Trial 4 (2020): Season 1, Episode 6 - A Taste Of Freedom - full transcript

[somber music playing]

[police siren blaring]

I remember getting, uh,
you know, notified very quickly

that the decision was out,

getting our hands
on a copy of the decision.

I think I was on trial at the time.

So, reading it like crazy and thinking,
"And then we got to go see Sean."

Uh, and my biggest concern was

that I didn't want him
to find out in the news,

from somebody else other than me.

[police siren blaring]



[Sean] I was outside,

and I got called back to the unit,

and, um… I was told that,
um, I had a visit.

And so I remember being, like, nervous.

I was pretty much scared because
if I lost this motion for a new trial,

like, I would have died in prison

because, like, I couldn't conceive
anything else getting me out of prison,

or anyone else getting me out of prison.

[prison gate opening]

[indistinct chatter]

[Rosemary] When you get an attorney visit,

there's an intercom system.
It says, "Attorney visit, Sean Ellis."

So, everybody in the prison
knows your lawyer's there.

And you know your lawyer's there
before you even get to where you're going.



Then you've gotta get back to your unit.

You've got to put on clothes
you can come out in the visiting room in.

You've got to get a pass. You've got to--
Like, it's not boom and you're there.

And I kept thinking,
"If he takes any longer,

they're gonna kick us out,
and we have to do this tomorrow,"

but it seemed like he was taking forever
to get to the visiting room,

and when I talked to him afterwards,

he said he was
because he thought it was bad news.

[Sean] And so I-- I went upstairs.

It was Rosemary and, uh, Jillise.

And, um, I remember Rosemary saying
that we did it,

and then we hugged,

and I heard it, but it didn't register.

He literally, like, fell on the chair,
he started crying.

I remember sitting down,
taking down phone nu--

I knew he was gonna call his mother.

There were people in his family
I had to get in touch with,

but, you know,
because Sean is the kid that he is,

um, he composed himself after a while,

and he just literally said,

"I thank God every day
that you came into this case,

and that you guys worked
as hard as you did

because I don't know
what would have happened

if anyone else was appointed to my case."

"I don't know what would have happened,

but I know I wouldn't be
sitting here right now,

and I am just eternally grateful to you,

um, for giving me an opportunity,
um, to prove my innocence."

And to me, that was like…

There's nothing, you know, higher
for a defense attorney

than to have a client be truly grateful.

It's just, to me, it just speaks volumes
of the type of person that Sean is.

[soft music playing]

I remember just crying.

Like, [stammers] I was crying like a baby,
you know what I mean?

I must have cried
for, like, ten to 15 minutes, just…

um, off and on,
but more on than off…

you know? Um…

'Cause I was happy as shit, man.

You know what I'm saying?
It's like, "Here it is."

I'm sitting in prison
for something I didn't do,

and to now have the chance
to go back and fight.

[indistinct chatter]

[bailiff] Court, all rise.

Suffolk County Court is open.

Please be seated.

I worry that my decision in this case,
which of course I stand by…

has, in the eyes of the public,
reflected negatively

on some very honest
and honorable police officers

who were involved
in the investigation of this case.

My decision is not intended
in any way to impugn their reputation.

Having said that, I feel strongly
about what I said in my decision

that your client, Mr. Ellis,
did not get a fair trial,

and I will entertain
your argument for bail.

[melancholy music playing]

This is the best day of my life.

The truth is coming out,
and that's what's important,

and that's
what's going to free Sean Ellis.

-Thank you, Jesus.
-[laughing]

Thank you, Lord.

[indistinct chatter]

Come on, baby, let's go.

I thank God, I thank God.

Dear God,
we give you all the praise and all…

I would like to thank
the honorable Judge Ball

for giving me the opportunity of freedom,
I'd like to thank my family,

and I'd like to thank my,
uh, my attorney, Rose-- Rosemary,

who worked hard and tirelessly
to make this day possible.

Thank you.

I'd like some time, you know, [stammers]
to reacquaint myself with my family.

And so, thank you for everything.

[reporter asking an indistinct question]

Help ease him back into life. He's been
incarcerated for more than half his life.

All I can say is
that justice is smiling today.

It's a great day for him,
it's a great day for his family.

He's tasted his first taste of freedom
in 22 years, and it's just great.

[reporter] Do you think
Sean's fourth trial will be a fair one?

I will do everything in my power
to make sure Sean gets a fair trial.

Everything in my power.

There was a systematic problem
with the Boston Police Department

in the late '80s, early '90s,

and I-- I think it screams out
for an investigation

to determine how this could have happened
to someone like Sean,

because if we don't figure out
how it happened,

we can't ensure
that it won't happen again.

[theme dramatic music playing]

[somber music playing]

[laughing]

[Sean] In Peabody,
I was staying with Andre,

who was the minister
at my mother's church,

um, who had came to see me while
I was in prison once he learned about me.

-I love you.
-I love you too.

You got a little fat in your face,
what's going on?

Are you calling me fat?

-No, I said you're fat in your face.
-I look fat in my face?

Do you see this?

[laughing]

He and his wife gave up their room for me,
unbeknownst to me.

Um, I learned later on.

Um, I would've been okay
sleeping on the floor in the living room.

You know what I mean?

This thing on my leg is a reminder.

[Andre] I never understood
how you showered with it.

-[Sean] That's it.
-[Andre] My first time touching it.

[Sean] I kind of keep the sock on
because it aggravates my skin.

[Andre]
When the hell is it coming off, though?

[Sean in Spanish] I don't know.

[Andre, in English]
One day, you wanted to shower,

and you asked what's your curfew time
in the shower.

Like, like, I knew that in prison,

like, okay,
the shower's your vulnerable time.

Like, you take a shower,
you get in, you get out.

You don't, like…

You don't let the water hit your back,
[stammers] and soothe your back or…

It's like,
you get in the shower and you get out.

And on your way out,
you put your sneakers on,

so you're not walking down
in your flip-flops and all that, so…

Um, like, that was, like…

When I was told, like, "Listen,
take as long a shower as you want,"

I'm like, "What are you talking about?"
It's like, I'm like, "Okay!"

[both laughing]

-"Okay!"
-[Andre] "This is not real life."

[laughing]

I'm married, so that's not…

Even though I wasn't in prison,

um…

and even though the restrictions
and the microscope wasn't there,

like, I was still kind of operating.
Like, I didn't… [sniffles]

I remember me and my mom going to a store
and there was, like, an alleyway.

And I remember asking her,
like, "Can we go down there?"

She was like, "You want to cut down there?
We can cut down there."

"We're out here in the free world."

[soft music playing]

I often wonder,

if you were to be told,
or get a phone call next month,

that you're being sent back,
what that would be like for you.

[Sean] Yeah.

Um…

I-- I don't-- That might be the thing
that, like, sends me over the edge,

so to speak, you know what I mean?
That might…

That might be
the straw that breaks the camel's back.

-[Andre] Mm-hmm.
-Um…

'Cause at the end of the day,
it's bullshit.

[Andre] Yeah.

Do you feel like you are operating now

as if that's… something weighing over you?

So, there's not a full 100%.

[Sean] Not consciously.

But in the back of my mind,
I'm definitely sure.

[stammers] I'm definitely sure.

Um, because, like,
this thing on my leg is a reminder.

[melancholy music playing]

[Rosemary] The Commonwealth appealed.

The Commonwealth was not happy
with Judge Ball's decision.

They have a right to appeal a motion
for a new trial, which they exercised.

Um, and they took the case up

to the seven justices
of the Supreme Court.

They're the highest court
in Massachusetts,

and they asked them
to look at what Judge Ball did

and determine whether or not
Judge Ball made the right legal decisions,

um, at the motion for a new trial.

May it please the court,
Paul Linn for the Commonwealth.

I'd like to start
by addressing the third issue

raised in the Commonwealth's brief,

uh, which is whether
even if everything the judge found

was accurate,
and of course, we don't concede that,

there still wasn't a justification
for a new trial.

What do we do with a police investigation

where the investigators
have their own rather compelling incentive

to make sure that nothing that arose
from that investigation

would lead to anything
that would inculpate them

for their corrupt scheme?

Um, all you have to do,
and what you should do,

is follow your 2000 decision,

in which case, at which time,

all of this evidence,
the corruption of the officers--

-Um…
-[woman] But not--

-But not the corruption of the victim.
-[woman] Right.

I mean,
that changes everything, does it not?

No, it's still
just impeachment evidence, but--

But wait, wait, wait, wait.
I mean, there's a huge difference

between saying we have corrupt cops
who were investigating a murder

versus we have corrupt cops
who were investigating a murder

of somebody who participated
with them in that corruption,

and the fear that whatever
they may elicit in that investigation

may disclose things
that may inculpate them.

Doesn't that-- Isn't that-- Isn't that
[stammers] a major game changer

in terms of how one looks
at the police investigation?

No, definitely-- definitely not.

There is still no evidence

that any of the corrupt detectives
procured false evidence in this case.

That was this court's holding,
that remains true to this day.

You simply have an extra motivation.

That the two people who were charged

were people who had no motive
to kill Detective Mulligan,

when in fact,
if they had known all that they had known,

there were many, many people,
for various reasons,

who had a motive
to kill Detective Mulligan.

But this brings me back to the guns again.

You've got the evidence
that, however this was done,

whoever else was involved,

Ellis and Patterson were the people
who were there with the guns.

It all comes back to that.

I think a lot of what Judge Ball
is saying in her decision

is that this is really
about the integrity of the conviction.

When you consider
all of the surrounding circumstances,

you just kind of break out

of the "What does the law
strictly require?" question,

and you ask about fairness and justice,

which is what I think,
from reading her opinion,

um, motivated her decision
to grant a new trial.

Is that something
that you're suggesting we should ignore?

No, [stammers] we're all here today
because we care about justice.

-Ms. Scapicchio, good morning.
-Good morning, Your Honors.

Ms. Scapicchio, what was it
that you wanted to say

that the police
could have done, should have done,

that they didn't do?

When you look at those tip lines,
I think they're contained in the appendix.

There were other people
specifically named.

There was not a single report.

There were a number of tips
that named other people,

and not one of them was investigated
by anybody from the police department?

Ever?

And not turned over
to the defense attorneys?

How do you justify that?

How can you say,
under those circumstances,

that Mr. Ellis got a fair trial?

Why are the police trying to set up Ellis?

I mean, why do they pick on him?

This doesn't seem to be
what Judge Ball was focusing on.

It's not what Judge Ball was…

The decisions that Judge Ball made
are clearly supported by the evidence.

But to answer your question,
Justice Spina,

what happened
and why they focused on, um, Mr. Ellis,

he was being interviewed, supposedly
in the relationship to his cousins' death.

The death of the two girls.

Detective Brazil,
who's involved in the corruption,

says to him, "What do you know
about the Mulligan investigation?"

And my client says,
"I was at the Walgreens that night."

"I bought Pampers."

"There is a receipt
in my cousin's house for Pampers."

That's how he gets involved.

He puts himself right in the middle
of-- of a homicide of a detective.

Who would do that
if they had actually committed a crime?

And that's how they focus on him.
Now they have their suspect.

Now they know
where they can build their case.

Now they have someone
that they can hold out to the public

who actually admits he's there.

[Paul] One of the most important things

to realize is Sean Ellis was convicted
of possessing both the murder weapon

and the victim
Detective Mulligan's service weapon.

-Now--
-Help me to understand all of the evidence

that linked him to that gun.

Letia Walker,
that's Ellis' girlfriend's testimony

that she saw the defendant
retrieve the guns,

bring them back to his apartment.

But how does she know
that that was the same gun

that was later identified
or established as the murder weapon?

-Her fingerprint is on it.
-[Spina] Okay.

Letia Walker, Mr. Ellis' girlfriend,
testified at trial, did she not?

[Rosemary] She did.

So, what would an attorney do with that?

With the information
that Tia Walker said that he had the guns?

Well, I-- I think that, certainly,

her credibility
could have been undermined as well,

and there-- there would've been
probably an exploration

as to what the police officers did

in order to get her
to tell the story that she told.

So, what do we do with the guns?

The guns that--
that are found in this case,

I think if we had an investigation
from the very beginning

regarding the guns,

there'd be a different outcome on that.

Did Walker say that she and Ellis
went to that apartment

where the two women had been killed,
with all the yellow tape and everything?

Somehow, these two people
got through the yellow tape?

[Rosemary] Both of his cousins
had recently been killed.

They're saying now,
while the-- the tape is up,

my client shows up with his girlfriend,
goes underneath the tape,

goes into the house,

retrieves two guns, that they don't find
during a double homicide investigation,

and then takes them back to her house,

where she, at some point,
touches or puts her finger on those guns.

That's the story that they're telling
regarding those guns.

[dramatic music playing]

[reporter] Welcome back to Radio Boston.
I'm Meghna Chakrabarti.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
decided today

that a man convicted
of the murder of a Boston police officer

is entitled to a new trial.

It's devastating.

You know, it's disappointing.

You think it's all done with,
and then it just comes back again.

Let's touch back
on the story we were first speaking about,

Sean Ellis receiving his fourth trial.

Detective Mulligan, his convicted killer.
What do you think about all that?

Well, it's sad, you know.

I think, you know, the DA,
uh, obviously, [stammers] you know…

It's gonna probably go forward.
I think we're all disappointed.

You know, I knew John.

I was a young policeman
when I came on the job.

And, uh, you know, I think,
more than anything else,

we feel bad for the family.

They're a great family,
and I just hate the whole fact

that we're gonna have
to go through this again,

and they've lived it,
this now being the fourth time.

And, uh, just hopefully,
Mr. Ellis is held accountable

if he in fact did it.

[whirling]

-Let's jump.
-[woman 1] No.

-Yeah!
-[woman 1] I think not.

[woman 2] We got our first plane
up in the air, guys! [cheers]

Ha!

-[laughing]
-[cheering]

[cheering, clapping]

Woo!

[clapping, cheering]

[laughing]

[indistinct chatter]

This event is about people

whose freedom was taken away unjustly.

And this is an event
to celebrate that freedom,

but also to commemorate
the fact that there are still people

who are behind the wall

who are still fighting for that freedom.

-Right?
-[Sean] Right.

And so this is Flying for Freedom.

What questions do you have for me?

-When are we going up?
-[announcer] When are you going up!

[laughing]

[cheering, clapping]

[upbeat music playing]

[whirling]

Woo!

Yes!

Yeah!

[cheering]

[man] Hey, man.

Huh?

-Life-changing or what?
-Life-changing, for real.

[man] Life-changing or what, bro?

It's like, uh…

[distant cheering]

[indistinct chatter]

You gotta think about this one, huh?
Look at my man.

That part
I think I'm referring to is life.

You know what I'm saying?
You're just free.

[man] Just free.

You know?

Free as a bird, man.
You're gonna fly. What?

How does it go? [laughs]

We're free, bro, that's the whole point.
We're free, man. We're free, man.

Wow, bro.

[Rosemary] What's at stake for Sean
in the fourth trial is his freedom.

Most people think he's out.

They see him out,
so they think, like, the case is gone.

They don't realize that
he's now got to endure a fourth trial,

and that we've got to win that trial

in order to make
all of this worth it in the end.

So, uh, it's a tough--

There's no guarantees at all,
I tell everybody.

The Commonwealth are all trying
to find a way to convict Sean again.

They're spending
all their time, effort and energy

trying to figure out:

"How do we get this conviction
to stick this time?"

This particular District Attorney's office

can't even entertain the possibility
that they got it wrong.

Their job, they think,
isn't really to seek justice

because that's supposed to be their job,

but they think their job
is to put him back in jail.

The world won't be right
until he's back in jail.

[woman] Fly for Freedom!

Freedom!

Yeah!

[cheering, clapping]

[somber music playing]

[police siren blaring]

-Hey, Sean.
-Hi, how are you?

-Good to see you.
-Good to see you too, always.

-You're cold again. What is going on here?
-It's freezing out.

All right. How's the house?

-It's coming along.
-Is it? Awesome.

It's a work in progress,
but it's coming along.

-You want to head downstairs?
-Yeah.

-You got some time?
-I do.

All right, great.

So, there's a couple of different ways
to proceed from here

in terms of getting ready for trial.

We can do a true
sort of third-party-culprit, uh, defense,

but then you, as the defendant,
take on the burden

of trying to prove
that the other person did it.

-Okay.
-There's another way that you can do it.

It's more
of attacking the police investigation,

which is called…
it's sort of a Bowden defense.

"Why didn't they do this?
Why didn't they do that?"

And I think that's a much stronger defense
for us, is attacking the investigation.

And I think it's gonna be
a wholesale war on their investigation.

I think we'll be able to drive trucks
through what they failed to do

in terms of their investigation.

Because 99% of what they did
makes no sense.

We do have some time between now and then,

so we'll just start working on it
piece by piece, okay?

-Okay.
-Don't get overwhelmed.

It's an overwhelming case,
but don't get overwhelmed.

-Okay.
-And if it gets overwhelming,

if you feel like you're underwater,

because reliving this is going to be
an emotional roller coaster for you,

just let me know.

A trial's
always gonna be a roller coaster.

You're gonna have good days and bad days,
but I need you to help.

I need you to be involved, and I need you
to really know the evidence,

so that you can fully participate
in your defense.

-All right?
-Okay.

-Questions?
-No.

All right.

[suspenseful music playing]

[meows]

[indistinct chatter]

So, I'm gonna make two, all right?

[indistinct chatter]

[kissing]

[meows]

[beeps]

[dog barking]

[sniffles]

[clears throat]

[Sean] I'm the new person,
and I know that I've been in prison,

even though nobody else knew,

and I operated with the assumption that
everyone knew that I'd been in prison,

and prison was tattooed on my forehead.

You know,
so, I felt like all eyes were on me.

I started working
maybe about a month after I came home.

I did demo for a few months.

At the same time,

I learned about a job availability
at Community Servings, where I work now.

So, I had the interview, and just before
I was getting ready to leave,

I told them
that I spent… 22 years in prison

for a crime I didn't commit.

I wondered, like, "Damn, like,
am I going to have a fair shot?"

[indistinct chatter]

-How are you doing?
-I'm good, how are you?

[phone ringing]

Community Servings. Sean speaking.

Yes, can you hold, please?

[beeps]

-Thank you.
-Okay, take care.

But first, to a murder case
dating back 23 years this month.

On September 26th of 1993,
Boston police detective John Mulligan

was apparently sleeping in his car
in front of a Walgreens in Roslindale

when he was shot five times
in the face and killed.

Nineteen-year-old Sean Ellis
was quickly arrested

and tried for Mulligan's murder.

At a third trial in '95,

he was convicted of
John Mulligan's murder, sent to prison.

But last year,
that conviction was overturned,

and last week, the state's highest court
upheld that ruling.

Suffolk DA Dan Conley
has already declared his intention

to prosecute Ellis one more time.

Joining me now is Sean Ellis,

who was released on bail last year
after more than 20 years behind bars.

Sean, it's good to meet you.

Do you worry
about if there's a fourth trial?

You seem so calm.

-Are you angry at anybody?
-I am-- I'm angry about what happened.

[stammers] I can't say that I'm angry
at particular individuals,

but I'm angry at the fact
that what happened could've happened,

because [stammers] I'm sure
that I'm not the only person

that it had happened to.

So, the SJC says
Sean is entitled to a new trial.

Give me the short version why.

Yes, so one of the reasons
that we got a new trial

is because we were able
to link the corruption

of Acerra and Robinson
directly to Mulligan.

Do you think Commissioner Evans,
I know he was not commissioner then,

was aware of the corruption
of the cops that testified?

Well, if he didn't know, he should've.

You believe he knew.
You don't know that he knew, do you?

Well, the paperwork in the internal file
suggests that he was notified.

So, unless he didn't read
his own report, he knew.

[somber music playing]

[police siren blaring]

[cars honking]

[Sean] This is just random stuff,
and this is really how I go at it.

Like, I'm just studying it
and studying it.

And so, this is--
This is what I was focusing on,

which is the report
of the medical personnel

as they got to the scene and found him,

um, and for all intents and purposes,

they were basically saying
that he was without life.

I'm trying to determine
if they had the right, so to speak,

to move him.

Wow, Rosemary just responded back to me.

So, this is Rule 205, um, section 13,

removal of dead bodies.

"A dead body shall only be moved

at the direction of the medical examiner
or District Attorney or their designee."

The medical examiner has the right
to take charge of the body.

Then it goes into the District Attorney
basically having that.

So, what-- what my thing is,

if they said that he was void of life,
then they shouldn't have moved him.

[indistinct police chatter via radio]

[officer] We have a report
of a Boston officer who's been shot,

but we do know that he suffered
a gunshot wound to the face.

Uh, we understand that
the officer is, uh, dead at this time.

[siren blaring]

[Rosemary] Homicide crime scene 101:

you never move the body
before you take photos.

In this case, it was clear he was dead
by the time they got there,

and for whatever reason,
they never took any photos of his body.

They never did any of that,
which also fuels that rumor

that his pants were around his ankles
when this whole thing happened.

The idea
that they didn't take photos of the body

when it was clear that he was already dead

is another red flag
that something is wrong

about this investigation.

Um, and so,
almost from the very beginning,

um, when they were missing things
that they shouldn't have missed.

Um, and then, some of the stuff
starts to make sense

about things that were missing
from the crime scene,

like, um, Acerra and Robinson

are two of the first people
who end up going to Mulligan's apartment.

We knew that Detective Mulligan
had four phones,

and they can't use the department phones
to conduct their illegal activities

because they might get caught.

Um, and so, the four phones
are never really accounted for anywhere.

They had to get in his apartment.
They had to pull that stuff out of there

because if they found the phones,

if they found the money,

if they found the drugs,

then their whole scam
would be blown wide open.

And they had to protect themselves,

and to do that,
I think that's when they realized,

"We have to shut this investigation down
immediately."

"If we don't shut it down,
they're going to come for us."

The overall thing
we're trying to do here, I think,

is we have to really
put the cops on trial.

We have to be able to show
that the corruption

within the Boston Police Department
is what drove this investigation.

Um, and I think part of the way
I want to try the case with Jillise

is to be able to show
that every important witness

that has anything to say against Sean
is tainted by the corruption.

I think we're gonna end up having
to prove the corruption, don't you think?

[Jillise] Yeah.

Because if our closing argument
is going to be:

"This is the police corruption,
let me walk you through what happened,

and what was going on at the time,

let me walk you through the Wild West
of the Boston Police Department,"

we need to be able to show the jury
that they encouraged witnesses to lie,

and they, I think,
fed information to witnesses,

details of the case
that they otherwise didn't know.

And we have to get the jury

to understand the depth
of the police corruption,

um, in order to get them to understand
how it is that they even get to Sean.

And so, I'm trying to figure out
all of these, uh, different allegations

in the anti-corruption files

of the different people
who were, you know, ripped off by them.

I want to see if they're still around
after all of these years

and see whether or not they remember.

Um, I know that we have documents
to that effect.

We may end up having to call the people
who did the investigation

if we can't call the actual people,

but I think it would be so much stronger
in front of a jury

if we could find these people.

If we have a list there of the folks,

then I can track them down,
try to track them down.

Hopefully. It's been so long.

I think, at some point, you probably
have to try to track down Misti again.

Uh, I think that she's got to tell
the story of those two cops going to her

to ask her about the phone,
right after Mulligan was killed,

because I think that we can at least
draw the inference at trial

that it was Acerra and Robinson
who went to go see her.

[Scott Keller] I'll go through
everything we've covered,

and I'll make a list up
of all the witnesses.

Then I'll send it to you and Jillise
and see if I'm missing anybody or…

-Okay.
-And then I'll go out.

I'll start with star witnesses
on Sean's case.

-All right, any other questions?
-[Jillise] No.

-We all have our assignments?
-[Scott] We do.

[laughing]

[thunder rumbling]

[indistinct chatter]

[shutter clicking]

[Rosemary] Crime Scene Services come
and they detail the car.

There were every officer on duty,
off-duty officers,

every homicide detective,

every one of the brass were all there
to try to investigate this.

And they go through the car,
I will say with a fine-tooth comb.

They searched the inside of the car,

the console between the seats of the car,

underneath the mats,

underneath the seats,

the trunk of the car.

They want to make sure,
especially in a police officer killing,

that they have
every single piece of evidence

that could be available to anybody.

And then they make this report
of everything they found in the car.

What was recovered,

as mundane
as a cigarette butt with no brand,

a purple cigarette lighter,

a manila envelope,

Boston police detail card,

it goes on and on

to where you're down
to one pink hair pin, what, this big?

Um…

One black cap screw.

That's how detailed they were
about what they found in the car.

According to the investigators,

Detective Mulligan's phone
was nowhere to be found,

so now they start searching for the phone

because the theory is,
when you're doing homicide investigations,

you want to know who
the last person is that talked to you,

because they could
potentially be a suspect

or at least a witness if not a suspect,
but you want to know:

"Who was he talking to
before he was killed?"

And then Detective Acerra comes in.

And Detective Acerra comes in
without any explanation whatsoever.

Remember, he's not a homicide cop.
He's a drug cop, okay?

And he has this epiphany where he says,

"Hey, I'm going to go back
to where the car is impounded."

"Can we recheck the car again?"

"Can we recheck the car for the phone?"

And so he goes right into the car.

He opens up this console between the seats

and, lo and behold, there's the phone.

How in the world
can 50 of your best and brightest

miss a goddamn cell phone
in a dead cop's car?

How does that happen?

They're not these little cell phones,
iPhones, that we have today.

And this is apparently
the secret compartment, right here.

The secret compartment.

Now, I don't know how secret that is,
because everybody has one, okay?

So, I guess, when Crime Scene Services
was detailing all the stuff

that was in here,

according to them, they didn't look here.

The phone issue was this.

Understand how it works.

The vehicle come in
to the garage at homicide.

Other than taking pictures,
nobody is allowed near it.

[shutter clicking]

That car was never searched.

It was never searched
until after forensics got finished.

And then the phone was found.

Well, the talk was, "Well, the phone
was put there afterwards."

The crime lab people
remember the phone being there.

You talk to the forensic people,
they'll tell you they saw the phone.

They didn't think it was a big deal.
There was a phone in the car.

You know, they do what they have to do,

and then when they're done,
we'll go in, and we'll do our search.

And that's what happened
in Mulligan's car.

No hidden secret.

There's no conspiracy there.

[shutter clicking]

[indistinct chatter]

By the time they find it,
they claim it's wiped clean.

According to them,
the battery had run on it.

Ha! No battery, bummer!
Now we can't figure out who he called.

And that certainly protects
Acerra, Robinson and Brazil.

It keeps their criminal activity
under wraps.

It stops them
from searching for the cell phone,

and it stops them
from searching for anybody

who may have contacted
Detective Mulligan that night.

[somber music playing]

[Scott Keller] In April 2012,

I was working on a homicide case
for attorney Norman Zalkind,

so they wanted me to speak
to this witness called Michelle Hagar,

and her nickname was Misti.

Misti happened to know the victim
in that case,

so that's why I was there talking to her,

and Mulligan happened to be working
on that, uh, same case.

So, I asked Michelle about Mulligan.

She gave me a bombshell.

Said that she'd known him
for four, five years,

and the night of the murder of Mulligan,

two detectives came to her house

and said that her phone number
was the last phone number

that was called
on Detective Mulligan's cell phone.

Seven, this must be it here.

This is it.

Rosemary asked me to interview her again
because she's such an important witness.

We want to keep track of where she's at,

and oftentimes, it's difficult
to keep track of folks like her

because they change addresses,
telephone numbers quite often.

Hey, excuse me.

-Sorry to bother you.
-[woman] Who are you?

I'm Scott Keller.

I'm looking for, uh, Michelle Hagar.

Do you know
if Michelle Hagar still lives here?

You know Misti?

-[woman] No.
-[Scott] No? Okay.

Oh, okay. Okay. Thank you.

[dog barking]

[indistinct chatter over the phone]

Okay.

Yeah, it's a different address. Okay.

Yeah.

Thank you. Bye.

Oh, shoot!

Hi, hi, Michelle.

I'm Scott Keller.

-I worked on the Sean Ellis case?
-Yes.

-Want me to give you a few minutes?
-[Misti] Yes.

[Scott] Okay, great.

-Careful of the cats. Don't let them out.
-Okay, we won't let them out.

Nice to see you again.

-Thank you for letting us in.
-No problem. Please.

So, I would've cleaned more.

[chuckling]

How did you know Mr. Mulligan,
John Mulligan?

-Did you know him as John Mulligan?
-I did. I knew him as Mulligan.

Um, we used to hang out at the corner,
Copley corner.

What type of relationship was that?

Um, he helped me out
with a couple cases I had in South Boston.

Um, we could, what you would say,
maybe have dated for a minute.

He dismissed a couple of cases for you?

[Misti] Yeah, in South Boston,
they were a couple of old cases.

Is that because
you were like, girlfriend, or…?

That's how we were first was meeting,
that was, like, one of our first meetings.

And he actually took me to South Boston
and left me in the car

while he ran in and took care of it

and came out with the papers,
he said, "You're all set."

So, that's originally how I knew him,
and I was barely of age. [chuckles]

I was just a young punk,
a kid, you know.

I don't think I was 18 yet.

-Maybe, but barely. [chuckles]
-[Scott] Yeah.

Back then, when he drove around
in his little red Corvette

and intimidated everybody. [chuckles]

-[Scott] He intimidated?
-He did.

Like, people feared him.

I wasn't really in fear of him
because he was helping me,

so I wasn't really in fear of him,

but you'd still run
when they pulled up and stuff.

-Would you hang out with him or…?
-[Misti] We have, yes.

-Yeah?
-[Misti] Yes.

What would that entail?

Riding around, being crazy
in his beautiful car or his truck.

He had a nice truck too.

Um, it was just like being a badass.

I hate to say it, but when you're young,
and you know a detective,

it's like, "Oh, wow!"

-He would call you late at night?
-[Misti] Yeah.

What was that for?

Usually, I would get some money from him
for my drugs or whatever. [chuckles]

-[Scott] He gave you money?
-Yeah.

-He has given me money.
-[Scott] Was that exchanged for something?

Yeah. Usually…

-[Scott] You can say.
-Yeah.

-Usually sex involved, sometimes.
-[Scott] Mm-hm.

Mulligan would give her a call

when he was doing an overnight shift
at the Walgreens,

and he would ask if she had a minute.

And that meant go down
to the Walgreens parking lot in his truck,

and she'd perform, uh, oral sex.

She told me she would give him a blow job.

And, um…

she told me that he was very violent
when she was performing sex on him.

He used to pull her hair,

and he actually made her mouth bleed
on at least one occasion.

That's how violent he was.

-And did Mulligan ever give you drugs?
-[Misti] He has.

-[Scott] Cocaine mostly or…?
-Yeah. Mostly cocaine.

Crack cocaine.

[Scott] Okay.

When you heard about the Mulligan murder,
what'd you think about it?

I was kind of a little relieved
in a way… [chuckles]

…because, you know,
he had a lot of people scared,

and he had, you know, he has--
People were scared of him,

and it was ridiculous
because he wasn't that scary,

and he wasn't that tough, you know, but--

[Scott]
Were you surprised that he was murdered?

I wasn't surprised he was murdered.

He wasn't--
Like I said, he wasn't very liked.

And somebody always thought
he was setting them up,

or he did a lot
of, like, turning people in,

like, if you tell him this,
he'll, you know, give you this.

I didn't do any of the ratting,
but he was that type of cop

who got people to rat on other people,

-which-- Nobody likes a snitch.
-[Scott] Mm-hm.

No one likes a snitch. [chuckles]

So, on the night of the,
uh, Mulligan murder,

uh, did you receive a cell phone call
from John Mulligan?

Yeah.

And did the police tell you
that was the last phone call

made from his cell phone?

-Made from the cell phone, yes.
-Mm-hm.

Yes, that's what I was told.

That's why they were questioning you
about Mulligan?

Yeah, I was almost like a suspect.

In fact, I think I was. [chuckles]

Um…

But… Yeah. It's…

When you received that phone call
from Mulligan, what did he want?

Probably… probably sex or something.

-[Scott] Yeah?
-Yeah.

So, that night, you told Mulligan

that you were in the middle
of cooking coke,

but you would send Bunny down.

Yeah.

Bunny was a Black female that allegedly
had serviced Mulligan in the past.

So, Mulligan knew that,
and that was fine by him.

So, Michelle said that Bunny went down

with a gentleman
by the name of One-Eyed Mr. C,

who was a maintenance worker
for the Beechland projects.

And apparently he was fed up
with all the blackmail

that Mulligan would, uh,
perform on a lot of the residents,

dealing with drugs and all.

A short time later, Bunny came back,
and she was all out of breath,

and she said, "What's going on?"

And she said, uh,
that while she was servicing Mr. Mulligan,

One-Eyed Mr. C shot Detective Mulligan.

[gun firing]

But you did tell the police everything
that you're telling us right now, right?

[Misti] I did. Absolutely.

-And about Bunny, and One-Eyed Mr. C?
-I told them everything I was telling…

Whatever I told you is what I told them.

[Scott] One-Eyed Mr. C
would've been easier to find back then

because everybody knew him
as One-Eyed Mr. C.

Yeah.

[Scott] Twenty years later, it's a little
difficult to track down somebody…

Of course.
If he's even alive, to be honest with you.

After she told me all this,

I asked Michelle

if she had told the Boston police
what she had told me.

And she said that she had
every time that she was interviewed.

And this again was another bombshell here
because we don't have any audio tape.

We don't have any witness statements,
grand jury statements, nothing.

If they had known this back at the outset,

then… you know, Mr. Ellis
may not have spent any time behind bars.

And it was just literally an act of God

that Scott ended up working on this case,
finding Misti Hagar in that way.

Because if she's telling the truth,
their whole case sort of unravels.

Because the ballistics person
was of the opinion, at least initially,

that Mulligan was shot
from inside the car,

uh, that he had to have known
his assailant.

Then that all went out the window

because everybody knows Mulligan
wouldn't let a Black kid in his car.

This is somebody
who knew Detective Mulligan.

This is somebody who was
either ripped off by Detective Mulligan,

or somebody who was very angry
at Detective Mulligan,

and that wasn't Sean Ellis buying diapers.

[dramatic music playing]

[gun firing]

[theme dramatic music playing]