Not guilty in 1990 slay of ex-boyfriend

A Rhode Island mom who drove school buses for a living was acquitted Thursday in the 1990 cold-case murder of her drug-dealing ex-boyfriend in Harlem.

A Manhattan jury said prosecutors failed to prove Zunilda Rosario opened fire on Juan Deleon during a jealous rage in the lobby of a Washington Height’s apartment building on Feb. 11, 1990.

Rosario, 51, (left) bolted from her seat and erupted in a loud scream of joy as the jury forewoman announced the verdict.

The two daughters she shared with Deleon were present in the courtroom and cheered the decision.

“We always believed her innocence,” daughter Jovelyn, 30, said. “She has raised us by herself giving us everything that we wanted. My mom is my hero.”

As she exited the courthouse with tears in her eyes, Rosario said she felt “awesome.”

During the eight-day trial, jurors heard Deleon sold drugs with a crew inside a ground floor apartment of the building on 150th St.

Prosecutors argued Rosario shot Deleon nine times in his face, limbs and torso in a crime of passion after learning he had fathered a son with new flame Elizabeth Matos.

Matos testified along with Deleon’s mother, sister and fellow crew members.

“They were all lying. Everybody sitting in that seat, they were lying,” Rosario said.

Her defense focused largely on witness statements that conflicted with the prosecution’s theory.

In one such statement, Josephine Peralta, who cooked for the drug crew, clouded claims that Rosario was the only person who could have been with Deleon around the time he was shot.

“I’m really happy that she gets to go back to work and resume her life, with her children, not face spending the rest of her life in prison,” defense lawyer Frank Rothman said.