AG poised to compensate wrongly convicted

Eight months after Massachusetts agreed to compensate wrongly convicted felons, the state is poised to offer its first settlements -- to two men who together spent almost a quarter-century in prison for crimes they did not commit.

Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly's office said yesterday that it has asked the Romney administration to approve financial settlements with Eric Sarsfield, who served nearly 10 years on a rape conviction, and Eduardo Velazquez, who served almost 14 years on rape and assault convictions.

Reilly's office declined to disclose the proposed settlement amounts, saying the sums could still be subject to negotiations.

Reilly has said he will not fight claims by three other wrongly convicted men -- Stephan Cowans, who served more than six years in prison after being convicted of shooting a Boston policeman; Marvin Mitchell, who served more than seven years on a rape conviction; and Neil Miller, who spent more than 10 years in prison on charges of robbery and rape. Reilly's position would pave the way for similar recommendations.

The settlements would be the first under a state law that allows the wrongfully convicted to collect up to $500,000 from Massachusetts to compensate for years spent behind bars.

Lawyers for some of the nearly two dozen convicted felons who have been exonerated in the past two decades have accused Reilly of hindering their clients' efforts to claim the money. But Reilly's actions in regard to the five men appear to show that the process is moving forward, at least in cases he believes are clear-cut miscarriages of justice. All five were cleared at least partly through DNA evidence.

''When a person's innocence is clear, we continue to work to move their cases as quickly as possible," said Corey Welford, a spokesman for Reilly. ''At the same time, we have an obligation to protect taxpayer money and to carefully review each case and make sure they meet the standards established by the Legislature."

It is uncertain, however, whether the state's offers will be sufficient. The New York lawyer representing Sarsfield and Velazquez, Debi Cornwall, said her clients will accept nothing less than the maximum permitted under the law.

''The only circumstances under which these cases will be settled is if they are settled for the full $500,000," Cornwall said. ''Five hundred thousand dollars does not begin to compensate these men for what they've lost."

Velazquez, who returned to his native Puerto Rico after being freed in August 2001 and now operates a sandwich truck, said in a brief telephone interview yesterday that he would be happy to receive $500,000 but that ''there's no money that's going to bring back what they took from me."

At least 23 people in Massachusetts have been wrongfully convicted of serious crimes over the past 23 years, according to the nonprofit New England Innocence Project, which uses DNA evidence to free them.

Civil liberties groups and advocates for wrongly convicted prisoners have lobbied legislators for years to compensate those who lost years of their lives. Galvanized by several high-profile exonerations, the Legislature passed the law in December. Massachusetts is one of 20 states with such laws.

So far, 12 people have filed claims, including eight stemming from convictions handed up in Suffolk County. The rest are from Middlesex, Hampden, and Plymouth counties.

Two claims seeking $500,000 each have been filed in the past few days on behalf of two other wrongly convicted felons -- Peter C. Vaughn, who served more than three years on robbery charges, and Louis Santos, who spent three years in prison for murder and other crimes, said their lawyer, Michael D. Kendall.

The statute requires that former prisoners receive gubernatorial pardons acknowledging their innocence or that the courts take action after a conviction that ''tend to establish the innocence of the individual."

The law also requires that Reilly get the approval of the Executive Office of Administration and Finance for any settlement amount that would exceed $80,000. Stephanie Lovell, Reilly's first assistant attorney general, said that she hopes the office approves them soon and that the state can make offers to Sarsfield and Velazquez in a few months.

Harry M. Grossman, counsel to the secretary of the administration, said that he had just seen the Sarsfield file and that it would take time to scrutinize his and other claims. He gave no timetable.

Sarsfield, who was released from prison in 1999, said a $500,000 settlement would end an ordeal that began when he was arrested in 1986.

''With lost wages and stuff it doesn't add up to what I could have had," said Sarsfield, 42, of Bolton. ''But it's something."

Jonathan Saltzman can be reached at jsaltzman@globe.com.