Man, city near deal in rights lawsuit

Neither side would say how much he would receive under the settlement. William F. Sinnott, the city’s corporation counsel, said the figure could become public early next week, when he expects the deal to be finalized.

John J. Barter, the lawyer who filed the suit on behalf of Adams in US District Court in Boston in 2007, said Adams will be satisfied if the settlement becomes final.

“He may not be jumping for joy, but he will feel that it is a just resolution,’’ said the Boston lawyer.

Adams was sentenced to die in the electric chair in 1974 after he was found guilty of fatally bludgeoning an MBTA porter, James C. Corry, at the Essex Street subway station during an attempted robbery two years earlier. The Supreme Judicial Court later ruled that the death penalty statute was unconstitutional, but Adams remained in prison for 30 years while he proclaimed his innocence.

The tentative settlement, reached Monday, comes a month after a district court jury in Boston awarded $14 million in damages plus interest to Shawn Drumgold, who spent more than 14 years in prison after he was wrongly convicted of fatally shooting 12-year-old Darlene Tiffany Moore in a notorious 1988 killing in Roxbury.

Barter said that both sides in the Adams case agreed to enter into mediation before the verdict in the Drumgold trial and that the jury award did not sway negotiations.

A few settlement details need to be worked out by both sides, but “we don’t expect any problems,’’ Sinnott said.

Hugh R. Curran, a private lawyer who was paid by the city to help defend Boston in both the Adams and Drumgold suits, referred all questions to Sinnott, as did Elaine Driscoll, a spokeswoman for the Boston Police Department.

Adams was convicted of killing the 46-year-old Corry on Nov. 27, 1972. The porter, who suffered numerous skull fractures, was found lying mortally wounded on the floor inside a fare collector’s booth, according to court papers filed by Curran. He died at the hospital.

A wallet and personal papers were found in the booth, and Corry’s gold Longines watch was missing, said the court papers. Six cash boxes and a sledgehammer were found on the track.

After years of dogged legal work by Barter, Superior Court Judge Robert A. Mulligan issued a 24-page ruling in April 2004 that Boston police had hidden reports that could have helped Barter’s client prove his innocence and ordered a new trial for Adams, who was freed.

In one report, the crucial prosecution witness, Wyatt Moore, told investigators he learned information about the slaying while imprisoned in Billerica with one of the two brothers now believed responsible for Corry’s slaying. Another report showed that Moore was incarcerated on Deer Island when Adams allegedly confessed to him in Dorchester.

Mulligan also noted that Suffolk County prosecutors cut deals with Moore - who was facing long prison terms for weapon charges, among other crimes - and with his sister, another key witness against Adams, but never told the defense or the jury that the Moores would benefit from testifying against Adams.

About two weeks after Adams was freed at the age of 51, prosecutors opted not to retry him.

He was the ninth person since 1997 to successfully challenge a conviction in Suffolk County.

In a Globe interview after he was released, Adams told chilling tales about life at the maximum-security prison in Walpole, where he spent 21 years. He said it was so violent and dangerous that inmates called it the “House of Frankenstein.’’

He credited his religious faith with seeing him through his ordeal.

Adams was living in Plymouth when he filed his suit. His lawyer said he still lives in Massachusetts but declined to say where.

Adams is unemployed and takes care of his wife, who has health problems, Barter said.

“He’s just trying to live a low-profile life,’’ he added.

Saltzman can be reached at jsaltzman@globe.com.