As the debate over the longstanding racial bias and corruption inherent in the American criminal justice system finally begins to gain attention, Netflix has added a powerful new documentary to its True Crime collection (opens in new tab) that shows the injustice that permeates the system. Trial 4 tells the story of Sean Ellis, who spent more than 20 years in prison for a crime he did not commit and was finally acquitted after Boston Police officers involved in the investigation were separately indicted on federal corruption charges. [The first two times (both in 1995) ended in hung verdicts, and the third time, later that year, resulted in jail time. The fourth trial ultimately did not take place, as the Suffolk County District Attorney decided to dismiss the case in 2018.

Here's what you need to know about Ellis' case and trial 4.

Ellis was arrested in 1993, at age 19, for the murder of John Mulligan, a Boston police detective who was shot several times in the head while sleeping in his car outside Walgreens in September 1993. Ellis had indeed stopped in Walgreens with a friend around the time Mulligan was killed, but claimed he was not involved in the murder; according to the National Registry of Exonerations (opens in new tab), evidence against Ellis included Mulligan's gun and the gun that killed him. gun that killed him was found in the bushes near Ellis' house, and a witness testified that he saw Ellis crouching near Mulligan's car.

At Ellis' first trial in January 1995, a mistrial was declared after the jury found him guilty of unlawful possession of a firearm but failed to reach a unanimous verdict on first-degree murder and armed robbery.

A second trial took place in March 1995 with the same result as the first trial.

At the third trial in September 1995, Ellis was found guilty of first-degree murder and armed robbery and sentenced to life in prison. The trial included testimony from Ellis' then-girlfriend, who claimed that she had gone with Ellis to retrieve two guns from his apartment before hiding them.

Ellis and his defense team, on the other hand, claimed that Terry Patterson, a friend who was with Ellis at Walgreens the night of Mulligan's murder, killed the detective alone. Patterson was convicted of first-degree murder, armed robbery, and unlawful possession of a firearm and sentenced to life in prison in February 1995. However, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court found that he had been deprived of material evidence and granted a new trial; after pleading guilty to manslaughter in 2006, Patterson was released in 2007.

In the years following Ellis' trial, his attorney, Rosemary Scapicchio, filed a motion for a new trial, pointing to the fact that some of the officers who led the investigation of Mulligan's murder had been indicted on federal corruption charges. The motion was denied, but Scapicchio continued to delve into the case and filed another motion in 2013, claiming that Ellis' lawyers had been denied evidence of Mulligan's own corrupt acts, including the claim that another police officer was involved in Mulligan's murder either as revenge or to cover it up (opens in new tab) They included.

A retrial was granted in 2015, at which time Ellis was released on bail after more than 20 years in prison. Prosecutors appealed the decision, but the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upheld the retrial.

A mistrial was reportedly scheduled for 2019, but in December 2018, when Ellis was 44, Suffolk County District Attorney John Pappas announced that he would dismiss the murder charges, citing unreliable witnesses and police corruption related to the original case. As is well known, Detectives Kenneth Acela, Walter Robinson, and John Brazil have disgraced themselves and tarnished their badges with various criminal acts unrelated to this case. Perhaps more than any other factor, their shameful conduct is a major challenge to our ability to present a successful case to a new jury."

Scapicchio, Ellis' attorney, said of her client's long pending acquittal: "If I thought for one second that Sean was responsible, I would have gone forward with the trial. If I thought for one second that Sean was responsible, I would have gone ahead with the trial. They steered Sean Ellis in that direction 25 years ago. They can't find anyone who would say that Sean did it."

Since his release from prison, Ellis has devoted much of his time to advocating for criminal justice reform. He currently speaks on criminal justice at schools (open in new tab) and other organizations and serves on the board of trustees of the New England Innocence Project (open in new tab).

According to the Justice for Sean Ellis website (opens in new tab), run by Ellis' longtime friend and former criminal justice researcher Elaine Ellis Murphy, Ellis works for Community Servings, a nonprofit organization that provides meals to homebound Bostonians, with a fund She works as a development associate focusing on fundraising and community outreach. In addition, Ellis was recently selected for a 2020-2021 fellowship at Tufts University's Institute for Nonprofit Practice.

Finally, according to Murphy's website, "Ellis' personal life has never been happier or more stable, and he plans to wed a Community Servings colleague in 2021.