Toro cleared in '81 murder case

Relatives of Angel S. Toro -- including the wife who fought decades for his freedom -- cheered yesterday after a Suffolk Superior Court judge wiped out Toro's conviction in the 1981 murder of a clerk at a Dorchester motel.

But unlike other cases where authorities acknowledged the wrong man had been convicted, Suffolk County prosecutors said they dropped the case because of the deaths of key witnesses and the loss of evidence -- not because they believe Toro did not kill 47-year-old Kathleen Downey during a 1981 Easter robbery of a Howard Johnson's motel.

Toro's lawyer, Stephen Hrones, and Toro's wife, Debra, heaped scorn on prosecutors, saying they were once again failing to seek out Downey's killer. Downey was a Worcester State College English professor who was working part time to supplement her income.

"The fact of the matter is that Sammy Toro is an innocent man," Hrones told Judge Mitchell J. Sikora Jr., who last month threw out Toro's 1983 first-degree murder conviction after two prosecution witnesses recanted and authorities admitted that a key police report was never given to Toro's defense lawyer.

"I feel justice was done -- but not thoroughly because they did not admit my husband was innocent," Debra Toro said after the hearing. "They know he's innocent."

Downey's sister, Peggy Brawley, spoke briefly on behalf of her slain sibling.

Without accusing Toro, Brawley said, "We continue to hope our sister's killer will be brought to justice."

Speaking from the bench, Sikora said that "the ultimate issue of guilt or innocence, I suppose, remains unresolved."

Toro remains imprisoned while awaiting transfer to a Florida prison for a 1979 murder conviction in that state. He is scheduled for parole in 2011.