, France and Italy. Tommy just wants to be able to take in a game with his son—it doesn’t matter if it’s the Sox, Pats, or Bruins, he is a fan of it all.

Tommy jokes that sometimes Virginia loves him a little too much—he’s not a snuggler—but one can tell that she is at the core of everything important to him in his new life of freedom.

They are a team, they are partners, and they would not be where they are today without the other. For what is family if not unbridled love, hope, and faith in each other. They created a home together, one where Tommy has value for the smallest details in life. He remembered the moment he realized his life changed while zipping a cup of coffee.

Virginia assures that their support for each other was key for them to survive this daunting process.

Tommy is a wise man with his priorities straight. Him and his family are still waiting on his exoneration with hope as main guidance.

Tommy and Virginia share their story to impact their community and people who’ve been through similar experiences. According to the New England Innocence Project, over 120 innocent individuals from New England have been exonerated since 1989. Tommy is currently looking for a job with help from the Exoneree Network, a peer-led initiative funded by the NEIP.