James Rodwell has spent 45 years behind bars insisting he did not kill Louis Rose Jr., and this week the 70-year-old finally gets the hearing he has waited his entire adult life to see. The Advisory Board of Pardons is scheduled to hear his clemency case, reviewing the complete record of a conviction built on two witnesses and no physical evidence.
Rodwell is serving a life-without-parole sentence for the 1979 murder of Louis Rose Jr. in Somerville, according to the Boston Herald. Other reporting, including from the Lowell Sun, has identified the killing as occurring in 1978, when Rose was found dead in the front seat of his car parked on Garfield Avenue in Somerville. Rodwell was convicted in 1981 based on testimony from two witnesses and no physical evidence, and he took the stand in his own defense at trial, maintaining his innocence then as he does now.
The clemency hearing is set to be held at the Massachusetts Parole Board building in Natick, beginning at 9 a.m., and Rodwell is allowed to appear before the board without admitting he committed the crime. The Advisory Board of Pardons, a seven-person panel appointed by the governor, will hear directly from Rodwell and from Veronica White, who has worked on his case. White has said Rodwell is excited about the hearing and plans to present new evidence, including information from a witness who said under oath that Rodwell was set up.
A Case Built on Two Witnesses
The prosecution’s case rested on testimony from Frankie Holmes, who received immunity for his testimony, and David Nagle, described by Rodwell’s attorney as a paid federal informant, per the Herald’s earlier reporting. Nagle received leniency for information he provided about Rodwell and other defendants, and he reoffended after receiving that leniency, according to the same reporting. No physical evidence tied Rodwell to the killing…