Trial 4 (2020): Season 1, Episode 2 - Usual Suspects - full transcript
I'm pleased this evening to announce
that the ongoing
and continuing investigation
has resulted in the arrest
of one Terry L. Patterson.
He is a 19-year-old Black male.
Despite news of the arrest,
the motive behind the murder
of Detective Mulligan
is still very much a mystery,
for the public at least,
although we may well find out more
when Terry Patterson is arraigned
in West Roxbury District Court at noon.
[Edward McNelley] Patterson was arrested.
He told us that Sean Ellis was
in the store, and he come out.
He saw Mulligan in the car.
And, apparently,
Mulligan was either sleeping,
or they thought he was sleeping.
And Ellis decided
he wanted Mulligan's gun.
When we questioned Patterson
about whether the shooter
was in the car or not,
he said absolutely not.
He wasn't in the car.
The gunshots were from outside.
He told us how the case went down.
Ellis was the shooter,
and Patterson was a participant.
[suspenseful music playing]
-[gun firing]
-[grunts]
[gun firing]
[gun firing]
[gun firing]
[gun firing]
[car beeping]
[Sean Ellis] My Uncle David came over
and said, "Can we talk?"
He started telling me if I didn't worry
about myself and protect myself that
Terry-- that Terry would involve me.
And so I'm like, "It doesn't--
I don't care about none of that
because I didn't do anything.
Like, I was buying Pampers."
[Rosemary Scapicchio]
They think this physical evidence
then puts him at the crime scene.
It's the wrong time.
Uh, it-- It doesn't fit their timeline.
He has no connection
to Mulligan whatsoever.
All of their initial leads that they have,
all have to be completely disregarded
in order for them
to start focusing on Sean.
And that's what they do.
They abandon everything
they thought was happening about the case.
That is the single event,
his recitation
of that event to the police,
that affected
the next 25 years of his life.
[upbeat music playing]
[rap music playing]
[Sean Ellis] This is Archdale.
105 Archdale Road
is the building I used to live in.
We used to live on the third floor.
As a matter of fact, we had two apartments
that was made into one.
The third-floor window with the AC in it
was our living room window.
[rap music continues]
[car turn signal clicking]
You know,
people wasn't wealthy here, but, uh…
[chuckles] You know, to me,
it's like, I ain't-- I was young, I was…
I didn't know what poor was then.
Um…
This is where we used to hang out.
I want to introduce you to some people.
-[grunts]
-[dog barks]
[honks]
You growing up
with your cousins and a family.
You just growing up with a family.
It's just…
We're just born…
We got different mothers, you know, but…
[Lorenzo Reed] We got too old
for Nintendo and Atari, man.
We used to have fun too. You know
what I mean? Like I told you.
It wasn't always--
It wasn't always bad,
but then it was just…
drugs are here.
This is how you make money.
Boom. Whoa, I'mma try this out.
You know? It was like…
Eh. It was there, so…
It was all part of our environment, so…
Hey, I tell you crack, man,
did a bad thing around here, man.
[Sean Ellis] I tried to get a job.
I remember going to the Dedham Mall
trying to fill out applications.
Never-- Never got a call back.
How am-- How am I gonna get money?
My mom was on drugs.
I-I need school clothes,
and how am
I gonna get my school clothes
if my mom's dealing
with a chemical dependency
and my pops is not around?
But I was only 14,
so I had to do what I had to do
to take care of my brother
and my-- my mother,
so what do you want us to do?
[chuckles]
You only leave us one choice.
We got to survive out here.
And that's when a lot of that gunplay
started coming in.
We thought we was in the Wild West,
you know?
Everybody had to have a gun, so…
Sean Ellis, actually, I knew him
because at the time, 1992 to 1993,
he was involved
with a group of kids, street gang.
[indistinct speaking]
The rumor on the street was
that Patterson and Ellis had done that.
Yeah, they did.
[gun firing]
[ship honking]
[police siren blaring]
[reporter 1] Nineteen-year-old
Terry Patterson arrived heavily guarded
this morning for his arraignment
at the West Roxbury District Court.
The teenage suspect
tried to hide his face from the crowd
as he was led into the courthouse.
He faces armed robbery
and murder charges in the Mulligan case.
[reporter 2] Detective John Mulligan
was found dead in his car.
The 52-year-old
was on a private security detail
in front of an all-night pharmacy
in Roslindale.
He was shot several times
at point-blank range.
We can't tell you
what led us to Patterson. Uh…
There are a lot of events
and facts that were unfolded
during the course of the investigation
that have come together
to bring us to this point.
We now are very comfortable
we know what happened,
why it happened, how it happened.
When we first began this, we didn't know,
as I indicated to you, who and why.
Uh, we now are very comfortable
that, uh, we've filled in those pieces
of the puzzle.
[somber music playing]
[Sean Ellis] I believe the police presence
started around the second,
third of October.
They was following me
for probably about a day or two.
My mind wasn't on Mulligan.
Like, that was, like,
the furthest thing from my mind.
So, when he was following me,
like, I didn't know what to think.
I asked him, did he have anything to do
with the murder of this police officer?
He said, "Ma, no!"
He said,
"I don't know why they coming at me.
I was in the Walgreens.
I got the receipt."
He said, "But I didn't have nothing
to do with that,"
and from that point on,
my faith and my support was with him
because he wouldn't lie to me.
We was just that close.
He wouldn't lie to me.
My mom called a lawyer friend that we have
who ref-- referred us to, uh,
Norman Zalkind and David Duncan.
They wanted me to come down to the office.
Once we was in the office, like…
You know, the police parked right outside.
I told Norman that--
that I was being followed.
We had corro-- corroborated
by looking out the window or something
and saw there were police.
-We mentioned that.
-Yeah.
They were there, we saw it.
When you suddenly see
a bunch of agents around,
it's-- it's usually not following
somebody. They're going to arrest them.
If it's anybody like a lawyer
or-or police officer or somebody,
it's big.
It's a big deal.
They're gonna fight
tooth and nail to-- to get somebody.
[Sean Ellis] I told them I was hanging out
on Hansborough Street.
Then, when it was time to go home,
I went home.
I bought diapers for my cousin
who had asked me to get them.
Uh, I came out and went home.
And that's what
I've said since day one.
He instructed me, like,
not to talk to anyone, um…
not to talk to police.
He told me that if I got arrested,
to let them know
that he was representing me,
and that was pretty much it.
[sniffles]
[Letia Walker] I could tell Sean was
gonna-- It wasn't going to be a good day.
First of all, we get there.
There was cops everywhere.
There was already a bad feeling.
And then, uh, we go in the church.
And there's two caskets…
[exhales] One Tracy, one Celine.
Both of the caskets were open, um…
Tracy looked like she was asleep.
Celine struggled.
She had scratches on her arm.
You could see the bullet hole in her head
because you can't really cover that up.
Um…
So… Sean just…
He just lost it.
[soft music playing]
[exhales deeply]
So, Celine…
Me and Celine grew up together.
I have memories of playing
My Little Pony with h-her.
I have memories of baking stuff with her.
I remember teaching her how to fight.
Celine and Sean, they're cousins.
They're first cousins,
but in the neighborhood,
he protected her
from all of the riff-raff and stuff.
And she was over my house every day,
you know, eating and with Sean.
He'd go out. She'd go out.
He'd come back. She'll come back.
They was very close.
[sad music playing]
After that, um…
After the funeral, um…
we went to the burial site.
Um…
Oh, Jesus.
Everybody, you know, everyone was there.
People falling out crying.
I thought the FBI was around us
with the cops,
they had a helicopter up there.
Just watching everybody. [chuckles]
It's like, excuse me,
seeing stuff on television.
And they arrested me.
I was arrested
on the day of their funeral.
[police siren blaring]
[indistinct chatter]
[cameras clicking]
[Norman Zalkind] Sean had his head down.
I would've not told him to do that.
I would've told him to have his head up
because this was not a case
that we were taking
some position that he's guilty,
and therefore
we don't want you to identify him.
We were taking a position
that he was innocent
and should show a face of innocence.
[indistinct speaking]
[Sean Ellis]
I was brought to South Boston,
and there was--
I think a lot of cameras there.
And I wanna say
that somebody, like, tried to spit at me.
Um, not-- not "I wanna say."
I know for a fact that somebody
tried to spit at-- tried to spit at me.
They took me to the station in Hyde Park.
I wanna say the station
where Mulligan worked out of.
I think it was Area E-5.
I think up off of Centre Street.
The only reason why I know is because
I remember there being a rotary.
Um, and there being,
like, a police caravan sort of thing.
[police siren blaring]
Stay out of the way.
Be brave. Be brave.
[Rosemary] It's interesting
to me that Sean's head is down,
that he is in the clothes
for Celine's funeral.
They had to have notified the press
that they were arresting him
and bringing him in 'cause otherwise,
they wouldn't have been here.
They wanted to make sure
his face got on the news.
They wanted to make sure
that they could get out there
and say that he had been, um, arrested.
[Mary Jackie]
We didn't know what was going on
until the media started putting it out
that they had arrested,
uh, the second suspect
and his name was Sean Ellis,
and he was going to be arraigned.
I was scared.
I was confused
because I didn't know what was going on
and why it-- it was going on,
and, uh…
that was in the middle of my addiction.
And so I think I helped myself
to maintain by the crack.
You know, whenever I could
get a, um, thing of crack,
I would get it
and go in the room and smoke it
and just hope
that things would be different
by the time I came out the room.
It wasn't. The problem was still there.
My son was in jail for murder.
[sinister music playing]
[Kevin Cullen] When I saw that
they had arrested Ellis and Patterson,
the first thing
that struck me was their ages.
They just seemed
too young to be that cold.
It seemed to me that they hadn't been
in the game long enough.
I didn't think that, uh, they didn't
do it. That's not what I'm saying.
The thing that struck me from day one
was their-- their relative youth.
[Sean] Terry got arrested. I wanna say
his friend Norman might have been the one
to tell me that, uh, the police was saying
that he had-- he had fingered me.
I wonder if he said it or not said it.
I'm pissed off,
but [stammers] it's like what you do?
He said that he never said that.
[Toni Locy]
When those two Black kids got arrested,
it's like, "Whoa, where'd that come from?"
Because everything was pointing
to, you know, an execution-style killing.
And, you know, why would these two kids,
you know, execute a cop
in front of a store
that's open 24 hours a day?
It was--
It didn't make a whole lot of sense,
but, you know, anything is possible.
It's possible, um, but my thought was,
"Oh, God, here we go again.
"Here we go again.
"Are we doing another Carol Stuart?
"Um, what's going on here?"
[dramatic music playing]
[phone ringing]
[phone ringing]
[dispatcher] State Police Boston,
record emergency 510.
[Chuck Stuart]
My wife's been shot. I've been shot.
-[dispatcher] Where is this?
-[Chuck] No idea.
[dispatcher] Can you see out the windows?
Where are you?
[Chuck] I don't know.
I don't see any signs. Oh, God.
-[dispatcher] Has your wife been shot?
-[Chuck] Yes, in the head.
-[dispatcher] What's your name?
-[Chuck] Stuart, Chuck Stuart.
I was in Philly when it happened.
And of course,
it was all over the national news.
I was on a night off. I wasn't even
in the homicide, but I saw it.
Monday Night Football, they interrupted it
telling the whole terrible story.
And there had been
this shocking murder in Mission Hill
of a woman leaving a birthing class.
-[dispatcher] Is your wife breathing?
-[Chuck] I just hear her gurgling.
[dispatcher] Chuck!
[Chuck] I'm gonna pass out.
I'm blanking out.
[dispatcher] You can't blank out on me.
I need you, man!
There was this traumatic,
absolutely dramatic, um, audio
of this state police dispatcher
trying to pinpoint
where Chuck Stuart was in the city.
-[indistinct chatter]
-[police siren blaring]
I wasn't working in journalism in 1989,
but I'll never forget
the Charles Stuart situation,
where a young woman, uh, had…
A couple had driven into, uh, an area
around the Mission Hill.
The wife was shot.
The husband was-- was injured.
[indistinct chatter]
[Adrian] It was, without question,
a really shocking murder.
There had been this picture
on the front page of The Herald
of poor Carol Stuart
slumped over the steering wheel,
and the whole thing was just disgusting.
[police siren blaring]
[indistinct chatter]
[Edward McNelley] If you listen,
and if you saw Stuart getting put
into the ambulance,
you can hear clearly what he says.
The description of the person
that shot him and his wife,
and it was that of a Black male
with a raspy voice
and a black running suit
with red stripes.
Once the husband gave the description,
the cops flood the zone.
And basically everybody got roasted.
Everybody was getting stopped.
There was just
this incredible pressure
to resolve
and make an arrest in this case.
[police siren blaring]
[indistinct chatter over radio]
[Toni Locy] The Boston police response
was an armed invasion
and basically just,
you know, tore places up.
You know, went into apartments,
you know, wrecked places.
They were trying
to basically round up the usual suspects.
But I remember how quickly
it all broke along racial lines, you know.
You have a--
You have an almost all-white police force
that's going door-to-door
through this Black neighborhood.
And right away, it becomes, "Oh, my God,
we have to find the Black person
who has done the terrible thing
to the suburban white woman."
All the Blacks are saying,
"They stopped me in the street,
pushed me against the wall
just because I'm Black."
Well, were the police aggressive?
Yeah, they probably were,
but as far as
them abusing them and all that…
[Adrian] The people who say
it didn't happen have zero credibility.
It did happen. Lots of people saw it.
Lots of people here remember watching it.
Police! Get down!
And then Willie Bennett was arrested.
This is the Black man in this case
who was seen as the suspect
for the murder of Carol Stuart.
[Edward McNelley]
Willie was well known to the police.
Willie had a history.
Uh, Willie had shot a policeman before.
Uh, so, a crime of violence
and the name "Willie Bennett,"
you know, it wasn't like you'd say,
"Wow! I'm shocked at it."
They were just looking
for someone to pin this murder on.
And I think all Black people in this city,
practically, felt that way,
and felt it in a really visceral way
right from the beginning.
The white cops
were going to go find some Black guy
to accuse of this murder.
And if he did it, great.
And if he didn't, maybe that was okay too.
[Dwyer] They're getting ready
to indict Bennett
and Chuck Stuart's brother
Matthew Stuart hears about the lineup,
and he identified him.
Well, apparently, he had
a guilty conscience, couldn't stand it.
So, he comes back, and he tells,
"I got to tell the truth here."
[church bells ringing]
[Phillip Martin] What happens is that
Matthew Stuart, Charles' brother,
got cold feet.
Matthew Stuart confessed
that Charles Stuart had murdered his wife.
Matthew Stuart had met him at the car
and, uh, basically helped his brother.
After careful review of this new evidence,
I instructed
Boston Police homicide detectives
to arrest Charles Stuart for the murder.
So, now, the hunt is on for Chuck Stuart.
Nobody knew where he was.
And ultimately,
Chuck Stuart goes to the top of the
Tobin Bridge, jumps off, kills himself.
Chuck Stuart had talked
about setting up an insurance scam
and supposedly talked
about even killing his wife.
One of the most bizarre stories
you'll ever hear.
[Toni Locy] Chuck Stuart knew
that he might get away with this
by blaming a Black man,
and the Boston police just ate it up.
It revealed the ugly side of America
and not just Boston,
but Boston in particular,
and that is racism.
[Dwyer] Ralph Martin was a Black attorney
working for the U.S. Attorney's office,
and he was hearing the same stories.
He comes from Boston
and apparently bought into it.
When the District Attorney
Newman Flanagan unexpectedly retired,
the job was up for grabs.
Ralph Martin lobbied for the job,
and he was appointed.
And, you know, he came in,
armed with the baggage
that his biggest regret
was that he didn't prosecute Boston cops
in the Stuart matter.
It didn't sit well
with many Boston cops, me included.
So, when he come in, uh, you know,
there was this built-in tension there
that this was not going
to be a rosy relationship.
And suddenly, Boston, of all cities,
has a Black district attorney
for the first time.
[audience clapping]
The man of the hour!
I have an ambi-- ambitious agenda.
Uh…
I also recognize
that it may take more than two years,
uh, to implement it fully, and I intend
to be around for longer than two years
because I want it all done under my watch.
[audience clapping]
The DAs and the police commissioners
work together pretty closely.
I think he was one
of the first DAs who believed
it should be sort of an adversarial
or at least an arm's-length relationship.
There was always a lot of tension
between the District Attorney's Office
and the Boston Police Department.
He was skeptical
of a lot of police officers,
and he never made any secret of it.
Ralph Martin decides
he's going to have detectives
from homicide transferred out.
So, I was one of them,
and he tried to negotiate.
So, that became an issue
where I had kind of a war.
I frequently have a lot of bad things
to say about Ralph Martin.
I don't like him. I think he's a punk.
[Edward McNelley] Obviously, I think
what he did is that he got caught up,
you know, going to be the salvation
for all the wrongs
that were done on Stuart.
And they just thought
they were going to right the ship
because you had a lot of people screaming
that it was an invasion in Mission Hill.
It wasn't an invasion.
Like I said, there was no doors broken.
Didn't happen.
And, you know,
were you looking for a Black guy
in Mission Hill?
Well… [chuckling]
I told you what the guy said who did it.
What are you gonna look for?
Not a Chinese guy in Chinatown.
I mean, it ain't gonna happen.
[Toni Locy] You know,
when you carry a badge and a gun,
that's the ultimate power.
Ralph, when he came in,
I mean, he inherited, my God, the baggage.
The Boston police,
they weren't easy to deal with,
and they were used to doing
whatever they wanted
because Newman Flanagan had allowed them
to do whatever they wanted for decades.
And so, you know, for Ralph to come in
and try to move that ocean liner,
you know, he couldn't do it.
He couldn't do it.
Uh, not in time for the Mulligan murder.
It just wasn't going to happen.
It was too soon.
Two years was not enough time.
It was not enough time to change,
um, the culture of that department.
[reporter] Boston police
and District Attorney Ralph Martin
said they were confident in the evidence
against Ellis and Patterson,
although they wouldn't say what it was.
Uh, with the arrest of Sean Ellis, uh,
that concludes our search for suspects,
at least for the time being.
[Adrian] There was a lot of pressure
to solve this case,
to put somebody away for this,
to make someone pay
for the death of a police officer.
It's not handled
like other kinds of homicides,
and this one wasn't.
[Rosemary] Boston Police Department
are pretty vindictive
and the union is such a strong presence
here in Boston, the Boston Police Union,
you know, basically, "You need us,
and you got to remember that you need us.
"We're the ones who work these cases
on the street, you don't."
Uh, and so that's a real problem
for-for any DA
if they want to do something
that's unpopular
with the Boston Police Department.
-Yeah.
-Hey!
Hands off my camera, lady!
-Don't touch my camera!
-Get that camera outta my face!
Put that thing away!
Najay! Najay, yo! That's not--No!
[Sean Ellis] Oh, wow.
That's my older sister DeeDee.
That's my older sister DeeDee,
uh, talking.
[indistinct talking over laptop]
That's Acerra.
That might be Robinson.
Wow.
[policeman] Hold up! Get over here!
You just get over there!
[Mary] We love you!
[DeeDee] That's right, baby!
Keep your head down, honey.
[DeeDee] We love you, Sean!
We love you, Sean!
-We love you, Sean!
-[Mary] Keep your head down!
For me, I'm here today.
Tomorrow, I'll be back home.
The moment wasn't gonna last long.
It wasn't going to be a long moment.
And so like-like
I expected myself to return home soon.
Will I get arrested
if I pull my pants down?
Will I?
Will I get arrested for moonin' the sick?
[Letia] I was scared…
mad…
I didn't know what to do
'cause he was supposed to be my husband.
That's what he talked about,
-so it was just, um…
-[sniffles]
I didn't know, and at that time,
that's when my son started talking good.
So, it was like, "Where's Daddy?"
So, I had to deal with that part.
-My client's pleading not guilty.
-[reporter] What will your case be?
I don't know yet,
I'm just getting into it,
except that the district attorney
shouldn't rely on this Mr. Patterson.
That's all I have to say.
I started trying murder cases
very early in my career.
I used to do them for free
because I-- I knew
I had to get this experience.
I-- and so this was-- this, like,
for me, was riding a bicycle.
I was in my element.
That's why they called me into this case.
That this-- I would--
a lot of this would be instinctual,
that what I would be doing,
what I would be saying,
how I would be telling my client
what to do.
But it was one of the more important cases
of my whole career.
[indistinct speaking]
[baby crying]
[somber music playing]
[Letia] I just knew
that they're gonna know it's not him.
He's gonna come home. I'm not worried.
You know what I mean? I'm not worried.
He didn't do it. He's good.
[gavel knocking]
[bailiff] Our complaint,
we charge you with armed robbery,
being armed with a dangerous weapon.
You did assault John Mulligan,
did rob and steal and take from the person
a Boston Police-issue
Glock nine millimeter.
On these matters, the court records
the pleas of "not guilty."
On these matters,
you have the right to have an attorney.
The court has appointed
Norman Zalkind to represent you.
[Mary Jackie Ellis] It was terrifying.
It was terrifying because all
of the spectators was policemen.
The whole courtroom was surrounded,
and when I walked in there,
you know, my heart was just pounding.
I'm saying, "Lord, please
don't let nobody take out their gun
and shoot my child
because they think he killed the cop."
[Phyllis Broker]
Phyllis Broker for the Commonwealth.
We're requesting this defendant be held
without bail, if Your Honor please.
[clears throat]
As the court may be aware,
this defendant is the co-defendant
of the defendant
that we arraigned two days prior.
And basically, to support that argument
for bail, the Commonwealth would say
that this defendant,
together with his co-defendant,
approached Judge-- er--
John Mulligan's car wherein he was sitting
during a paid detail in front of Walgreens
on the 26th of September.
They then shot him
point-blank in the face several times,
took his service revolver,
and fled the scene.
[Norman Zalkind] They want the public
to hear their allegations,
and I want to show the public
that it's not quite the same guy.
First of all,
he has no record of convictions anywhere.
He absolutely denies these offenses.
He is a graduate
of Dorchester High School.
He's lived in the Boston area
his whole life.
His mother is here.
And as I said, he has no record.
Yes, this is a serious charge.
Most respectfully, Your Honor,
I ask that the bail be set for this man.
[bailiff] Sean Ellis, the court has
entered the pleas of not guilty
on your behalf. The court orders
that they be continued
until 18th October, 1993.
The court orders
you'll be held without bail.
You have the right to petition for review,
which means it'll be brought
before a single Justice
of a Superior Court on a bail review.
I'm sorry,
can we get an endorsed copy of that?
We love you, Sean!
[indistinct speaking]
Back off! Back off!
You know, what's crazy is that…
In the same way
that none of that shit registered then,
it doesn't register now.
Like, that shit doesn't…
Like, that shit won't compute in my brain.
Like, I can't tell you what just happened.
I remember
hearing my sister DeeDee's voice saying,
"We love you, Sean."
Like, I remember that clearly.
I'm like-- like…
That's probably one of the only things
I remember from that day,
was her saying that "We love you."
I remember her saying that.
I remember not wanting to live.
I remember clearly
not wanting to be alive. [sniffles]
I remember clearly, like,
"What is there to live for?"
Celine is gone.
My life's fucked up,
like, you know, at home.
You know what I mean.
[DeeDee Johnson] We love you, Sean!
We love you, Sean!
We love you, Sean!
[indistinct chatter]
He's coming down the stairs now.
So, now you see his head up.
His head is totally up.
It's not down anymore.
Stand up. Be proud of yourself.
You're a good-looking kid.
You know, we're going to try this case.
We're going to fight for you.
[indistinct chatter]
[sad music playing]
[reporter] What's your client saying
is his role?
Not guilty.
-[reporter] I know that--
-That's his role, not guilty.
It is the end of the arraignment,
and that's when the press come
and surround you.
And I'm basically saying he has no record.
All I know is what the media are saying.
They're making all kinds of allegations.
And that he's not guilty,
and that the jury will acquit him.
And so I want to convey
that he's not afraid of going to the jury.
This isn't going to be some technical
suppression of evidence or something.
It's going to be a jury trial
with an innocent defendant.
[sirens blaring]
Sean Ellis and Patterson,
whatever his first name is,
executed John Mulligan
for the sole purpose
of getting his gun as a trophy.
That's why John Mulligan was murdered.
No other reason.
[mellow music playing]
[police announcer] Police Officer,
Police Detective, John J. Mulligan
had been shot
a number of times in the head.
His weapon is missing.
We have not been able
to determine its location.
[McNelley] There was a detective
that worked in homicide, John Brazil.
He had developed a relationship with,
I believe it was Sean Ellis' uncle.
And based
on whatever information that he had,
uh, the relationship
that he had established with him,
we had information
that the guns were probably in a field.
[Daniel Keeler]
Testing, one, two, three, four.
Testing, one, two, three, four.
We are present in the Homicide Office
at 273 D Street in South Boston.
Present is the speaker,
Sergeant Detective Daniel Keeler.
Also present is Detective John Brazil,
each assigned to the Homicide Unit.
And we are presently speaking
with David Murray.
I was incarcerated for mass robbery.
I did my time and had gotten out.
Um…
I was on probation.
I had a parole officer.
So, Brazil-- before I did this,
Brazil said, "We know you're on--"
They scared me.
He said,
"We know you're on parole," and all this,
"and you're on probation,"
and he says, uh…
In a sense, I felt like, well,
he was trying to use that against me.
As far as I violated, whatever,
I go back to jail or whatever.
[Rosemary] David Murray is on probation
or parole, or might be on both.
What that means
is they have total control.
They can make him say
whatever they need him to say
in order to make sure he doesn't go
to jail and so very often,
when they find people
who are on probation and parole,
they will tell them off tape,
"If you don't cooperate with us,
we're gonna call your probation officer,
you're going to go back to jail,
we're gonna charge you
with this or that."
Um, and so they're stuck.
[Daniel Keeler] Sunday, what did you gain
from Sean that you didn't have Saturday,
as far as knowledge?
[David Murray] The guns,
that Terry and himself buried the guns.
[Daniel]
Terry and himself buried the guns?
Are the guns buried together?
-[David] No, they're not.
-[Daniel] How are the guns buried?
[David] One's in one spot,
the other one's in another spot.
[suspenseful music playing]
-[cop] All right! Everybody ready?
-Sir, yes, sir!
[cop] Go! Stay stretched!
First squad hold it up!
Down on the left, go! All the way down.
[John Ellement] We had a lady worked
at the message center named Millie.
I get a call from her. She said,
"The police are all over my neighborhood.
"I live over on Floyd Street."
So, I went over there
and there was the police.
They'd flooded the area,
and they were going through the bushes
and around the side lawns,
looking for guns.
-[indistinct chatter]
-[beeping]
[camera clicks]
[beeping]
[camera clicks]
[reporter]
Tell us how this helps your case.
Well, obviously, uh, the 9-millimeter,
uh, belongs to, uh, John Mulligan.
We'll do, uh, the testing
on the 25-caliber automatic
to see if we can, uh,
make some sort of nexus
between that .25
and the weapon
that was used to kill John Mulligan.
[gun firing]
[gun firing]
[gun firing]
[gun firing]
[gun firing]
[Rosemary Scapicchio] They find
the murder weapon and Mulligan's Glock 9
in that field
right across from Sean's house.
The goal is "let's get
as much physical evidence as we can
to connect this kid to the crime because
we have to stop this investigation."
And that's what they did.
That's how Rosa Sanchez gets involved.
Rosa Sanchez was the key to their case.
She was the only one
who said she could identify Sean,
under very suspicious circumstances,
but she said she could identify Sean.
[thunder rumbling]
[detective] Okay, Rosa. I'd like to bring
you back to once you arrived at Walgreens.
-3:05 in the morning?
-[Rosa Sanchez] Yes.
There was a Black male
crouched next to the car.
He looked toward me.
Then he looked down real quick.
[thunder rumbling]
[indistinct chatter]
[detective] I showed you an array
of eight colored photographs
of Black males.
-Isn't that correct?
-[Rosa] Yes.
[detective] And in this photo array,
is there anybody that you can identify
as being the person
that was there that night?
[Rosa] Yes.
[detective] This person here,
you point to photograph number
four, zero, two, five, three, eight.
-Is that correct?
-[Rosa] Yes.
[detective] Okay.
I remember being taken
I want to say to South Boston,
and then at some point,
being-- being put in a line-up.
[Jack Cinquegrana] We're present
at the offices of Boston Homicide Unit
to conduct an identification…
[Sean] When they did the line-up,
it was this wall and the height thing.
I remember there already being
a space that was left open,
and then so they told me
to, you know, stand in that space.
[Jack] Present with me, attorney
Norman Zalkind, attorney David Duncan.
The latter two representing the defendant
John Ellis, excuse me, Sean Ellis,
who, for the record,
is person number five in the line-up.
The witness who will view the line-up
is not present at this time.
Mr. Zalkind, would you like
to put anything on the record?
[Norman Zalkind] Yes.
How am I gonna believe police
in this case?
I don't believe them anyway in a lot of
cases, but in this one, even more.
You know, this is cop.
This is the brotherhood gets together.
They don't care
about truth or innocence or anything.
They care about protecting their brother.
They're hunting.
They want to kill, okay?
This line-up at this stage of this case
is purely suggestive.
There's been intensive TV
and black and white photographs
in the newspapers and in the media
on almost a daily basis
since, uh, my client was arrested.
Uh, there was pictures of him,
uh, in cuffs at the police station
when he was arrested.
There's close-ups of his face.
He is one of the only two people
wearing a white shirt
and I-- I object to this line-up totally.
But as long
as we don't make any moves here,
I'd like you to switch the numbers around
in any way you want.
[Jack] You wish to put him
in a different…
[Norman] I want you to
because you left the room and came back.
[Jack] I don't understand.
[Norman] You left the room and came back.
I want this to be clean.
[Jack] Are you accusing me of--
[Norman] No, I'm not accusing you.
I just want to make sure it's sanitized.
[Jack] Okay, it's sanitized.
If you want to change his position,
you can.
I'm not going to take your suggestion
that I've told somebody who he is.
I haven't said that you have.
-I haven't.
-Okay.
He stays where he is
unless you wanna move him.
-[Norman] Okay.
-[Jack] Put it on the record why.
Let the record reflect the door
at the end of the hallway is locked.
I don't want anybody entering
or leaving this hallway.
So, they have me changed
from the initial spot they put me in,
and it might have been the final spot,
was under number six.
[Jack] Uh, Mitty, Kenny, anybody?
Would you get the witness
and escort the witness down, please?
[clears throat]
The lights in the hallway are darkened,
so no one inside the room can see outside.
Ma'am, would you step up close
to the glass? Get comfortable.
-Are you ready, ma'am?
-[Rosa] Mm-hm.
[Jack] Person number one,
would you please step forward
in front of the glass?
Hands at your side, please.
Turn to the right.
[suspenseful music playing]
Turn to the right.
Turn to the right again.
Turn forward again, please.
Person number two, step forward.
Person number three, step forward, please.
Person number four, step forward.
Person number five, step forward.
Person number six, step forward.
Turn to the side.
Turn to the rear.
Turn to the other side.
Turn forward.
[suspenseful music intensifies]
And step back.
Person number seven, step forward, please.
Ma'am, is there anything else you'd like
the people in the line-up to do?
Would you take a pen
and mark on this ballot
whether or not you see
the man you saw on the night in question?
[Rosa] Mm-hm.
Person number six, step forward.
May the record reflect person number six
has been identified by the witness,
Sean Ellis.
Please step back, please.
[Sean Ellis]
What was going through my mind?
I was a bit confused.
Um…
But at the same time, like, I wasn't
like-- I wasn't-- I wasn't scared.
I-- I just figured that everything
was gonna work itself out.
That wasn't the case, though.
Yeah.
Shot five times,
execution style,
in the sign of a cross.
A 19-year-old did that?
Impossible.
Impossible.
My son is innocent.
And I believe it.
[somber music playing]
[Rosemary] And I would say probably
the single most devastating witness
had to have been Rosa Sanchez.
Uh, Detective Acerra, Detective Robinson,
they're the ones who were involved
in the line-up with Rosa Sanchez,
became a pivotal witness
as far as the case is concerned.
If you think about it,
they had 50 officers
assigned to this task force
to investigate, uh, Mulligan's death.
Acerra, Brazil and Robinson
kept popping up
on the most important parts of the case.
They were getting
these knock-down, drag-out statements
and-- and producing the evidence
that nobody else could find
and how can that be?
[DeeDee Johnson] We love you, Sean!
We love you, Sean!
We love you, Sean!
[police siren blaring]
[dramatic music playing]
that the ongoing
and continuing investigation
has resulted in the arrest
of one Terry L. Patterson.
He is a 19-year-old Black male.
Despite news of the arrest,
the motive behind the murder
of Detective Mulligan
is still very much a mystery,
for the public at least,
although we may well find out more
when Terry Patterson is arraigned
in West Roxbury District Court at noon.
[Edward McNelley] Patterson was arrested.
He told us that Sean Ellis was
in the store, and he come out.
He saw Mulligan in the car.
And, apparently,
Mulligan was either sleeping,
or they thought he was sleeping.
And Ellis decided
he wanted Mulligan's gun.
When we questioned Patterson
about whether the shooter
was in the car or not,
he said absolutely not.
He wasn't in the car.
The gunshots were from outside.
He told us how the case went down.
Ellis was the shooter,
and Patterson was a participant.
[suspenseful music playing]
-[gun firing]
-[grunts]
[gun firing]
[gun firing]
[gun firing]
[gun firing]
[car beeping]
[Sean Ellis] My Uncle David came over
and said, "Can we talk?"
He started telling me if I didn't worry
about myself and protect myself that
Terry-- that Terry would involve me.
And so I'm like, "It doesn't--
I don't care about none of that
because I didn't do anything.
Like, I was buying Pampers."
[Rosemary Scapicchio]
They think this physical evidence
then puts him at the crime scene.
It's the wrong time.
Uh, it-- It doesn't fit their timeline.
He has no connection
to Mulligan whatsoever.
All of their initial leads that they have,
all have to be completely disregarded
in order for them
to start focusing on Sean.
And that's what they do.
They abandon everything
they thought was happening about the case.
That is the single event,
his recitation
of that event to the police,
that affected
the next 25 years of his life.
[upbeat music playing]
[rap music playing]
[Sean Ellis] This is Archdale.
105 Archdale Road
is the building I used to live in.
We used to live on the third floor.
As a matter of fact, we had two apartments
that was made into one.
The third-floor window with the AC in it
was our living room window.
[rap music continues]
[car turn signal clicking]
You know,
people wasn't wealthy here, but, uh…
[chuckles] You know, to me,
it's like, I ain't-- I was young, I was…
I didn't know what poor was then.
Um…
This is where we used to hang out.
I want to introduce you to some people.
-[grunts]
-[dog barks]
[honks]
You growing up
with your cousins and a family.
You just growing up with a family.
It's just…
We're just born…
We got different mothers, you know, but…
[Lorenzo Reed] We got too old
for Nintendo and Atari, man.
We used to have fun too. You know
what I mean? Like I told you.
It wasn't always--
It wasn't always bad,
but then it was just…
drugs are here.
This is how you make money.
Boom. Whoa, I'mma try this out.
You know? It was like…
Eh. It was there, so…
It was all part of our environment, so…
Hey, I tell you crack, man,
did a bad thing around here, man.
[Sean Ellis] I tried to get a job.
I remember going to the Dedham Mall
trying to fill out applications.
Never-- Never got a call back.
How am-- How am I gonna get money?
My mom was on drugs.
I-I need school clothes,
and how am
I gonna get my school clothes
if my mom's dealing
with a chemical dependency
and my pops is not around?
But I was only 14,
so I had to do what I had to do
to take care of my brother
and my-- my mother,
so what do you want us to do?
[chuckles]
You only leave us one choice.
We got to survive out here.
And that's when a lot of that gunplay
started coming in.
We thought we was in the Wild West,
you know?
Everybody had to have a gun, so…
Sean Ellis, actually, I knew him
because at the time, 1992 to 1993,
he was involved
with a group of kids, street gang.
[indistinct speaking]
The rumor on the street was
that Patterson and Ellis had done that.
Yeah, they did.
[gun firing]
[ship honking]
[police siren blaring]
[reporter 1] Nineteen-year-old
Terry Patterson arrived heavily guarded
this morning for his arraignment
at the West Roxbury District Court.
The teenage suspect
tried to hide his face from the crowd
as he was led into the courthouse.
He faces armed robbery
and murder charges in the Mulligan case.
[reporter 2] Detective John Mulligan
was found dead in his car.
The 52-year-old
was on a private security detail
in front of an all-night pharmacy
in Roslindale.
He was shot several times
at point-blank range.
We can't tell you
what led us to Patterson. Uh…
There are a lot of events
and facts that were unfolded
during the course of the investigation
that have come together
to bring us to this point.
We now are very comfortable
we know what happened,
why it happened, how it happened.
When we first began this, we didn't know,
as I indicated to you, who and why.
Uh, we now are very comfortable
that, uh, we've filled in those pieces
of the puzzle.
[somber music playing]
[Sean Ellis] I believe the police presence
started around the second,
third of October.
They was following me
for probably about a day or two.
My mind wasn't on Mulligan.
Like, that was, like,
the furthest thing from my mind.
So, when he was following me,
like, I didn't know what to think.
I asked him, did he have anything to do
with the murder of this police officer?
He said, "Ma, no!"
He said,
"I don't know why they coming at me.
I was in the Walgreens.
I got the receipt."
He said, "But I didn't have nothing
to do with that,"
and from that point on,
my faith and my support was with him
because he wouldn't lie to me.
We was just that close.
He wouldn't lie to me.
My mom called a lawyer friend that we have
who ref-- referred us to, uh,
Norman Zalkind and David Duncan.
They wanted me to come down to the office.
Once we was in the office, like…
You know, the police parked right outside.
I told Norman that--
that I was being followed.
We had corro-- corroborated
by looking out the window or something
and saw there were police.
-We mentioned that.
-Yeah.
They were there, we saw it.
When you suddenly see
a bunch of agents around,
it's-- it's usually not following
somebody. They're going to arrest them.
If it's anybody like a lawyer
or-or police officer or somebody,
it's big.
It's a big deal.
They're gonna fight
tooth and nail to-- to get somebody.
[Sean Ellis] I told them I was hanging out
on Hansborough Street.
Then, when it was time to go home,
I went home.
I bought diapers for my cousin
who had asked me to get them.
Uh, I came out and went home.
And that's what
I've said since day one.
He instructed me, like,
not to talk to anyone, um…
not to talk to police.
He told me that if I got arrested,
to let them know
that he was representing me,
and that was pretty much it.
[sniffles]
[Letia Walker] I could tell Sean was
gonna-- It wasn't going to be a good day.
First of all, we get there.
There was cops everywhere.
There was already a bad feeling.
And then, uh, we go in the church.
And there's two caskets…
[exhales] One Tracy, one Celine.
Both of the caskets were open, um…
Tracy looked like she was asleep.
Celine struggled.
She had scratches on her arm.
You could see the bullet hole in her head
because you can't really cover that up.
Um…
So… Sean just…
He just lost it.
[soft music playing]
[exhales deeply]
So, Celine…
Me and Celine grew up together.
I have memories of playing
My Little Pony with h-her.
I have memories of baking stuff with her.
I remember teaching her how to fight.
Celine and Sean, they're cousins.
They're first cousins,
but in the neighborhood,
he protected her
from all of the riff-raff and stuff.
And she was over my house every day,
you know, eating and with Sean.
He'd go out. She'd go out.
He'd come back. She'll come back.
They was very close.
[sad music playing]
After that, um…
After the funeral, um…
we went to the burial site.
Um…
Oh, Jesus.
Everybody, you know, everyone was there.
People falling out crying.
I thought the FBI was around us
with the cops,
they had a helicopter up there.
Just watching everybody. [chuckles]
It's like, excuse me,
seeing stuff on television.
And they arrested me.
I was arrested
on the day of their funeral.
[police siren blaring]
[indistinct chatter]
[cameras clicking]
[Norman Zalkind] Sean had his head down.
I would've not told him to do that.
I would've told him to have his head up
because this was not a case
that we were taking
some position that he's guilty,
and therefore
we don't want you to identify him.
We were taking a position
that he was innocent
and should show a face of innocence.
[indistinct speaking]
[Sean Ellis]
I was brought to South Boston,
and there was--
I think a lot of cameras there.
And I wanna say
that somebody, like, tried to spit at me.
Um, not-- not "I wanna say."
I know for a fact that somebody
tried to spit at-- tried to spit at me.
They took me to the station in Hyde Park.
I wanna say the station
where Mulligan worked out of.
I think it was Area E-5.
I think up off of Centre Street.
The only reason why I know is because
I remember there being a rotary.
Um, and there being,
like, a police caravan sort of thing.
[police siren blaring]
Stay out of the way.
Be brave. Be brave.
[Rosemary] It's interesting
to me that Sean's head is down,
that he is in the clothes
for Celine's funeral.
They had to have notified the press
that they were arresting him
and bringing him in 'cause otherwise,
they wouldn't have been here.
They wanted to make sure
his face got on the news.
They wanted to make sure
that they could get out there
and say that he had been, um, arrested.
[Mary Jackie]
We didn't know what was going on
until the media started putting it out
that they had arrested,
uh, the second suspect
and his name was Sean Ellis,
and he was going to be arraigned.
I was scared.
I was confused
because I didn't know what was going on
and why it-- it was going on,
and, uh…
that was in the middle of my addiction.
And so I think I helped myself
to maintain by the crack.
You know, whenever I could
get a, um, thing of crack,
I would get it
and go in the room and smoke it
and just hope
that things would be different
by the time I came out the room.
It wasn't. The problem was still there.
My son was in jail for murder.
[sinister music playing]
[Kevin Cullen] When I saw that
they had arrested Ellis and Patterson,
the first thing
that struck me was their ages.
They just seemed
too young to be that cold.
It seemed to me that they hadn't been
in the game long enough.
I didn't think that, uh, they didn't
do it. That's not what I'm saying.
The thing that struck me from day one
was their-- their relative youth.
[Sean] Terry got arrested. I wanna say
his friend Norman might have been the one
to tell me that, uh, the police was saying
that he had-- he had fingered me.
I wonder if he said it or not said it.
I'm pissed off,
but [stammers] it's like what you do?
He said that he never said that.
[Toni Locy]
When those two Black kids got arrested,
it's like, "Whoa, where'd that come from?"
Because everything was pointing
to, you know, an execution-style killing.
And, you know, why would these two kids,
you know, execute a cop
in front of a store
that's open 24 hours a day?
It was--
It didn't make a whole lot of sense,
but, you know, anything is possible.
It's possible, um, but my thought was,
"Oh, God, here we go again.
"Here we go again.
"Are we doing another Carol Stuart?
"Um, what's going on here?"
[dramatic music playing]
[phone ringing]
[phone ringing]
[dispatcher] State Police Boston,
record emergency 510.
[Chuck Stuart]
My wife's been shot. I've been shot.
-[dispatcher] Where is this?
-[Chuck] No idea.
[dispatcher] Can you see out the windows?
Where are you?
[Chuck] I don't know.
I don't see any signs. Oh, God.
-[dispatcher] Has your wife been shot?
-[Chuck] Yes, in the head.
-[dispatcher] What's your name?
-[Chuck] Stuart, Chuck Stuart.
I was in Philly when it happened.
And of course,
it was all over the national news.
I was on a night off. I wasn't even
in the homicide, but I saw it.
Monday Night Football, they interrupted it
telling the whole terrible story.
And there had been
this shocking murder in Mission Hill
of a woman leaving a birthing class.
-[dispatcher] Is your wife breathing?
-[Chuck] I just hear her gurgling.
[dispatcher] Chuck!
[Chuck] I'm gonna pass out.
I'm blanking out.
[dispatcher] You can't blank out on me.
I need you, man!
There was this traumatic,
absolutely dramatic, um, audio
of this state police dispatcher
trying to pinpoint
where Chuck Stuart was in the city.
-[indistinct chatter]
-[police siren blaring]
I wasn't working in journalism in 1989,
but I'll never forget
the Charles Stuart situation,
where a young woman, uh, had…
A couple had driven into, uh, an area
around the Mission Hill.
The wife was shot.
The husband was-- was injured.
[indistinct chatter]
[Adrian] It was, without question,
a really shocking murder.
There had been this picture
on the front page of The Herald
of poor Carol Stuart
slumped over the steering wheel,
and the whole thing was just disgusting.
[police siren blaring]
[indistinct chatter]
[Edward McNelley] If you listen,
and if you saw Stuart getting put
into the ambulance,
you can hear clearly what he says.
The description of the person
that shot him and his wife,
and it was that of a Black male
with a raspy voice
and a black running suit
with red stripes.
Once the husband gave the description,
the cops flood the zone.
And basically everybody got roasted.
Everybody was getting stopped.
There was just
this incredible pressure
to resolve
and make an arrest in this case.
[police siren blaring]
[indistinct chatter over radio]
[Toni Locy] The Boston police response
was an armed invasion
and basically just,
you know, tore places up.
You know, went into apartments,
you know, wrecked places.
They were trying
to basically round up the usual suspects.
But I remember how quickly
it all broke along racial lines, you know.
You have a--
You have an almost all-white police force
that's going door-to-door
through this Black neighborhood.
And right away, it becomes, "Oh, my God,
we have to find the Black person
who has done the terrible thing
to the suburban white woman."
All the Blacks are saying,
"They stopped me in the street,
pushed me against the wall
just because I'm Black."
Well, were the police aggressive?
Yeah, they probably were,
but as far as
them abusing them and all that…
[Adrian] The people who say
it didn't happen have zero credibility.
It did happen. Lots of people saw it.
Lots of people here remember watching it.
Police! Get down!
And then Willie Bennett was arrested.
This is the Black man in this case
who was seen as the suspect
for the murder of Carol Stuart.
[Edward McNelley]
Willie was well known to the police.
Willie had a history.
Uh, Willie had shot a policeman before.
Uh, so, a crime of violence
and the name "Willie Bennett,"
you know, it wasn't like you'd say,
"Wow! I'm shocked at it."
They were just looking
for someone to pin this murder on.
And I think all Black people in this city,
practically, felt that way,
and felt it in a really visceral way
right from the beginning.
The white cops
were going to go find some Black guy
to accuse of this murder.
And if he did it, great.
And if he didn't, maybe that was okay too.
[Dwyer] They're getting ready
to indict Bennett
and Chuck Stuart's brother
Matthew Stuart hears about the lineup,
and he identified him.
Well, apparently, he had
a guilty conscience, couldn't stand it.
So, he comes back, and he tells,
"I got to tell the truth here."
[church bells ringing]
[Phillip Martin] What happens is that
Matthew Stuart, Charles' brother,
got cold feet.
Matthew Stuart confessed
that Charles Stuart had murdered his wife.
Matthew Stuart had met him at the car
and, uh, basically helped his brother.
After careful review of this new evidence,
I instructed
Boston Police homicide detectives
to arrest Charles Stuart for the murder.
So, now, the hunt is on for Chuck Stuart.
Nobody knew where he was.
And ultimately,
Chuck Stuart goes to the top of the
Tobin Bridge, jumps off, kills himself.
Chuck Stuart had talked
about setting up an insurance scam
and supposedly talked
about even killing his wife.
One of the most bizarre stories
you'll ever hear.
[Toni Locy] Chuck Stuart knew
that he might get away with this
by blaming a Black man,
and the Boston police just ate it up.
It revealed the ugly side of America
and not just Boston,
but Boston in particular,
and that is racism.
[Dwyer] Ralph Martin was a Black attorney
working for the U.S. Attorney's office,
and he was hearing the same stories.
He comes from Boston
and apparently bought into it.
When the District Attorney
Newman Flanagan unexpectedly retired,
the job was up for grabs.
Ralph Martin lobbied for the job,
and he was appointed.
And, you know, he came in,
armed with the baggage
that his biggest regret
was that he didn't prosecute Boston cops
in the Stuart matter.
It didn't sit well
with many Boston cops, me included.
So, when he come in, uh, you know,
there was this built-in tension there
that this was not going
to be a rosy relationship.
And suddenly, Boston, of all cities,
has a Black district attorney
for the first time.
[audience clapping]
The man of the hour!
I have an ambi-- ambitious agenda.
Uh…
I also recognize
that it may take more than two years,
uh, to implement it fully, and I intend
to be around for longer than two years
because I want it all done under my watch.
[audience clapping]
The DAs and the police commissioners
work together pretty closely.
I think he was one
of the first DAs who believed
it should be sort of an adversarial
or at least an arm's-length relationship.
There was always a lot of tension
between the District Attorney's Office
and the Boston Police Department.
He was skeptical
of a lot of police officers,
and he never made any secret of it.
Ralph Martin decides
he's going to have detectives
from homicide transferred out.
So, I was one of them,
and he tried to negotiate.
So, that became an issue
where I had kind of a war.
I frequently have a lot of bad things
to say about Ralph Martin.
I don't like him. I think he's a punk.
[Edward McNelley] Obviously, I think
what he did is that he got caught up,
you know, going to be the salvation
for all the wrongs
that were done on Stuart.
And they just thought
they were going to right the ship
because you had a lot of people screaming
that it was an invasion in Mission Hill.
It wasn't an invasion.
Like I said, there was no doors broken.
Didn't happen.
And, you know,
were you looking for a Black guy
in Mission Hill?
Well… [chuckling]
I told you what the guy said who did it.
What are you gonna look for?
Not a Chinese guy in Chinatown.
I mean, it ain't gonna happen.
[Toni Locy] You know,
when you carry a badge and a gun,
that's the ultimate power.
Ralph, when he came in,
I mean, he inherited, my God, the baggage.
The Boston police,
they weren't easy to deal with,
and they were used to doing
whatever they wanted
because Newman Flanagan had allowed them
to do whatever they wanted for decades.
And so, you know, for Ralph to come in
and try to move that ocean liner,
you know, he couldn't do it.
He couldn't do it.
Uh, not in time for the Mulligan murder.
It just wasn't going to happen.
It was too soon.
Two years was not enough time.
It was not enough time to change,
um, the culture of that department.
[reporter] Boston police
and District Attorney Ralph Martin
said they were confident in the evidence
against Ellis and Patterson,
although they wouldn't say what it was.
Uh, with the arrest of Sean Ellis, uh,
that concludes our search for suspects,
at least for the time being.
[Adrian] There was a lot of pressure
to solve this case,
to put somebody away for this,
to make someone pay
for the death of a police officer.
It's not handled
like other kinds of homicides,
and this one wasn't.
[Rosemary] Boston Police Department
are pretty vindictive
and the union is such a strong presence
here in Boston, the Boston Police Union,
you know, basically, "You need us,
and you got to remember that you need us.
"We're the ones who work these cases
on the street, you don't."
Uh, and so that's a real problem
for-for any DA
if they want to do something
that's unpopular
with the Boston Police Department.
-Yeah.
-Hey!
Hands off my camera, lady!
-Don't touch my camera!
-Get that camera outta my face!
Put that thing away!
Najay! Najay, yo! That's not--No!
[Sean Ellis] Oh, wow.
That's my older sister DeeDee.
That's my older sister DeeDee,
uh, talking.
[indistinct talking over laptop]
That's Acerra.
That might be Robinson.
Wow.
[policeman] Hold up! Get over here!
You just get over there!
[Mary] We love you!
[DeeDee] That's right, baby!
Keep your head down, honey.
[DeeDee] We love you, Sean!
We love you, Sean!
-We love you, Sean!
-[Mary] Keep your head down!
For me, I'm here today.
Tomorrow, I'll be back home.
The moment wasn't gonna last long.
It wasn't going to be a long moment.
And so like-like
I expected myself to return home soon.
Will I get arrested
if I pull my pants down?
Will I?
Will I get arrested for moonin' the sick?
[Letia] I was scared…
mad…
I didn't know what to do
'cause he was supposed to be my husband.
That's what he talked about,
-so it was just, um…
-[sniffles]
I didn't know, and at that time,
that's when my son started talking good.
So, it was like, "Where's Daddy?"
So, I had to deal with that part.
-My client's pleading not guilty.
-[reporter] What will your case be?
I don't know yet,
I'm just getting into it,
except that the district attorney
shouldn't rely on this Mr. Patterson.
That's all I have to say.
I started trying murder cases
very early in my career.
I used to do them for free
because I-- I knew
I had to get this experience.
I-- and so this was-- this, like,
for me, was riding a bicycle.
I was in my element.
That's why they called me into this case.
That this-- I would--
a lot of this would be instinctual,
that what I would be doing,
what I would be saying,
how I would be telling my client
what to do.
But it was one of the more important cases
of my whole career.
[indistinct speaking]
[baby crying]
[somber music playing]
[Letia] I just knew
that they're gonna know it's not him.
He's gonna come home. I'm not worried.
You know what I mean? I'm not worried.
He didn't do it. He's good.
[gavel knocking]
[bailiff] Our complaint,
we charge you with armed robbery,
being armed with a dangerous weapon.
You did assault John Mulligan,
did rob and steal and take from the person
a Boston Police-issue
Glock nine millimeter.
On these matters, the court records
the pleas of "not guilty."
On these matters,
you have the right to have an attorney.
The court has appointed
Norman Zalkind to represent you.
[Mary Jackie Ellis] It was terrifying.
It was terrifying because all
of the spectators was policemen.
The whole courtroom was surrounded,
and when I walked in there,
you know, my heart was just pounding.
I'm saying, "Lord, please
don't let nobody take out their gun
and shoot my child
because they think he killed the cop."
[Phyllis Broker]
Phyllis Broker for the Commonwealth.
We're requesting this defendant be held
without bail, if Your Honor please.
[clears throat]
As the court may be aware,
this defendant is the co-defendant
of the defendant
that we arraigned two days prior.
And basically, to support that argument
for bail, the Commonwealth would say
that this defendant,
together with his co-defendant,
approached Judge-- er--
John Mulligan's car wherein he was sitting
during a paid detail in front of Walgreens
on the 26th of September.
They then shot him
point-blank in the face several times,
took his service revolver,
and fled the scene.
[Norman Zalkind] They want the public
to hear their allegations,
and I want to show the public
that it's not quite the same guy.
First of all,
he has no record of convictions anywhere.
He absolutely denies these offenses.
He is a graduate
of Dorchester High School.
He's lived in the Boston area
his whole life.
His mother is here.
And as I said, he has no record.
Yes, this is a serious charge.
Most respectfully, Your Honor,
I ask that the bail be set for this man.
[bailiff] Sean Ellis, the court has
entered the pleas of not guilty
on your behalf. The court orders
that they be continued
until 18th October, 1993.
The court orders
you'll be held without bail.
You have the right to petition for review,
which means it'll be brought
before a single Justice
of a Superior Court on a bail review.
I'm sorry,
can we get an endorsed copy of that?
We love you, Sean!
[indistinct speaking]
Back off! Back off!
You know, what's crazy is that…
In the same way
that none of that shit registered then,
it doesn't register now.
Like, that shit doesn't…
Like, that shit won't compute in my brain.
Like, I can't tell you what just happened.
I remember
hearing my sister DeeDee's voice saying,
"We love you, Sean."
Like, I remember that clearly.
I'm like-- like…
That's probably one of the only things
I remember from that day,
was her saying that "We love you."
I remember her saying that.
I remember not wanting to live.
I remember clearly
not wanting to be alive. [sniffles]
I remember clearly, like,
"What is there to live for?"
Celine is gone.
My life's fucked up,
like, you know, at home.
You know what I mean.
[DeeDee Johnson] We love you, Sean!
We love you, Sean!
We love you, Sean!
[indistinct chatter]
He's coming down the stairs now.
So, now you see his head up.
His head is totally up.
It's not down anymore.
Stand up. Be proud of yourself.
You're a good-looking kid.
You know, we're going to try this case.
We're going to fight for you.
[indistinct chatter]
[sad music playing]
[reporter] What's your client saying
is his role?
Not guilty.
-[reporter] I know that--
-That's his role, not guilty.
It is the end of the arraignment,
and that's when the press come
and surround you.
And I'm basically saying he has no record.
All I know is what the media are saying.
They're making all kinds of allegations.
And that he's not guilty,
and that the jury will acquit him.
And so I want to convey
that he's not afraid of going to the jury.
This isn't going to be some technical
suppression of evidence or something.
It's going to be a jury trial
with an innocent defendant.
[sirens blaring]
Sean Ellis and Patterson,
whatever his first name is,
executed John Mulligan
for the sole purpose
of getting his gun as a trophy.
That's why John Mulligan was murdered.
No other reason.
[mellow music playing]
[police announcer] Police Officer,
Police Detective, John J. Mulligan
had been shot
a number of times in the head.
His weapon is missing.
We have not been able
to determine its location.
[McNelley] There was a detective
that worked in homicide, John Brazil.
He had developed a relationship with,
I believe it was Sean Ellis' uncle.
And based
on whatever information that he had,
uh, the relationship
that he had established with him,
we had information
that the guns were probably in a field.
[Daniel Keeler]
Testing, one, two, three, four.
Testing, one, two, three, four.
We are present in the Homicide Office
at 273 D Street in South Boston.
Present is the speaker,
Sergeant Detective Daniel Keeler.
Also present is Detective John Brazil,
each assigned to the Homicide Unit.
And we are presently speaking
with David Murray.
I was incarcerated for mass robbery.
I did my time and had gotten out.
Um…
I was on probation.
I had a parole officer.
So, Brazil-- before I did this,
Brazil said, "We know you're on--"
They scared me.
He said,
"We know you're on parole," and all this,
"and you're on probation,"
and he says, uh…
In a sense, I felt like, well,
he was trying to use that against me.
As far as I violated, whatever,
I go back to jail or whatever.
[Rosemary] David Murray is on probation
or parole, or might be on both.
What that means
is they have total control.
They can make him say
whatever they need him to say
in order to make sure he doesn't go
to jail and so very often,
when they find people
who are on probation and parole,
they will tell them off tape,
"If you don't cooperate with us,
we're gonna call your probation officer,
you're going to go back to jail,
we're gonna charge you
with this or that."
Um, and so they're stuck.
[Daniel Keeler] Sunday, what did you gain
from Sean that you didn't have Saturday,
as far as knowledge?
[David Murray] The guns,
that Terry and himself buried the guns.
[Daniel]
Terry and himself buried the guns?
Are the guns buried together?
-[David] No, they're not.
-[Daniel] How are the guns buried?
[David] One's in one spot,
the other one's in another spot.
[suspenseful music playing]
-[cop] All right! Everybody ready?
-Sir, yes, sir!
[cop] Go! Stay stretched!
First squad hold it up!
Down on the left, go! All the way down.
[John Ellement] We had a lady worked
at the message center named Millie.
I get a call from her. She said,
"The police are all over my neighborhood.
"I live over on Floyd Street."
So, I went over there
and there was the police.
They'd flooded the area,
and they were going through the bushes
and around the side lawns,
looking for guns.
-[indistinct chatter]
-[beeping]
[camera clicks]
[beeping]
[camera clicks]
[reporter]
Tell us how this helps your case.
Well, obviously, uh, the 9-millimeter,
uh, belongs to, uh, John Mulligan.
We'll do, uh, the testing
on the 25-caliber automatic
to see if we can, uh,
make some sort of nexus
between that .25
and the weapon
that was used to kill John Mulligan.
[gun firing]
[gun firing]
[gun firing]
[gun firing]
[gun firing]
[Rosemary Scapicchio] They find
the murder weapon and Mulligan's Glock 9
in that field
right across from Sean's house.
The goal is "let's get
as much physical evidence as we can
to connect this kid to the crime because
we have to stop this investigation."
And that's what they did.
That's how Rosa Sanchez gets involved.
Rosa Sanchez was the key to their case.
She was the only one
who said she could identify Sean,
under very suspicious circumstances,
but she said she could identify Sean.
[thunder rumbling]
[detective] Okay, Rosa. I'd like to bring
you back to once you arrived at Walgreens.
-3:05 in the morning?
-[Rosa Sanchez] Yes.
There was a Black male
crouched next to the car.
He looked toward me.
Then he looked down real quick.
[thunder rumbling]
[indistinct chatter]
[detective] I showed you an array
of eight colored photographs
of Black males.
-Isn't that correct?
-[Rosa] Yes.
[detective] And in this photo array,
is there anybody that you can identify
as being the person
that was there that night?
[Rosa] Yes.
[detective] This person here,
you point to photograph number
four, zero, two, five, three, eight.
-Is that correct?
-[Rosa] Yes.
[detective] Okay.
I remember being taken
I want to say to South Boston,
and then at some point,
being-- being put in a line-up.
[Jack Cinquegrana] We're present
at the offices of Boston Homicide Unit
to conduct an identification…
[Sean] When they did the line-up,
it was this wall and the height thing.
I remember there already being
a space that was left open,
and then so they told me
to, you know, stand in that space.
[Jack] Present with me, attorney
Norman Zalkind, attorney David Duncan.
The latter two representing the defendant
John Ellis, excuse me, Sean Ellis,
who, for the record,
is person number five in the line-up.
The witness who will view the line-up
is not present at this time.
Mr. Zalkind, would you like
to put anything on the record?
[Norman Zalkind] Yes.
How am I gonna believe police
in this case?
I don't believe them anyway in a lot of
cases, but in this one, even more.
You know, this is cop.
This is the brotherhood gets together.
They don't care
about truth or innocence or anything.
They care about protecting their brother.
They're hunting.
They want to kill, okay?
This line-up at this stage of this case
is purely suggestive.
There's been intensive TV
and black and white photographs
in the newspapers and in the media
on almost a daily basis
since, uh, my client was arrested.
Uh, there was pictures of him,
uh, in cuffs at the police station
when he was arrested.
There's close-ups of his face.
He is one of the only two people
wearing a white shirt
and I-- I object to this line-up totally.
But as long
as we don't make any moves here,
I'd like you to switch the numbers around
in any way you want.
[Jack] You wish to put him
in a different…
[Norman] I want you to
because you left the room and came back.
[Jack] I don't understand.
[Norman] You left the room and came back.
I want this to be clean.
[Jack] Are you accusing me of--
[Norman] No, I'm not accusing you.
I just want to make sure it's sanitized.
[Jack] Okay, it's sanitized.
If you want to change his position,
you can.
I'm not going to take your suggestion
that I've told somebody who he is.
I haven't said that you have.
-I haven't.
-Okay.
He stays where he is
unless you wanna move him.
-[Norman] Okay.
-[Jack] Put it on the record why.
Let the record reflect the door
at the end of the hallway is locked.
I don't want anybody entering
or leaving this hallway.
So, they have me changed
from the initial spot they put me in,
and it might have been the final spot,
was under number six.
[Jack] Uh, Mitty, Kenny, anybody?
Would you get the witness
and escort the witness down, please?
[clears throat]
The lights in the hallway are darkened,
so no one inside the room can see outside.
Ma'am, would you step up close
to the glass? Get comfortable.
-Are you ready, ma'am?
-[Rosa] Mm-hm.
[Jack] Person number one,
would you please step forward
in front of the glass?
Hands at your side, please.
Turn to the right.
[suspenseful music playing]
Turn to the right.
Turn to the right again.
Turn forward again, please.
Person number two, step forward.
Person number three, step forward, please.
Person number four, step forward.
Person number five, step forward.
Person number six, step forward.
Turn to the side.
Turn to the rear.
Turn to the other side.
Turn forward.
[suspenseful music intensifies]
And step back.
Person number seven, step forward, please.
Ma'am, is there anything else you'd like
the people in the line-up to do?
Would you take a pen
and mark on this ballot
whether or not you see
the man you saw on the night in question?
[Rosa] Mm-hm.
Person number six, step forward.
May the record reflect person number six
has been identified by the witness,
Sean Ellis.
Please step back, please.
[Sean Ellis]
What was going through my mind?
I was a bit confused.
Um…
But at the same time, like, I wasn't
like-- I wasn't-- I wasn't scared.
I-- I just figured that everything
was gonna work itself out.
That wasn't the case, though.
Yeah.
Shot five times,
execution style,
in the sign of a cross.
A 19-year-old did that?
Impossible.
Impossible.
My son is innocent.
And I believe it.
[somber music playing]
[Rosemary] And I would say probably
the single most devastating witness
had to have been Rosa Sanchez.
Uh, Detective Acerra, Detective Robinson,
they're the ones who were involved
in the line-up with Rosa Sanchez,
became a pivotal witness
as far as the case is concerned.
If you think about it,
they had 50 officers
assigned to this task force
to investigate, uh, Mulligan's death.
Acerra, Brazil and Robinson
kept popping up
on the most important parts of the case.
They were getting
these knock-down, drag-out statements
and-- and producing the evidence
that nobody else could find
and how can that be?
[DeeDee Johnson] We love you, Sean!
We love you, Sean!
We love you, Sean!
[police siren blaring]
[dramatic music playing]