He Lost 22 Years for a Murder He Didn't Commit — Sean Ellis breaks it all down | Trial 4
June 29, 2026
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2:12:38Now PlayingHe Lost 22 Years for a Murder He Didn't Commit — Sean Ellis breaks it all down | Trial 4
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as posted by the channelSean Ellis spent 22 years in prison for the 1993 murder of Boston Police Detective John Mulligan — a crime he has always professed he didn't commit.
It took the Commonwealth three trials to convict him. Years later, the detectives who built the case were exposed as corrupt cops who robbed drug dealers, faked warrants, and lied under oath. In 2015 his convictions were vacated, and by 2021 he was fully cleared. No one else has ever been charged with Mulligan's murder.
This week on Defense Diaries, Bob and Ali Motta sit down with Sean Ellis himself — the subject of Netflix's "Trial 4" — Sean will break down the night that changed his life, the case the police built against him, the 22 years he survived inside, and the relentless legal fight led by Rosemary Scapicchio that finally won his freedom.
Bob and Ali are defenses attorney. This is a defense-side breakdown of one of the most disturbing wrongful-conviction cases in Massachusetts history — from the man who lived it and how it fundamentally changed the course of his life.
⚖️ ABOUT ROSEMARY SCAPICCHIO
Rosemary Curran Scapicchio is a Boston criminal defense and wrongful-conviction attorney who took over Sean's case and drove it to victory — using years of public-records fights to expose the suppressed evidence and police corruption behind his conviction. She won Sean a new trial in 2015 and didn't stop until every charge against him was gone in 2021.
💡 WHERE SEAN IS NOW
Sean came home with almost nothing and built a life of service. He went to work at Community Servings, a Boston nonprofit that delivers meals to people who are seriously ill and homebound, and worked his way up. He serves on the board of the New England Innocence Project and founded the Exoneree Network, which helps other wrongfully convicted people rebuild their lives after release. He's also a leading voice at the Massachusetts State House fighting to fix the state's wrongful-conviction compensation law — which caps payment at $1 million no matter how many years were taken. In 2021, the City of Boston settled with Sean for $16 million over the police misconduct in his case.
🔗 SUPPORT SEAN'S WORK
The Exoneree Network:
New England Innocence Project:
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#SeanEllis #Trial4 #WrongfulConviction #RosemaryScapicchio #DefenseDiaries #TrueCrime #Exonerated #Boston #CriminalDefense #Netflix #JusticeForSeanEllis
Wounded But Not Broken (#WBNB)
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Links To Support And Follow Sean Ellis
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EXONEREE NETWORK
NE INNOCENCE PROJECT
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