A 39-year-old man who has spent more than half of his life in custody was granted parole in a split decision of the state’s parole board last month, decades after killing a man he had never met in Lawrence.
Frank Mota was a teenager when he killed Ricardo Rosa outside Mota’s girlfriend’s home in Lawrence in January 2004. A “short time” prior, Mota’s family had moved across the street from his girlfriend’s family.
In the days leading up to the murder, Mota called his girlfriend numerous times, asking to get back together. On Jan. 4, 2004, she spent the night at his house. Some time the next morning, she went back to her house, where she got a call from a friend asking to use her phone.
The friend was with her boyfriend, Ricardo Rosa, whom Mota had never met. As Rosa and his girlfriend walked to Mota’s girlfriend’s house, they passed by Mota’s home. Mota, who was outside as the couple walked by, called his girlfriend soon after, telling her he was upset another man had gone inside her house.
The girlfriend told Mota the man was with his own girlfriend but Mota didn’t believe her and went to speak with his girlfriend outside her house, bringing a gun with him. She again told Mota that Rosa was not there to see her.
As the pair talked, Rosa exited the home. Mota’s girlfriend warned him that Mota had a gun but by the time she made it to the front door she found the two men wrestling. Not long after, several witnesses reported hearing a gunshot.
Rosa staggered into Mota’s girlfriend’s house, where he collapsed on the living room floor and passed out. He eventually died of his injuries.
Mota pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in March 2007.
Mota appeared before the parole board for the third time last December. The 4-3 decision in favor of granting Mota’s parole notes that he “began to work on his self-development early in his incarceration.” Mota earned his GED in 2009 and “continued to invest in rehabilitation.”
Since his last hearing, Mota had completed several programs, including one on domestic violence that the board notes he “appears to have benefited from.”
Prosecutors opposed Mota’s release, though he provided several letters in support to the board. A member of Casa Esparanza, a behavioral health center, testified in support of Mota at the hearing.
As conditions of his release, Mota must complete a long-term residential program, attend mental health counseling and submit to supervision for drugs and alcohol.
