Sean Ellis was just 19 years old when he was convicted of murdering a white cop in the early 1990s. Not only was he fresh out of high school, but he also was adamant he did not commit the crime. The documentary covering his experience is called Trial 4, because it didn’t just take the usual one and done trial, but he had to go through three trials before he was finally convicted to life in prison. After 22 years in prison, he spent 3 years on parole as his case was reexamined by his new lawyer, Rosemary Scapicchio, and he was potentially given a fourth and final trial.
This series has only been out since November on Netflix and quickly made it into the top 10 list. The eight episodes are around one hour in length, and go through the murder of Detective John Mulligan, the many trials, exposing the corrupt cops, and how they were able to find the evidence needed for Ellis to receive his fourth and final trial. Throughout these episodes, it shows how Ellis never stopped fighting to prove his innocence, while also exposing police corruption and systematic racism.
The first episode begins with showing 40-year-old Sean Ellis being escorted into the courtroom in 2015 for the motion of a new, fourth trial. The judge is shown, admitting that from the new evidence found Sean Ellis did not receive a fair trial. Then multiple news clips display Sean Ellis through his years of trials and tribulations; from when he was convicted of murdering Detective John Mulligan execution-style in 1993 up until he was released for parole and possible retrial 22 years later. From there, Sean Ellis and Rosemary Scapicchio began telling his story from the night John Mulligan died until the day he was officially released in 2018.
After watching the entirety of the series, it’s clear the message Sean Ellis and the creators of this documentary wanted to express to its audience is how prevalent systematic racism and police corruption is still to this day. The part of this series that hit me the most, and really made me aware of how much further our country still needs to come, was the final episode where he was speaking at different colleges and conferences. One conference in particular was for people like Ellis, called The Innocence Network Conference, who were wrongfully convicted and released after many years in jail. Everybody on stage at this conference were people of all ages, gender, and color, who were wrongfully convicted. As they walked onto the stage, they announced how many years they spent in prison; the lowest was 20 and the highest was 41, with a combined total of 3,501 years spent in prison. This is just one example of how many people’s lives were taken away, because of racism and corrupt cops.
“Sean Ellis is not alone. There are many many Sean Ellises sitting in jails throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts waiting for that defense attorney to ride in on the white horse to save them,” said Rosemary Scapicchio in the final episode.
As you see in the documentary and other news outlets, the Boston/Massachusetts area has a well-known history of corruption and racial injustice. However, this has been happening all around the United States as well, and unfortunately continues to this day. Even two years later with Ellis being a free man, the prosecutors continue to believe the lie that he is guilty and should be in jail for life.
It’s simply eye-opening to realize he was charged in 1995 for a murder he didn’t commit, and he was not released from jail until 2018, which was just two years ago. The absolute worst part of it all, is what the audience learns in the final episode about what the police think of him now. I highly recommend every single person to watch this series, especially over Christmas break when you have the time to relax, but still learn. It will really make you wonder what you and others can do to help out with this major on-going problem in the United States. Though it will take some time to fix systematic racism and save the innocent who are currently in jail, it all can start easily with you educating yourself and those around you on this topic. This documentary series is definitely a great place to start learning.