Trial 4 (2020): Season 1, Episode 7 - Black-Irish - full transcript
[somber music playing]
1993, I was working at Walgreens.
About three o'clock,
I punched out for a break.
I went out. I went outside.
I walked past Officer Mulligan's car.
I went for coffee down at Dunkin' Donuts.
Came back from coffee.
I put the coffee down.
I knocked on the window.
I seen the blood on his face.
I ran inside the store.
Got my manager. He called the police.
[robotic voice] 3:49 and 50 seconds.
[dispatcher] Boston Police 281.
[Stephan Bannister] Yes, sir. This is
Walgreens Roslindale. It's an emergency.
[police siren blaring]
The adrenaline's running
through your body.
[indistinct chatter over radio]
You really can't think.
Feels like you're waiting forever.
I was hoping that he was still alive.
Like, reliving that night
over and over again.
Put the coffee on the hood,
and I tap on the window,
see if I can wake him up…
and he's got blood on his face,
and I run inside.
I still have nightmares about it.
[gun firing]
According to the Commonwealth, the way
that they say this murder took place,
their theory was
that Sean was able to shoot Mulligan
one, two, three, four times, um,
outside the car in the head area
and once up his nose.
In a window
that's only open maybe this much,
you would have to put your hand inside
and your hand would have to go
all the way around like that
to be able to inflict these wounds
on Mulligan's head.
But then, you'd have to almost be
a cartoon character
to be able to then move your hand
in a way
that you could get a shot… up the nose.
It's almost impossible to do
from outside the car.
[dramatic theme music playing]
Okay, so, uh, Detective Mulligan
was shot in a vehicle similar to this.
Okay.
This is not an expert re-creation,
but to give an idea.
What we want to do is go through and
put the seat back the way it was found.
-Mm-hm.
-And we have some pictures over here.
Can't adjust it from the outside.
We're gonna have to get inside to do that,
and take a look at these photos here.
You see how this one is leaning,
the one on the right is leaning back?
[director] Yep.
[Scott] So, if you could move that back.
This Mass State police report shows
that the window was open
approximately three and a quarter inches.
-So, yeah, so, if you can jump inside.
-Okay.
[car door opens]
Okay,
my guess is we got to come up slowly.
A little bit more.
Just a tad.
-That's it. Perfect.
-[director] Okay, cool.
-Is it his left arm behind his head?
-[Scott] Left arm behind his head.
-Like that.
-[director] Okay.
-Okay.
-Let's see.
That's probably as close as I can get it.
That looks great.
-[director] Cool.
-Okay.
So, in this state police report,
the conclusion is…
that it appeared someone reaching in
would have reached in with their left hand
to accomplish the task.
-Okay.
-That's what we're gonna do.
Okay.
Was our supposed shooter left-handed?
-Yes, but Sean's right-handed.
-Okay.
You want to try it
with your left hand on it?
Yeah, I'll give it a shot.
I mean, it's just as awkward
as the right-handed one.
So, as far as that one,
you can't really get an upward angle.
You can see the gun is almost parallel.
[director]
I can still get the three closest ones.
[Scott] Mm-hm.
-We're still missing two.
-[director] Yeah.
Can't get the other two.
[Rosemary]
To have the pattern on the victim's face
is just not consistent
with any of the evidence.
When a bullet enters a body--
And I'm not a pathologist,
but I've heard a lot of them testify.
It leaves a track [stammers]
of how it entered the body.
Um, and so, how could you get
these shots way over here and up the nose
from outside of the car?
It's not gonna happen.
The path isn't going to be consistent
with someone standing outside of the car.
Why would they need
to put five bullet wounds in his face,
one of them being up his nose?
Why would they need to do that?
[kids chattering]
[rap music playing]
Everything is everything.
[rap music continues]
All right.
[Sean] This is our first house.
It's a huge accomplishment for my family.
My family's kind of scattered,
like, so to speak.
Doing our own thing.
Um…
But so, I always thought about,
you know, getting out
and just having a big family meeting
and just trying
to repair broken relationships
or just whatever it is
and just bringing everybody together
like how we used to be when I was younger.
My mom and my sister
will be on the first floor.
On the second floor will be me.
Me and my family on the second floor.
We're all happy and excited
to, you know, be together
all in one household.
You know, soon. Soon.
This is [chuckles] the room
that I've been staying in, obviously,
um, but it's the biggest room
that I've had in my life, really.
It actually is.
When I was in prison,
you know, I could touch the wall here
and spread my arms
and just about touch
the other side of the cell.
There was something in the newspaper
about the current District Attorney
not seeking re-election in the fall.
So, someone who is not attached to it,
you know, the corruption and all,
I think they will be able
to look at it in a new light
once they're re-elected.
The thing about Dan Conley, the DA now,
is before he leaves office,
he can make the decision
not to push forward with a fourth trial
and drop the case altogether.
I just continue to pray
that he does the right thing
and drops the case.
[reporter 1] District Attorney
Dan Conley says
he won't run for re-election in November.
Conley served as DA since 2002.
[reporter 2] After 16 years
as Suffolk County's District Attorney,
Dan Conley is calling it quits.
Conley says he will not seek re-election,
leaving the door open
for what some political watchers believe
will be a significant pool of candidates
competing in the first open DA election
in Boston in more than a decade.
[Rosemary] I think that many people
who are running understand Sean's plight
and understand that--
that something needed to happen
as far as his case is concerned.
And, for whatever reason,
Dan Conley dug his heels in forever
and was never willing to even sit down
and have a conversation about this case.
And I thought, at a minimum,
whoever gets in
is going to have a conversation with me
because I'm going to make them
have a conversation with me,
and try to understand what happened here.
[gun firing]
[Irish music playing]
[announcer] Welcome to the South Boston
St. Patrick's Day Evacuation Day Parade!
Let's give a big round for Southie!
[Rosemary] It's very rare
that things change politically.
Can they? Yes.
Will they? Who knows?
I still think it's an old boys' network.
I still think it's politically motivated.
I still think it's controlled
essentially by, um, white male
Irish Catholic members.
[cheering]
The minority population is growing,
but it doesn't have the same pull
that the, you know, old boys' network has.
And I think Boston's always going to be
the old boys' network.
We have a-- a white DA.
We have a white commissioner.
Um, you know, we have a white mayor.
Um…
and we have Sean, who happens to be Black.
We have a white police officer.
We got a lot of issues
that we have to cover,
and when people like the DA, Dan Conley,
makes statements saying, you know,
"We're confident that he's guilty."
"We're confident
we're going to get a conviction,"
they're intended to poison the jury pool.
Today, what I hope to accomplish is
for you and I to sort of
walk through the crime scene,
uh, with all of the witnesses
and what they say.
But I want to give you an overview first
of what I think the evidence shows,
then you and I can put it on the map,
so we can give
that visual picture to the jury
of why these people
are telling inconsistent stories.
-Okay?
-Okay.
Generally, I'll build a timeline
in the very beginning
to say,
"Okay, this is when the 911 call came in."
"This is when the conviction happened."
And so, then,
you start to pull apart their evidence.
So, of course, you look at their strongest
witnesses and start to investigate them.
What did they say?
How did they say it? Why did they say it?
What was their motivation
for coming forward?
'Cause motivation and bias in a witness,
I think, is the most important thing
when you're cross-examining them.
This is the Commonwealth's theory,
and their theory was based
in a big part on their timeline.
At 3:01 a.m.,
we know you purchased diapers.
At 3:05 a.m., Rosa Sanchez says
she saw a Black man
crouched next to Mulligan's Explorer,
who she later identifies as being you.
She then enters the Walgreens to buy soap.
At 3:15, at the intersection
next to the Walgreens,
Adolpho DeSalvo sees a small brown car
speed through a red light.
At 3:25 a.m.,
Rosa Sanchez exits the Walgreens
and sees the same guy she saw crouching
now standing by the pay phones
with another Black man,
and she leaves.
At 3:30, Victor Brown says
a brown-colored VW Rabbit
parked next to his house,
and then he saw two Black men getting out
and going up the footpath
and turning right
into the direction of the Walgreens.
At 3:30, it would have been impossible
for that person to be the same person
Rosa Sanchez saw on the phone at 3:25.
Victor Brown changes his timeline.
Police telephone Brown
and ask him if his household clocks
have been set ahead,
which is total bullshit.
Brown suddenly remembers
that his bedroom clock
is set ahead ten minutes,
and he adjusts the arrival time
for the two men to 3:20 exactly.
It doesn't fit.
And then, the next one
I want to probably do is Garcia's wife.
[Rosemary speaking indistinctly]
[soft music playing]
They all have to keep
changing their timelines
to make the story fit
the way that they want it to fit.
And the one
they're trying to center it around
is Rosa Sanchez 'cause she's the one
who says she makes the ID.
And then, I also have timelines
for how they developed the guns.
I have timelines for Letia Walker.
I have timelines
for the Celine and Tracy murders
and what happened there,
and then for your uncle.
We're going to see
how Acerra, Brazil, and Robinson
are involved in the morphing of it,
of all of the times.
That's important to show the jury.
They're the ones who had the motive
to make sure this case was closed
as quickly as it was.
Wow.
Right.
And see that "wow"?
That's where I want the jury.
I want the jury at that "wow."
I want our jury at, you know,
"They really screwed this kid."
That's where I want them.
How can you ever say
convicting Sean Ellis is justice?
How can you ever say that,
knowing everything that you know?
They don't want justice. They want
a conviction. They want to be right
because if they get another conviction,
all of this doesn't matter.
They weren't really wrong.
Everything that Acerra, Robinson,
and Brazil did doesn't matter.
That's why they're so convinced
that they want to get another conviction
against Sean,
and my suggestion is: go ahead.
I dare you.
I dare you to do it
because I'm confident
that if a jury understands
the entire picture of what happened here,
um, that they're not going to get
the conviction they're looking for.
[melancholy music playing]
[Rivers] I live in the city of Boston.
I came into what was then
the most violent neighborhood in the city,
Four Corners,
in North Dorchester, Black Dorchester.
The conviction of my wife and I
is that,
when we left Harvard,
we were coming to serve the poor.
In other words…
our faith could never just be talk.
We put our lives on the line.
We put our children's lives on the line.
[police siren blaring]
1988, which is…
The crack epidemic
is just taking off, right?
Really big.
Um, I get involved with the young people.
I learn about what's going on.
There were Boston police officers
who routinely robbed these juveniles,
who are not angels.
So, let's-- let's-- let's be clear, right?
So, we got two criminals.
You have the kids that are selling drugs,
and you have the cops
that robbed the kids selling drugs.
And so, you got Detective Mulligan.
I'll tell you what the police told me.
Mulligan's dirt caught up with him.
What I heard from officers,
who would not be quoted, obviously, right?
Mulligan was a dirty dude.
He was just dirty.
On the street--
I'm not a cop,
you know, right, I hear about Mulligan.
This guy is a known criminal
to the Boston Police Department,
and this…
And there's not been
any public transparent disclosure
of all the stuff that we know.
You know, based on some racial solidarity
and police thing.
This is a white-Black thing.
It is a race thing.
[military music playing]
[yelling]
[yelling]
[firing]
[firing]
I think the thing that happened in Boston,
we were talking about
the Revolutionary War, so the Brits come.
They get in a fight with the Brits,
and the Yanks beat them up.
And so, the Irish come.
They fight the Yanks,
and they take over
all kinds of institutions in the city.
They take over the police.
They take over the T, right?
Uh, the transportation system, right?
They take over state government
and the City Hospital.
They take over the city government.
They just controlled everything.
They control all the jobs,
and they're fighters.
The Irish love to fight, right?
And they need somebody to hate, right?
To really get this thing going, right?
So, you always got the Blacks,
and we're an inexhaustible resource.
[chuckles] Right?
So, to their credit,
in fighting the Yankees,
they build a political--
The whole Kennedy story.
All of that, right?
To their credit,
uh, the Blacks,
Blacks don't have, in this city,
the organizational infrastructure
to engage in power aggregation.
They don't do that.
The reason that Black people
have not elected a Black mayor
in all this time,
with all these white liberals,
is that Boston is… consists of a bunch
of Afro-Caribbean Blacks,
so they would not close ranks
to elect anybody Black
because they'd be fighting
over which Islander the person was. Right?
I said, in that context,
all you're going to do is be defeated.
[speaker 1]
For the sake of this community,
vote for Rollins! Here we go.
[speaker 2, chanting]
When you want change, we vote Shannon.
Vote Shannon! Vote Shannon!
If you're wondering about the noise
we're making, tonight is the debate
for the folks
that are running for District Attorney…
It seems like a lot of new energy
to a DA's race. What's changed?
What's changed? I think what's changed
is the fact of the matter
is a lot's at stake.
We have people of color
that are running for this race right now.
Shannon! All right! All right! All right!
Yeah, make some noise, people!
[moderator] Give them
a round of applause for showing up.
[audience clapping]
[Carol Rose] The District Attorney chooses
whether or not
to charge someone with a crime
and which crimes to prosecute.
That's extraordinary power
in the hands of these elected officials,
and for too long,
our criminal legal system has been broken.
It's been plagued by mass incarceration,
gross racial bias,
little transparency,
and little accountability.
So now,
for the first time in over 15 years,
the race
for Suffolk County District Attorney
is finally hotly competitive.
That's great.
[audience clapping, cheering]
My name's Greg Henning.
I'm a prosecutor
in the District Attorney's Office.
I'm running to become District Attorney
because I have a vision
for Suffolk County
as a safe and vibrant community
for everybody that lives in the county,
no matter where they live
because this is an important job.
Keeping the community safe
and ensuring that the criminal
justice system is applied fairly
is essential to the role
of the next District Attorney.
Good evening, I'm Shannon McAuliffe,
and I'm here to say that, make no mistake,
this is a moment in time
in which we have a great opportunity,
an opportunity to reverse
the policies of the past 40 years
of DA offices led by Newman Flanagan,
Ralph Martin, and Dan Conley.
It is clear that an experienced prosecutor
is not the answer to our problems.
I'm Rachael Rollins, and I'm running
because I have literally
seen the criminal justice system
from every single angle.
In my 21 years as a lawyer,
I've been a prosecutor for seven,
I've been a criminal defense attorney,
and I have also sat in the same courtroom
that I prosecuted people in
and watched my younger brother
get sentenced and sent away.
We can change, together,
the criminal justice system.
Next question to Greg Henning.
As an assistant district attorney,
you are familiar
with the tactics prosecutors use
to make reluctant witnesses
provide testimony in an investigation.
Have you personally
ever used these tactics
to leverage witness cooperation?
Absolutely not. I would never threaten
and have never threatened
and would instruct my prosecutors
to never threaten anybody
about DCF involvement
or anything having to do with childcare.
That's inappropriate. I haven't done it,
and people should not do that.
[Rachael Rollins] I'm still torn
on an answer that we just had
because a nuance
of the word "threaten" or not,
when you are requiring somebody
to testify,
and there's a subpoena,
and they have children,
and their children are possibly
going to be removed from their home,
you don't have to use the word,
"I'm threatening you."
The behavior is threatening already.
[audience clapping]
Did you see, um, the prosecutor's e-mail?
Yeah, I did.
Now, he's saying, basically,
that if there is reward money
that was given to anybody in Sean's case,
that it would've been done through the
union, the Boston Police Detectives union.
And is he saying
he doesn't have access to that?
He seems to be saying he doesn't,
that it would be quicker
if we got a court order.
Let me look at the e-mail again.
Do you have it?
-I didn't bring it down.
-Let me see.
So, "Hi, Rose. I've looked
into the payments of reward money,
and it appears that the Boston Police
Detectives Benevolent Society
may have been the entity
that put up and paid reward money."
-[Jillise] Mm-hm.
-So, somebody was paid.
"In the meantime,
I suggest you file a rule 17 subpoena
on the Boston Police Benevolent Society,
and I'll continue to follow up with them."
"This may be the quickest way to ascertain
whether there is any documentation
of the reward money
and to get such documentation to us."
So, is he saying that nobody
documented a reward in a cop-killing case?
-[Jillise] That's what it sounds like.
-What if Rosa Sanchez got reward money?
Wouldn't that have been exculpatory
to Sean?
[Jillise] Absolutely.
[Rosemary] It's clear that those payments
should have been disclosed,
and they weren't,
Even if they don't pay them until
after the trial, which very often happens,
they still have an ongoing duty
to disclose.
And they should have told us
that there was a promise to pay.
[car honking]
[Greg] What's next?
-This street. Finish these houses.
-[Greg] Okay.
How are you? My name's Greg Henning.
I'm running for District Attorney.
-Who's the doggy? Friendly?
-[woman] Stop.
My name's Greg Henning.
I'm running for District Attorney.
-You know what I'm doing.
-Yes, sir.
-I'm knocking on doors for it.
-You 100% have my vote.
And I'm running for DA.
The DA's office now has a guy
who's not going to be running
for re-election, Dan Conley.
I'm hoping to get your vote.
Do you have any questions for me?
No, I think my union's behind you.
-Okay, I won't ask just so you…
-Firefighters.
Gotcha, firefighters' union endorsed me,
and I hope to get your support tomorrow.
Thank you very much.
[Dan Conley] Greg Henning is head
and shoulders above the rest of the field.
He's the most educated,
the most intelligent, quite frankly,
the most, uh, experienced prosecutor
in the field.
He brings a whole
multi-dimensional package to the race.
[Phillip Martin]
I think if Greg Henning is elected,
you continue the legacy of Dan Conley.
What is interesting, of course,
is Greg Henning, being considered
the more conservative of these candidates,
many people believe
that he could win this race
simply by virtue of the fact
that he has a position
that a lot of people in Boston
still maintain.
A law and order position,
and relying on the communities
of working-class white community,
uh, and some conservative people of color.
[mellow music playing]
[Rahsaan Hall]
These debates, these forums,
these conversations
about District Attorney are so important
because we're really trying
to change the role of District Attorney.
It's one of the most powerful positions
within the criminal legal system.
The whole narrative around public safety
is rooted in these historical ideas
of, uh, racialized notions
of who is dangerous
and who needs to be kept safe
and from whom.
And I think when people
actually go into the courtrooms
and see who is sitting on the bench
and advocating for the Commonwealth
and defending the accused
and ushering in people
and handling the papers
and making the life-altering decisions,
typically, disproportionately,
they're all white.
And again, that's the spirit
behind what we're trying to do
with this campaign is raise awareness
because it's one thing
to talk about mass incarceration,
and the gross racial disparities
that exist,
but it's another thing
to see it play out,
to walk into court and see everybody
in positions of power who are white
and then everybody else
being Black or brown.
Before we launched
our What A Difference A DA Makes campaign,
we did some polling,
and we found out
that four in ten Massachusetts voters
did not know that the District Attorney
was an elected official.
The fact that you all are here tonight,
the fact that there have been
so many of these forums,
a round of applause to the candidates
who have been going to a forum
every other night.
[clapping]
If you don't want to wait
to fight mass incarceration,
to fight families being ripped apart,
and to fight the opioid crisis,
I am your candidate.
We need a District Attorney who's not only
going to be able to know the mission
and the work of Public Safety,
but also know that there are systems
that we need to put in place
in order to give people a second chance.
[Rachael]
We deserve a criminal justice system
where your wealth and your race
don't dictate your outcome
in the system at all,
and finally,
where the Suffolk County DA's office
represents the rich diversity
that we see in this room,
and it most certainly does not right now.
[indistinct chatter]
Hey, guys. How are you?
-What time you get here, Mom? How are you?
-I got here about 4:30.
Did you hit any traffic?
Yeah, but only because
of the Federal Express.
[Rosemary] I need a glass of wine.
What do we have open?
It's not cold, so…
[Rosemary] This is a goblet of wine.
This isn't a glass.
Where'd you get these glasses, Kath?
I got it, Mom. I got it.
-Let's put the covers back on.
-[sister 1] Anybody need water? It's here.
[sister 2] Thank you.
Anybody else for salad?
Not right now, thanks.
How is Sean doing?
He's doing great.
I just talked to him the other day.
He just seems like
such a really gentle person, you know?
-It's not bullshit. It's real genuine.
-Oh, my God, I know.
-They took these kids' lives from them.
-They did.
-Time to pay the price.
-They did.
They stole his life.
-They knew these kids didn't do it.
-[Rosemary] I agree, Mom.
And they put them in jail
knowing that they weren't responsible.
So, that's a crime on them.
That's like the worst crime
'cause they have all the power.
-Yeah.
-But why aren't they held responsible?
If you did that, they'd have you in jail.
They would.
They'd call it obstruction of justice.
-When it's the Commonwealth, they don't.
-Why isn't it with them?
-It isn't. It's a really good question.
-Mom's getting mad.
[laughing]
-Watch out.
-[sister 2] Betty-Lou's mad.
-[sister 1] I've been there… Mom.
-[sister 2] You're too much.
Look at all the cases
I've been involved in.
Do you think that I just represent
the only innocent people? No!
There's a bunch
of criminal defense attorneys
working just as hard as me out there,
trying to gather this evidence,
but it just takes years
to get to where we are with Sean's case.
-Because of how it's set up.
-It doesn't have to be that way.
It should be a lot quicker.
[somber music playing]
So, he gave us a notice of discovery
for the Sanchez reports,
-but there's no CD for it.
-[Rosemary] Isn't there a "Discovery 10"?
-Is there a CD, "Discovery 10"?
-I don't see it in here.
-[Rosemary] There were three CDs, right?
-Yeah, one is the crackhead.
One is the Nancy Hurley interview.
And one is the trial transcripts.
-[Rosemary] That's it?
-Yeah.
[Rosemary] How many pages? 115 pages.
"Rosa and Ivan Sanchez both got money,
um, as well as Victor Brown."
Um, "Nobody seems to know
where the money came from."
"As a result of his involvement
in the investigation,
I sent a text to Sanchez
asking him to contact me
about whether or not
he received any money,
and if so, how much and from whom."
"I received a response on Monday,
July 30 that stated,
'Hi. Sorry. I've been really busy
and getting out late.'
'I asked Rosa,
and she says we did, but I have a blank.'
'She cannot remember
how much or any details.'"
How is it the police headquarters
has no memory of this?
Who doesn't remember
how much money they got?
Who doesn't remember?
You went to the police station
with a bunch of people,
all to share in the reward money
because you were involved
in the conviction of Sean Ellis,
and you don't remember how much that was?
Well, was it $5 or was it $5,000?
Was it $25,000?
What'd you do with it?
How do you not remember those things?
I have no idea how that happens.
We have a lot of work to do.
That's bullshit.
[wind blowing]
[soft music playing]
Um, every time that I come here,
it's just…
It's for my life.
Every time I come here, it's for my life.
This affects my life.
-Hey, Sean, how are you?
-How are you?
-Good to see you.
-Good to see you.
Thanks for showing up so early.
Appreciate it.
Hi, Sean, how you doing?
[Rosemary] Today, we are gonna
address the court about the trial date.
That's number one.
Originally,
it was in the other session for trial,
but the Commonwealth still wanted
to do some additional testing,
so they're not ready.
We're gonna address
when we're going to try the case.
The second thing is the court ordered
the Comptroller's office
to give us some documents regarding
who they paid money to on this case,
and we got the document from them.
It's two pages, and it doesn't contain
any real information at all.
-Okay?
-Okay.
-Questions?
-Um…
Um, does this include anything
regarding the reward money?
The reward money so far…
What we know about the reward money so far
is what we talked about last time.
That we know Victor Brown was paid $9,000,
and we think that Rosa Sanchez
and Ivan Sanchez were paid 15.
Somebody paid them.
So, so far, the police department
said they didn't pay them,
um, the union said they didn't pay them.
Some Benevolent Society
said they didn't pay them.
Where'd the check come from?
Somebody paid them.
We're trying to figure out
who else could it have been?
So, who'd like to be first?
-[Rosemary] I-- I can do it.
-Yes.
So, since we were last before you,
we were able to determine, um,
that at least one witness, Victor Brown,
got paid $9,000.
He says he went
to the Boston Police Department,
um, and was able
to retrieve that money from them
with some sort of ceremony that happened
at the Boston Police Department.
Based on that, we've been searching,
as the court knows, for months.
We have asked
the Boston Police Department.
We've asked the union.
We've asked the Benevolent Society.
We've asked everyone
that we could think of
that could have supported
that reward money,
and so far, nothing has come up.
This is money, Judge.
This is money on a case that happened…
No, I know, but…
I don't know how they classify things,
so we'll find out.
[Rosemary] Okay.
Thank you, Your Honor.
Thank you, Mr. Clerk.
[somber music playing]
[indistinct chatter]
[clapping]
Sixty-five percent of the population here
at the Suffolk County House of Correction
is Black or brown.
That's in a commonwealth
where the same demographic is 18%.
How do you get 65 out of 18?
And so, having the DA candidates here
to answer these questions
and talk to these folk
about what it is that they would do
when they become District Attorney,
we think is crucially important.
[audience clapping]
How y'all doing?
[Rachael] Good.
If elected,
would you hold police officers accountable
for their actions?
If I'm elected,
I will absolutely hold police accountable.
I've been involved
in investigating and prosecuting
law enforcement officers before,
and part of my job now
is to tell police no,
to tell them when they're making a mistake
and doing it wrong,
and I will absolutely continue
to do that if elected.
So, I have good relationships with police,
but I've also, with the Lawyers Committee
for Civil Rights, as I've said earlier,
um, been a lawyer that filed a lawsuit
against the Boston Police
when they were not acting appropriately.
I have a proven record of doing that,
um, for civil rights violations
or racial discrimination.
I, unlike anyone up here,
uh, have a lived experience
where I'm the oldest of five children.
I visited family members here.
I don't look at you as simply defendants.
I haven't only interacted
with Black and brown people
in a criminal context.
I have seen what happens
when you are incarcerated,
and when you come out,
the struggles you have.
I'm willing to work with you
and fight for you,
and I'm qualified for it.
I'm excited about the change.
Please get involved.
I hope to earn your vote September 4th
and your family members' votes.
Thank you.
[Shannon] We live in a country
where police kill a thousand people a year
for the past ten years.
Um, out of that,
there have been 54 charges total,
and half of those have been dismissed
or people have been found not guilty.
So, we're not doing a very good job
and keeping police officers accountable.
What we need to do in the DA's office
is actually spend money
on holding police officers accountable
and not on a fourth trial
for somebody like Sean Ellis,
that's supposed to be happening
in the fall,
when we know that the police officers
involved in that case
actually have been convicted
in federal court
of, um, doing some things
that were incredibly illegal,
so they need to be held accountable.
[clapping]
[indistinct chatter]
Thank you so much.
[rattling]
[crowd chanting]
Justice! Innocence! Justice!
Justice! Justice!
-[speaker] When do we want it?
-Now!
-[speaker] When do we want it?
-Now!
-When do we want it?
-Now!
-[speaker] What do we want?
-Justice!
-[speaker] What do we want?
-Justice!
Innocence!
Now!
Justice!
Justice!
Now!
Justice!
Justice!
[Rosemary] My theory behind Sean
being involved in the Innocence Project
is it's empowering to him.
Um, he had no power.
He had no ability
to control his own destiny
for more than 22 years.
Um, and so, for him
to take a little bit of that power back,
and I think he wants people
to know that he's innocent
because the Commonwealth claim,
you know, he's guilty.
[indistinct chatter]
They offered Sean a deal
to resolve the case
before the fourth trial
and so, I remember saying to him,
"Listen, you know, I'm the messenger here,
and this is my job."
"I have to tell you
that there's an offer on the table."
"Um, and, you know, they're willing
to give you time served
if you're willing to plead guilty."
I didn't even get the word "guilty" out
when he said, "No, I'm not doing it."
And had I agreed to that,
I would've had to go to court
and say that I was guilty
for the murder of Detective John Mulligan.
I wasn't doing that.
No way in hell I was doing that.
I'm not pleading guilty
to something I didn't do.
You know, it's like,
I'm not the little 19-year-old kid
that was scared,
[stammers] and don't have an idea,
don't have a clue of what's going on.
I'm a grown man
[stammers] with some degree of
understanding about what I'm looking at.
Like, I know now
that the system is corrupt.
I didn't know then.
So, I was naive,
expecting it to work a particular way.
I'm facing a fourth trial
and the possibility
of going back to prison for life.
[reporter] Today the Supreme Judicial
Court overturned the conviction
of Terry L. Patterson,
who was found guilty in 1995
of first-degree murder
in the execution-style slaying
of Boston police detective John Mulligan.
The prints were deemed inadmissible today
by the state's highest court,
but fingerprints found
on Detective Mulligan's SUV
were the key evidence
that put Patterson away for life.
None of Terry Patterson's prints,
individually,
actually matched the prints on the car.
You had to sort of overlay the prints
to get a match.
Then, his lawyer appeals.
That went all the way up to the Supreme
Judicial Court in Massachusetts.
They reversed Patterson's conviction
and said it's not accepted
in the scientific community.
There's not enough research
that suggests it's true.
[reporter] Suffolk County
District Attorney Dan Conley
has decided
not to retry the Patterson case,
opting instead for accepting a guilty plea
of manslaughter and time served.
Patterson named Ellis as the killer,
and Conley says he's convinced of it
and will endeavor to make sure
Ellis remains behind bars
for the remainder of his life.
And what it felt like, I was pissed off,
um… and I still am… um…
but [stammers] it's like, what do you do?
What do you do?
In order for Patterson
not to go to trial again,
they made Patterson agree
to a set statement of facts
where Sean was the shooter.
That's what his plea transcript said.
He would have said, you know,
Jesus Christ himself did it
if it meant
he didn't have to go back to jail.
[police siren blaring]
All right, so let me try
to find that, uh, that ballistics thing.
That'll be important for this afternoon.
I expect that they're gonna ask
for a continuance on the trial date.
I don't know, realistically,
if we can be ready for a trial.
But then again,
I don't know who the DA is going to be.
If Shannon gets in,
I don't think we'll try this case.
Uh, if Greg Henning gets in,
I think we will.
And I don't really know
where many of the other candidates stand
on a case like this.
Um, I can't really ask them.
That's inappropriate.
[Jillise] It's probably going to be
either Greg or Shannon.
Yeah, I mean…
Yeah, I don't know who it will be,
but I think
that's going to make a difference
in terms of whether
this is gonna go to trial or not.
The thing that sort of shocks me
is that it's been on for trial,
three different times,
and they haven't interviewed
any witnesses.
So, what do they know that we don't know,
in terms of going forward on this case?
Are they just burying us in stuff?
[police siren blaring]
Good afternoon, Your Honor.
Assistant District Attorney Edmond Zabin
on behalf of the community.
I guess the only thing
that I can say generally
is that I don't have any information
that any payments were made
by the Suffolk County
District Attorney's Office to anyone.
I don't have any information.
I don't have any reason to think
there were payments made to any witnesses.
I've not heard that from witnesses
other than the reward money piece,
which I referenced earlier.
The Commonwealth said they had no reason
to believe that anyone was paid any money.
Of the information we got
from the Comptroller,
which was attached to my original motion,
um, what they said,
according to their records,
is that they paid out,
at one point, uh, $83,590.49,
for something
they call procuring evidence.
Somebody has to have the documentation,
even for this limited information
we have from the Comptroller's office,
but it seems like an awful lot of money
to not know where it went,
and how it was spent.
-That's all I'm saying.
-Okay, so we're going to try to find out.
But you're right. It could be anything.
That's part of the problem.
The fact that it could be anything
is not satisfactory to the court,
obviously not satisfactory to the defense,
so we need to do some more work.
Understood.
As we're preparing for the fourth trial,
there's still stuff.
There's still discovery
that we have to fight for.
And the tragedy is
that we're still fighting for discovery
that we should have had
in the damn 1993, 1994, 1995.
It actually means
that not just the police,
but the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,
the District Attorney's Office,
has taken a position that, you know,
"We're not disclosing anything to you
that's gonna help prove your innocence."
My brother, what's up, baby? What do?
[chuckles]
What's happening, man?
What do?
[indistinct chatter]
[Scott] Let us pray.
Father, we thank you for creating this day
and allowing us to be in it.
We ask you to bless this meeting,
and that you bless the work
that comes out of it
as you bless all of your workers.
All of this, we pray
in your most precious and holy name. Amen.
[all] Amen.
You come highly recommended.
I was the first clergyman
to endorse your predecessor,
right,
when Dan Conley ran.
I know he's very busy,
but, uh, he never quite made it out here.
Yep.
And if you are our next District Attorney,
we would love to have that conversation.
-[crowd laughs]
-[Rivers] Right.
Find some wood.
[crowd laughs]
[Rivers] Right, right.
Oh, my gosh.
Victoria, you're a cookie puss.
Put this back right now,
and you need to eat some fruit
and not eat Fritos and chips.
I'm going up against a machine
with Greg Henning.
[man] Yep.
[Rachael]
Everyone predicted he's gonna win,
and I think we have just amazing momentum
right now, so…
I just hope it translates
into those fricking white pockets of…
[Rachael] Agreed.
But…
I-- I don't know, I mean,
you could win by 20 points.
You could lose by ten.
I have no idea. Right?
We'll see what ends up happening.
Vote!
I'm serious.
Both of you. This is what I look like
with my hair done.
That's me.
[honking]
Yes! Whoo!
[honking]
[chanting] Shannon! Shannon! Shannon!
[Shannon] I can't believe you made it!
[clapping]
I want to say,
as your next District Attorney,
that I understand
that our complicated history of slavery
directly contributes
to the system that we have today.
It directly contributes
to mass incarceration.
It directly contributes
to the racial disparity we have,
and contributes to who is charged
and whose crimes are solved.
[clapping]
[Phillip Martin] Dan Conley endorsed you.
How's that endorsement working?
You seem to be very strong
among police officers and firemen.
Recap that for me.
[Greg] The District Attorney endorsing me
I think was important
because it's a signal to voters,
not just the groups you're talking about,
but anybody in the county
that I'm ready to do the job on day one.
Mr. Henning has received
over $50,000 from police officers.
So, we need to ask ourselves,
why are police officers
supporting this candidate?
Is it because they're invested
in keeping the status quo?
Is it because they want cover?
That is something
that should concern all of us.
[clapping]
At what point was the public having to try
and get along with the police
when a cop shot Antwon Rose
in the back?
-I don't think I understood your question.
-[Rachael] I do.
[crowd chuckling and murmuring]
First and foremost,
there's nothing tongue-in-cheek
about this.
Black people are dying
every day in the streets.
We're turning on the TV.
That's why I'm running.
Is because this isn't funny.
It's not a joke.
There are people…
who have lost their lives…
because of systemic problems,
and when I hear people joking around
about this,
it disgusts me.
So, here's what I'll say to you.
I have sued the Boston Police for
race discrimination, not once but twice.
I've said to police officers
that look very much
like that man right there,
"If you are not racist,
if you are following the law,
we will have
a wonderful relationship together."
"But if you have racist Facebook pages,
if you are discharging your weapon
in an incident
that requires no such behavior,
you will be held accountable by me."
[clapping, cheering]
[melancholy music playing]
[indistinct chatter]
-Good luck.
-I would love to have your vote.
Thank you.
Hi! I'm Rachael Rollins.
I voted for you today!
I hope you win.
-[man] Thank you.
-Thank you very much.
[Shar'day] You're gonna give
your name and your address,
and they're gonna check you off,
and they're gonna give you your papers,
and then you get to go off in secrecy,
[chuckles]
so that you can do your voting.
[Sean] Mm-hm.
-[Shar'day] Our scene.
-Wow, that's a long line.
[Shar'day] Yeah.
[soft piano playing]
[Sean]
I wrote, "For the first time in my life,
after 21 years, seven months and 29 days
of a wrongful conviction…
I voted."
"A right that was taken away from me
throughout the unjust imprisonment."
"#LookAtMeNow,
#StopWrongfulConvictions."
It's emotional.
I was deprived of this, you know.
I was deprived from being able to do this.
[chanting] Rachael! Rachael! Rachael!
[crowd cheering]
[shutter clicking]
[clapping]
[screaming]
[crowd chanting]
Show me what democracy looks like!
This is what democracy looks like!
[cheering]
We are starting a movement right now.
[cheering]
In the place where our nation was started.
Yeah!
The daughter
of an Irish man and a Black woman…
-[man] Yes! Whoo!
-[woman] All right!
[cheering, whooping]
…is about to change
the criminal justice system.
[whooping]
We didn't have the incumbent behind us,
we didn't have the mayor behind us…
[woman] Yeah!
…but we had the people behind us…
[all] Yeah!
…and we are going to change this system
from the inside out.
-I… You… Listen!
-[cheering]
I give you my word.
Yeah!
Everything I do, I do hard.
I'm a Black woman. I have to.
[woman] Yeah, Rachael!
[whooping]
I do this for all the little brown girls,
and all the girls out there
who don't believe they can be something.
You can be anything you want.
[chanting] Rachael! Rachael!
Rachael! Rachael! Rachael!
I'm the product
of a second-generation Irishman,
Vietnam veteran.
My mother's first-generation
from Barbados.
This is the new Black Irish.
Get used to it.
We're gonna change Boston.
This is what the new face of Boston
looks like.
We made history back on September 4th,
and again today.
[reporter] Rachael Rollins
defeated four other candidates
in the Democratic primary.
She has now won
the November general election
with a landslide victory
with 80% of the vote.
Thank you so much!
[Phillip] This is an historic moment
as Rollins will become
the first woman of color
to ascend to the office
of District Attorney in Massachusetts.
Starting tomorrow,
you're gonna be dealing
with one of the biggest cases and jobs
that's going to be thrown at you
for a long time, that of Sean Ellis.
Um, what are your thoughts on the issue?
I know you--
I'm aware of the Sean Ellis case.
Technically, I start January 2nd.
If it is still on my desk, on the desk,
when I arrive January 2nd,
we'll be looking at it very hard.
How much do you think
this may be a priority?
I believe we're always
going to make it a priority
when somebody has been tried
and retried and retried and retried.
What went wrong in the first instance?
If the SJC has ruled on something,
or there have been procedural violations
of some sort.
I'm going to have to look at those things
and get a clean, fresh set of eyes on 'em.
-Thank you and congratulations.
-Thank you so much, my dear.
-Bye.
-Take care.
-Be well. Have fun tonight.
-[Rachael] Thank you. Bye.
[speaking indistinctly]
Rachael Rollins, she has the authority.
The authority ultimately rests with her,
not with the Boston Police Department.
So, if she looks at this case
and evaluates it and says it stinks,
and it stinks so bad
that we can't in good faith
continue to prosecute it,
she has the authority
to nolle pros it, to dismiss it.
[police siren blaring]
[dramatic theme music playing]
1993, I was working at Walgreens.
About three o'clock,
I punched out for a break.
I went out. I went outside.
I walked past Officer Mulligan's car.
I went for coffee down at Dunkin' Donuts.
Came back from coffee.
I put the coffee down.
I knocked on the window.
I seen the blood on his face.
I ran inside the store.
Got my manager. He called the police.
[robotic voice] 3:49 and 50 seconds.
[dispatcher] Boston Police 281.
[Stephan Bannister] Yes, sir. This is
Walgreens Roslindale. It's an emergency.
[police siren blaring]
The adrenaline's running
through your body.
[indistinct chatter over radio]
You really can't think.
Feels like you're waiting forever.
I was hoping that he was still alive.
Like, reliving that night
over and over again.
Put the coffee on the hood,
and I tap on the window,
see if I can wake him up…
and he's got blood on his face,
and I run inside.
I still have nightmares about it.
[gun firing]
According to the Commonwealth, the way
that they say this murder took place,
their theory was
that Sean was able to shoot Mulligan
one, two, three, four times, um,
outside the car in the head area
and once up his nose.
In a window
that's only open maybe this much,
you would have to put your hand inside
and your hand would have to go
all the way around like that
to be able to inflict these wounds
on Mulligan's head.
But then, you'd have to almost be
a cartoon character
to be able to then move your hand
in a way
that you could get a shot… up the nose.
It's almost impossible to do
from outside the car.
[dramatic theme music playing]
Okay, so, uh, Detective Mulligan
was shot in a vehicle similar to this.
Okay.
This is not an expert re-creation,
but to give an idea.
What we want to do is go through and
put the seat back the way it was found.
-Mm-hm.
-And we have some pictures over here.
Can't adjust it from the outside.
We're gonna have to get inside to do that,
and take a look at these photos here.
You see how this one is leaning,
the one on the right is leaning back?
[director] Yep.
[Scott] So, if you could move that back.
This Mass State police report shows
that the window was open
approximately three and a quarter inches.
-So, yeah, so, if you can jump inside.
-Okay.
[car door opens]
Okay,
my guess is we got to come up slowly.
A little bit more.
Just a tad.
-That's it. Perfect.
-[director] Okay, cool.
-Is it his left arm behind his head?
-[Scott] Left arm behind his head.
-Like that.
-[director] Okay.
-Okay.
-Let's see.
That's probably as close as I can get it.
That looks great.
-[director] Cool.
-Okay.
So, in this state police report,
the conclusion is…
that it appeared someone reaching in
would have reached in with their left hand
to accomplish the task.
-Okay.
-That's what we're gonna do.
Okay.
Was our supposed shooter left-handed?
-Yes, but Sean's right-handed.
-Okay.
You want to try it
with your left hand on it?
Yeah, I'll give it a shot.
I mean, it's just as awkward
as the right-handed one.
So, as far as that one,
you can't really get an upward angle.
You can see the gun is almost parallel.
[director]
I can still get the three closest ones.
[Scott] Mm-hm.
-We're still missing two.
-[director] Yeah.
Can't get the other two.
[Rosemary]
To have the pattern on the victim's face
is just not consistent
with any of the evidence.
When a bullet enters a body--
And I'm not a pathologist,
but I've heard a lot of them testify.
It leaves a track [stammers]
of how it entered the body.
Um, and so, how could you get
these shots way over here and up the nose
from outside of the car?
It's not gonna happen.
The path isn't going to be consistent
with someone standing outside of the car.
Why would they need
to put five bullet wounds in his face,
one of them being up his nose?
Why would they need to do that?
[kids chattering]
[rap music playing]
Everything is everything.
[rap music continues]
All right.
[Sean] This is our first house.
It's a huge accomplishment for my family.
My family's kind of scattered,
like, so to speak.
Doing our own thing.
Um…
But so, I always thought about,
you know, getting out
and just having a big family meeting
and just trying
to repair broken relationships
or just whatever it is
and just bringing everybody together
like how we used to be when I was younger.
My mom and my sister
will be on the first floor.
On the second floor will be me.
Me and my family on the second floor.
We're all happy and excited
to, you know, be together
all in one household.
You know, soon. Soon.
This is [chuckles] the room
that I've been staying in, obviously,
um, but it's the biggest room
that I've had in my life, really.
It actually is.
When I was in prison,
you know, I could touch the wall here
and spread my arms
and just about touch
the other side of the cell.
There was something in the newspaper
about the current District Attorney
not seeking re-election in the fall.
So, someone who is not attached to it,
you know, the corruption and all,
I think they will be able
to look at it in a new light
once they're re-elected.
The thing about Dan Conley, the DA now,
is before he leaves office,
he can make the decision
not to push forward with a fourth trial
and drop the case altogether.
I just continue to pray
that he does the right thing
and drops the case.
[reporter 1] District Attorney
Dan Conley says
he won't run for re-election in November.
Conley served as DA since 2002.
[reporter 2] After 16 years
as Suffolk County's District Attorney,
Dan Conley is calling it quits.
Conley says he will not seek re-election,
leaving the door open
for what some political watchers believe
will be a significant pool of candidates
competing in the first open DA election
in Boston in more than a decade.
[Rosemary] I think that many people
who are running understand Sean's plight
and understand that--
that something needed to happen
as far as his case is concerned.
And, for whatever reason,
Dan Conley dug his heels in forever
and was never willing to even sit down
and have a conversation about this case.
And I thought, at a minimum,
whoever gets in
is going to have a conversation with me
because I'm going to make them
have a conversation with me,
and try to understand what happened here.
[gun firing]
[Irish music playing]
[announcer] Welcome to the South Boston
St. Patrick's Day Evacuation Day Parade!
Let's give a big round for Southie!
[Rosemary] It's very rare
that things change politically.
Can they? Yes.
Will they? Who knows?
I still think it's an old boys' network.
I still think it's politically motivated.
I still think it's controlled
essentially by, um, white male
Irish Catholic members.
[cheering]
The minority population is growing,
but it doesn't have the same pull
that the, you know, old boys' network has.
And I think Boston's always going to be
the old boys' network.
We have a-- a white DA.
We have a white commissioner.
Um, you know, we have a white mayor.
Um…
and we have Sean, who happens to be Black.
We have a white police officer.
We got a lot of issues
that we have to cover,
and when people like the DA, Dan Conley,
makes statements saying, you know,
"We're confident that he's guilty."
"We're confident
we're going to get a conviction,"
they're intended to poison the jury pool.
Today, what I hope to accomplish is
for you and I to sort of
walk through the crime scene,
uh, with all of the witnesses
and what they say.
But I want to give you an overview first
of what I think the evidence shows,
then you and I can put it on the map,
so we can give
that visual picture to the jury
of why these people
are telling inconsistent stories.
-Okay?
-Okay.
Generally, I'll build a timeline
in the very beginning
to say,
"Okay, this is when the 911 call came in."
"This is when the conviction happened."
And so, then,
you start to pull apart their evidence.
So, of course, you look at their strongest
witnesses and start to investigate them.
What did they say?
How did they say it? Why did they say it?
What was their motivation
for coming forward?
'Cause motivation and bias in a witness,
I think, is the most important thing
when you're cross-examining them.
This is the Commonwealth's theory,
and their theory was based
in a big part on their timeline.
At 3:01 a.m.,
we know you purchased diapers.
At 3:05 a.m., Rosa Sanchez says
she saw a Black man
crouched next to Mulligan's Explorer,
who she later identifies as being you.
She then enters the Walgreens to buy soap.
At 3:15, at the intersection
next to the Walgreens,
Adolpho DeSalvo sees a small brown car
speed through a red light.
At 3:25 a.m.,
Rosa Sanchez exits the Walgreens
and sees the same guy she saw crouching
now standing by the pay phones
with another Black man,
and she leaves.
At 3:30, Victor Brown says
a brown-colored VW Rabbit
parked next to his house,
and then he saw two Black men getting out
and going up the footpath
and turning right
into the direction of the Walgreens.
At 3:30, it would have been impossible
for that person to be the same person
Rosa Sanchez saw on the phone at 3:25.
Victor Brown changes his timeline.
Police telephone Brown
and ask him if his household clocks
have been set ahead,
which is total bullshit.
Brown suddenly remembers
that his bedroom clock
is set ahead ten minutes,
and he adjusts the arrival time
for the two men to 3:20 exactly.
It doesn't fit.
And then, the next one
I want to probably do is Garcia's wife.
[Rosemary speaking indistinctly]
[soft music playing]
They all have to keep
changing their timelines
to make the story fit
the way that they want it to fit.
And the one
they're trying to center it around
is Rosa Sanchez 'cause she's the one
who says she makes the ID.
And then, I also have timelines
for how they developed the guns.
I have timelines for Letia Walker.
I have timelines
for the Celine and Tracy murders
and what happened there,
and then for your uncle.
We're going to see
how Acerra, Brazil, and Robinson
are involved in the morphing of it,
of all of the times.
That's important to show the jury.
They're the ones who had the motive
to make sure this case was closed
as quickly as it was.
Wow.
Right.
And see that "wow"?
That's where I want the jury.
I want the jury at that "wow."
I want our jury at, you know,
"They really screwed this kid."
That's where I want them.
How can you ever say
convicting Sean Ellis is justice?
How can you ever say that,
knowing everything that you know?
They don't want justice. They want
a conviction. They want to be right
because if they get another conviction,
all of this doesn't matter.
They weren't really wrong.
Everything that Acerra, Robinson,
and Brazil did doesn't matter.
That's why they're so convinced
that they want to get another conviction
against Sean,
and my suggestion is: go ahead.
I dare you.
I dare you to do it
because I'm confident
that if a jury understands
the entire picture of what happened here,
um, that they're not going to get
the conviction they're looking for.
[melancholy music playing]
[Rivers] I live in the city of Boston.
I came into what was then
the most violent neighborhood in the city,
Four Corners,
in North Dorchester, Black Dorchester.
The conviction of my wife and I
is that,
when we left Harvard,
we were coming to serve the poor.
In other words…
our faith could never just be talk.
We put our lives on the line.
We put our children's lives on the line.
[police siren blaring]
1988, which is…
The crack epidemic
is just taking off, right?
Really big.
Um, I get involved with the young people.
I learn about what's going on.
There were Boston police officers
who routinely robbed these juveniles,
who are not angels.
So, let's-- let's-- let's be clear, right?
So, we got two criminals.
You have the kids that are selling drugs,
and you have the cops
that robbed the kids selling drugs.
And so, you got Detective Mulligan.
I'll tell you what the police told me.
Mulligan's dirt caught up with him.
What I heard from officers,
who would not be quoted, obviously, right?
Mulligan was a dirty dude.
He was just dirty.
On the street--
I'm not a cop,
you know, right, I hear about Mulligan.
This guy is a known criminal
to the Boston Police Department,
and this…
And there's not been
any public transparent disclosure
of all the stuff that we know.
You know, based on some racial solidarity
and police thing.
This is a white-Black thing.
It is a race thing.
[military music playing]
[yelling]
[yelling]
[firing]
[firing]
I think the thing that happened in Boston,
we were talking about
the Revolutionary War, so the Brits come.
They get in a fight with the Brits,
and the Yanks beat them up.
And so, the Irish come.
They fight the Yanks,
and they take over
all kinds of institutions in the city.
They take over the police.
They take over the T, right?
Uh, the transportation system, right?
They take over state government
and the City Hospital.
They take over the city government.
They just controlled everything.
They control all the jobs,
and they're fighters.
The Irish love to fight, right?
And they need somebody to hate, right?
To really get this thing going, right?
So, you always got the Blacks,
and we're an inexhaustible resource.
[chuckles] Right?
So, to their credit,
in fighting the Yankees,
they build a political--
The whole Kennedy story.
All of that, right?
To their credit,
uh, the Blacks,
Blacks don't have, in this city,
the organizational infrastructure
to engage in power aggregation.
They don't do that.
The reason that Black people
have not elected a Black mayor
in all this time,
with all these white liberals,
is that Boston is… consists of a bunch
of Afro-Caribbean Blacks,
so they would not close ranks
to elect anybody Black
because they'd be fighting
over which Islander the person was. Right?
I said, in that context,
all you're going to do is be defeated.
[speaker 1]
For the sake of this community,
vote for Rollins! Here we go.
[speaker 2, chanting]
When you want change, we vote Shannon.
Vote Shannon! Vote Shannon!
If you're wondering about the noise
we're making, tonight is the debate
for the folks
that are running for District Attorney…
It seems like a lot of new energy
to a DA's race. What's changed?
What's changed? I think what's changed
is the fact of the matter
is a lot's at stake.
We have people of color
that are running for this race right now.
Shannon! All right! All right! All right!
Yeah, make some noise, people!
[moderator] Give them
a round of applause for showing up.
[audience clapping]
[Carol Rose] The District Attorney chooses
whether or not
to charge someone with a crime
and which crimes to prosecute.
That's extraordinary power
in the hands of these elected officials,
and for too long,
our criminal legal system has been broken.
It's been plagued by mass incarceration,
gross racial bias,
little transparency,
and little accountability.
So now,
for the first time in over 15 years,
the race
for Suffolk County District Attorney
is finally hotly competitive.
That's great.
[audience clapping, cheering]
My name's Greg Henning.
I'm a prosecutor
in the District Attorney's Office.
I'm running to become District Attorney
because I have a vision
for Suffolk County
as a safe and vibrant community
for everybody that lives in the county,
no matter where they live
because this is an important job.
Keeping the community safe
and ensuring that the criminal
justice system is applied fairly
is essential to the role
of the next District Attorney.
Good evening, I'm Shannon McAuliffe,
and I'm here to say that, make no mistake,
this is a moment in time
in which we have a great opportunity,
an opportunity to reverse
the policies of the past 40 years
of DA offices led by Newman Flanagan,
Ralph Martin, and Dan Conley.
It is clear that an experienced prosecutor
is not the answer to our problems.
I'm Rachael Rollins, and I'm running
because I have literally
seen the criminal justice system
from every single angle.
In my 21 years as a lawyer,
I've been a prosecutor for seven,
I've been a criminal defense attorney,
and I have also sat in the same courtroom
that I prosecuted people in
and watched my younger brother
get sentenced and sent away.
We can change, together,
the criminal justice system.
Next question to Greg Henning.
As an assistant district attorney,
you are familiar
with the tactics prosecutors use
to make reluctant witnesses
provide testimony in an investigation.
Have you personally
ever used these tactics
to leverage witness cooperation?
Absolutely not. I would never threaten
and have never threatened
and would instruct my prosecutors
to never threaten anybody
about DCF involvement
or anything having to do with childcare.
That's inappropriate. I haven't done it,
and people should not do that.
[Rachael Rollins] I'm still torn
on an answer that we just had
because a nuance
of the word "threaten" or not,
when you are requiring somebody
to testify,
and there's a subpoena,
and they have children,
and their children are possibly
going to be removed from their home,
you don't have to use the word,
"I'm threatening you."
The behavior is threatening already.
[audience clapping]
Did you see, um, the prosecutor's e-mail?
Yeah, I did.
Now, he's saying, basically,
that if there is reward money
that was given to anybody in Sean's case,
that it would've been done through the
union, the Boston Police Detectives union.
And is he saying
he doesn't have access to that?
He seems to be saying he doesn't,
that it would be quicker
if we got a court order.
Let me look at the e-mail again.
Do you have it?
-I didn't bring it down.
-Let me see.
So, "Hi, Rose. I've looked
into the payments of reward money,
and it appears that the Boston Police
Detectives Benevolent Society
may have been the entity
that put up and paid reward money."
-[Jillise] Mm-hm.
-So, somebody was paid.
"In the meantime,
I suggest you file a rule 17 subpoena
on the Boston Police Benevolent Society,
and I'll continue to follow up with them."
"This may be the quickest way to ascertain
whether there is any documentation
of the reward money
and to get such documentation to us."
So, is he saying that nobody
documented a reward in a cop-killing case?
-[Jillise] That's what it sounds like.
-What if Rosa Sanchez got reward money?
Wouldn't that have been exculpatory
to Sean?
[Jillise] Absolutely.
[Rosemary] It's clear that those payments
should have been disclosed,
and they weren't,
Even if they don't pay them until
after the trial, which very often happens,
they still have an ongoing duty
to disclose.
And they should have told us
that there was a promise to pay.
[car honking]
[Greg] What's next?
-This street. Finish these houses.
-[Greg] Okay.
How are you? My name's Greg Henning.
I'm running for District Attorney.
-Who's the doggy? Friendly?
-[woman] Stop.
My name's Greg Henning.
I'm running for District Attorney.
-You know what I'm doing.
-Yes, sir.
-I'm knocking on doors for it.
-You 100% have my vote.
And I'm running for DA.
The DA's office now has a guy
who's not going to be running
for re-election, Dan Conley.
I'm hoping to get your vote.
Do you have any questions for me?
No, I think my union's behind you.
-Okay, I won't ask just so you…
-Firefighters.
Gotcha, firefighters' union endorsed me,
and I hope to get your support tomorrow.
Thank you very much.
[Dan Conley] Greg Henning is head
and shoulders above the rest of the field.
He's the most educated,
the most intelligent, quite frankly,
the most, uh, experienced prosecutor
in the field.
He brings a whole
multi-dimensional package to the race.
[Phillip Martin]
I think if Greg Henning is elected,
you continue the legacy of Dan Conley.
What is interesting, of course,
is Greg Henning, being considered
the more conservative of these candidates,
many people believe
that he could win this race
simply by virtue of the fact
that he has a position
that a lot of people in Boston
still maintain.
A law and order position,
and relying on the communities
of working-class white community,
uh, and some conservative people of color.
[mellow music playing]
[Rahsaan Hall]
These debates, these forums,
these conversations
about District Attorney are so important
because we're really trying
to change the role of District Attorney.
It's one of the most powerful positions
within the criminal legal system.
The whole narrative around public safety
is rooted in these historical ideas
of, uh, racialized notions
of who is dangerous
and who needs to be kept safe
and from whom.
And I think when people
actually go into the courtrooms
and see who is sitting on the bench
and advocating for the Commonwealth
and defending the accused
and ushering in people
and handling the papers
and making the life-altering decisions,
typically, disproportionately,
they're all white.
And again, that's the spirit
behind what we're trying to do
with this campaign is raise awareness
because it's one thing
to talk about mass incarceration,
and the gross racial disparities
that exist,
but it's another thing
to see it play out,
to walk into court and see everybody
in positions of power who are white
and then everybody else
being Black or brown.
Before we launched
our What A Difference A DA Makes campaign,
we did some polling,
and we found out
that four in ten Massachusetts voters
did not know that the District Attorney
was an elected official.
The fact that you all are here tonight,
the fact that there have been
so many of these forums,
a round of applause to the candidates
who have been going to a forum
every other night.
[clapping]
If you don't want to wait
to fight mass incarceration,
to fight families being ripped apart,
and to fight the opioid crisis,
I am your candidate.
We need a District Attorney who's not only
going to be able to know the mission
and the work of Public Safety,
but also know that there are systems
that we need to put in place
in order to give people a second chance.
[Rachael]
We deserve a criminal justice system
where your wealth and your race
don't dictate your outcome
in the system at all,
and finally,
where the Suffolk County DA's office
represents the rich diversity
that we see in this room,
and it most certainly does not right now.
[indistinct chatter]
Hey, guys. How are you?
-What time you get here, Mom? How are you?
-I got here about 4:30.
Did you hit any traffic?
Yeah, but only because
of the Federal Express.
[Rosemary] I need a glass of wine.
What do we have open?
It's not cold, so…
[Rosemary] This is a goblet of wine.
This isn't a glass.
Where'd you get these glasses, Kath?
I got it, Mom. I got it.
-Let's put the covers back on.
-[sister 1] Anybody need water? It's here.
[sister 2] Thank you.
Anybody else for salad?
Not right now, thanks.
How is Sean doing?
He's doing great.
I just talked to him the other day.
He just seems like
such a really gentle person, you know?
-It's not bullshit. It's real genuine.
-Oh, my God, I know.
-They took these kids' lives from them.
-They did.
-Time to pay the price.
-They did.
They stole his life.
-They knew these kids didn't do it.
-[Rosemary] I agree, Mom.
And they put them in jail
knowing that they weren't responsible.
So, that's a crime on them.
That's like the worst crime
'cause they have all the power.
-Yeah.
-But why aren't they held responsible?
If you did that, they'd have you in jail.
They would.
They'd call it obstruction of justice.
-When it's the Commonwealth, they don't.
-Why isn't it with them?
-It isn't. It's a really good question.
-Mom's getting mad.
[laughing]
-Watch out.
-[sister 2] Betty-Lou's mad.
-[sister 1] I've been there… Mom.
-[sister 2] You're too much.
Look at all the cases
I've been involved in.
Do you think that I just represent
the only innocent people? No!
There's a bunch
of criminal defense attorneys
working just as hard as me out there,
trying to gather this evidence,
but it just takes years
to get to where we are with Sean's case.
-Because of how it's set up.
-It doesn't have to be that way.
It should be a lot quicker.
[somber music playing]
So, he gave us a notice of discovery
for the Sanchez reports,
-but there's no CD for it.
-[Rosemary] Isn't there a "Discovery 10"?
-Is there a CD, "Discovery 10"?
-I don't see it in here.
-[Rosemary] There were three CDs, right?
-Yeah, one is the crackhead.
One is the Nancy Hurley interview.
And one is the trial transcripts.
-[Rosemary] That's it?
-Yeah.
[Rosemary] How many pages? 115 pages.
"Rosa and Ivan Sanchez both got money,
um, as well as Victor Brown."
Um, "Nobody seems to know
where the money came from."
"As a result of his involvement
in the investigation,
I sent a text to Sanchez
asking him to contact me
about whether or not
he received any money,
and if so, how much and from whom."
"I received a response on Monday,
July 30 that stated,
'Hi. Sorry. I've been really busy
and getting out late.'
'I asked Rosa,
and she says we did, but I have a blank.'
'She cannot remember
how much or any details.'"
How is it the police headquarters
has no memory of this?
Who doesn't remember
how much money they got?
Who doesn't remember?
You went to the police station
with a bunch of people,
all to share in the reward money
because you were involved
in the conviction of Sean Ellis,
and you don't remember how much that was?
Well, was it $5 or was it $5,000?
Was it $25,000?
What'd you do with it?
How do you not remember those things?
I have no idea how that happens.
We have a lot of work to do.
That's bullshit.
[wind blowing]
[soft music playing]
Um, every time that I come here,
it's just…
It's for my life.
Every time I come here, it's for my life.
This affects my life.
-Hey, Sean, how are you?
-How are you?
-Good to see you.
-Good to see you.
Thanks for showing up so early.
Appreciate it.
Hi, Sean, how you doing?
[Rosemary] Today, we are gonna
address the court about the trial date.
That's number one.
Originally,
it was in the other session for trial,
but the Commonwealth still wanted
to do some additional testing,
so they're not ready.
We're gonna address
when we're going to try the case.
The second thing is the court ordered
the Comptroller's office
to give us some documents regarding
who they paid money to on this case,
and we got the document from them.
It's two pages, and it doesn't contain
any real information at all.
-Okay?
-Okay.
-Questions?
-Um…
Um, does this include anything
regarding the reward money?
The reward money so far…
What we know about the reward money so far
is what we talked about last time.
That we know Victor Brown was paid $9,000,
and we think that Rosa Sanchez
and Ivan Sanchez were paid 15.
Somebody paid them.
So, so far, the police department
said they didn't pay them,
um, the union said they didn't pay them.
Some Benevolent Society
said they didn't pay them.
Where'd the check come from?
Somebody paid them.
We're trying to figure out
who else could it have been?
So, who'd like to be first?
-[Rosemary] I-- I can do it.
-Yes.
So, since we were last before you,
we were able to determine, um,
that at least one witness, Victor Brown,
got paid $9,000.
He says he went
to the Boston Police Department,
um, and was able
to retrieve that money from them
with some sort of ceremony that happened
at the Boston Police Department.
Based on that, we've been searching,
as the court knows, for months.
We have asked
the Boston Police Department.
We've asked the union.
We've asked the Benevolent Society.
We've asked everyone
that we could think of
that could have supported
that reward money,
and so far, nothing has come up.
This is money, Judge.
This is money on a case that happened…
No, I know, but…
I don't know how they classify things,
so we'll find out.
[Rosemary] Okay.
Thank you, Your Honor.
Thank you, Mr. Clerk.
[somber music playing]
[indistinct chatter]
[clapping]
Sixty-five percent of the population here
at the Suffolk County House of Correction
is Black or brown.
That's in a commonwealth
where the same demographic is 18%.
How do you get 65 out of 18?
And so, having the DA candidates here
to answer these questions
and talk to these folk
about what it is that they would do
when they become District Attorney,
we think is crucially important.
[audience clapping]
How y'all doing?
[Rachael] Good.
If elected,
would you hold police officers accountable
for their actions?
If I'm elected,
I will absolutely hold police accountable.
I've been involved
in investigating and prosecuting
law enforcement officers before,
and part of my job now
is to tell police no,
to tell them when they're making a mistake
and doing it wrong,
and I will absolutely continue
to do that if elected.
So, I have good relationships with police,
but I've also, with the Lawyers Committee
for Civil Rights, as I've said earlier,
um, been a lawyer that filed a lawsuit
against the Boston Police
when they were not acting appropriately.
I have a proven record of doing that,
um, for civil rights violations
or racial discrimination.
I, unlike anyone up here,
uh, have a lived experience
where I'm the oldest of five children.
I visited family members here.
I don't look at you as simply defendants.
I haven't only interacted
with Black and brown people
in a criminal context.
I have seen what happens
when you are incarcerated,
and when you come out,
the struggles you have.
I'm willing to work with you
and fight for you,
and I'm qualified for it.
I'm excited about the change.
Please get involved.
I hope to earn your vote September 4th
and your family members' votes.
Thank you.
[Shannon] We live in a country
where police kill a thousand people a year
for the past ten years.
Um, out of that,
there have been 54 charges total,
and half of those have been dismissed
or people have been found not guilty.
So, we're not doing a very good job
and keeping police officers accountable.
What we need to do in the DA's office
is actually spend money
on holding police officers accountable
and not on a fourth trial
for somebody like Sean Ellis,
that's supposed to be happening
in the fall,
when we know that the police officers
involved in that case
actually have been convicted
in federal court
of, um, doing some things
that were incredibly illegal,
so they need to be held accountable.
[clapping]
[indistinct chatter]
Thank you so much.
[rattling]
[crowd chanting]
Justice! Innocence! Justice!
Justice! Justice!
-[speaker] When do we want it?
-Now!
-[speaker] When do we want it?
-Now!
-When do we want it?
-Now!
-[speaker] What do we want?
-Justice!
-[speaker] What do we want?
-Justice!
Innocence!
Now!
Justice!
Justice!
Now!
Justice!
Justice!
[Rosemary] My theory behind Sean
being involved in the Innocence Project
is it's empowering to him.
Um, he had no power.
He had no ability
to control his own destiny
for more than 22 years.
Um, and so, for him
to take a little bit of that power back,
and I think he wants people
to know that he's innocent
because the Commonwealth claim,
you know, he's guilty.
[indistinct chatter]
They offered Sean a deal
to resolve the case
before the fourth trial
and so, I remember saying to him,
"Listen, you know, I'm the messenger here,
and this is my job."
"I have to tell you
that there's an offer on the table."
"Um, and, you know, they're willing
to give you time served
if you're willing to plead guilty."
I didn't even get the word "guilty" out
when he said, "No, I'm not doing it."
And had I agreed to that,
I would've had to go to court
and say that I was guilty
for the murder of Detective John Mulligan.
I wasn't doing that.
No way in hell I was doing that.
I'm not pleading guilty
to something I didn't do.
You know, it's like,
I'm not the little 19-year-old kid
that was scared,
[stammers] and don't have an idea,
don't have a clue of what's going on.
I'm a grown man
[stammers] with some degree of
understanding about what I'm looking at.
Like, I know now
that the system is corrupt.
I didn't know then.
So, I was naive,
expecting it to work a particular way.
I'm facing a fourth trial
and the possibility
of going back to prison for life.
[reporter] Today the Supreme Judicial
Court overturned the conviction
of Terry L. Patterson,
who was found guilty in 1995
of first-degree murder
in the execution-style slaying
of Boston police detective John Mulligan.
The prints were deemed inadmissible today
by the state's highest court,
but fingerprints found
on Detective Mulligan's SUV
were the key evidence
that put Patterson away for life.
None of Terry Patterson's prints,
individually,
actually matched the prints on the car.
You had to sort of overlay the prints
to get a match.
Then, his lawyer appeals.
That went all the way up to the Supreme
Judicial Court in Massachusetts.
They reversed Patterson's conviction
and said it's not accepted
in the scientific community.
There's not enough research
that suggests it's true.
[reporter] Suffolk County
District Attorney Dan Conley
has decided
not to retry the Patterson case,
opting instead for accepting a guilty plea
of manslaughter and time served.
Patterson named Ellis as the killer,
and Conley says he's convinced of it
and will endeavor to make sure
Ellis remains behind bars
for the remainder of his life.
And what it felt like, I was pissed off,
um… and I still am… um…
but [stammers] it's like, what do you do?
What do you do?
In order for Patterson
not to go to trial again,
they made Patterson agree
to a set statement of facts
where Sean was the shooter.
That's what his plea transcript said.
He would have said, you know,
Jesus Christ himself did it
if it meant
he didn't have to go back to jail.
[police siren blaring]
All right, so let me try
to find that, uh, that ballistics thing.
That'll be important for this afternoon.
I expect that they're gonna ask
for a continuance on the trial date.
I don't know, realistically,
if we can be ready for a trial.
But then again,
I don't know who the DA is going to be.
If Shannon gets in,
I don't think we'll try this case.
Uh, if Greg Henning gets in,
I think we will.
And I don't really know
where many of the other candidates stand
on a case like this.
Um, I can't really ask them.
That's inappropriate.
[Jillise] It's probably going to be
either Greg or Shannon.
Yeah, I mean…
Yeah, I don't know who it will be,
but I think
that's going to make a difference
in terms of whether
this is gonna go to trial or not.
The thing that sort of shocks me
is that it's been on for trial,
three different times,
and they haven't interviewed
any witnesses.
So, what do they know that we don't know,
in terms of going forward on this case?
Are they just burying us in stuff?
[police siren blaring]
Good afternoon, Your Honor.
Assistant District Attorney Edmond Zabin
on behalf of the community.
I guess the only thing
that I can say generally
is that I don't have any information
that any payments were made
by the Suffolk County
District Attorney's Office to anyone.
I don't have any information.
I don't have any reason to think
there were payments made to any witnesses.
I've not heard that from witnesses
other than the reward money piece,
which I referenced earlier.
The Commonwealth said they had no reason
to believe that anyone was paid any money.
Of the information we got
from the Comptroller,
which was attached to my original motion,
um, what they said,
according to their records,
is that they paid out,
at one point, uh, $83,590.49,
for something
they call procuring evidence.
Somebody has to have the documentation,
even for this limited information
we have from the Comptroller's office,
but it seems like an awful lot of money
to not know where it went,
and how it was spent.
-That's all I'm saying.
-Okay, so we're going to try to find out.
But you're right. It could be anything.
That's part of the problem.
The fact that it could be anything
is not satisfactory to the court,
obviously not satisfactory to the defense,
so we need to do some more work.
Understood.
As we're preparing for the fourth trial,
there's still stuff.
There's still discovery
that we have to fight for.
And the tragedy is
that we're still fighting for discovery
that we should have had
in the damn 1993, 1994, 1995.
It actually means
that not just the police,
but the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,
the District Attorney's Office,
has taken a position that, you know,
"We're not disclosing anything to you
that's gonna help prove your innocence."
My brother, what's up, baby? What do?
[chuckles]
What's happening, man?
What do?
[indistinct chatter]
[Scott] Let us pray.
Father, we thank you for creating this day
and allowing us to be in it.
We ask you to bless this meeting,
and that you bless the work
that comes out of it
as you bless all of your workers.
All of this, we pray
in your most precious and holy name. Amen.
[all] Amen.
You come highly recommended.
I was the first clergyman
to endorse your predecessor,
right,
when Dan Conley ran.
I know he's very busy,
but, uh, he never quite made it out here.
Yep.
And if you are our next District Attorney,
we would love to have that conversation.
-[crowd laughs]
-[Rivers] Right.
Find some wood.
[crowd laughs]
[Rivers] Right, right.
Oh, my gosh.
Victoria, you're a cookie puss.
Put this back right now,
and you need to eat some fruit
and not eat Fritos and chips.
I'm going up against a machine
with Greg Henning.
[man] Yep.
[Rachael]
Everyone predicted he's gonna win,
and I think we have just amazing momentum
right now, so…
I just hope it translates
into those fricking white pockets of…
[Rachael] Agreed.
But…
I-- I don't know, I mean,
you could win by 20 points.
You could lose by ten.
I have no idea. Right?
We'll see what ends up happening.
Vote!
I'm serious.
Both of you. This is what I look like
with my hair done.
That's me.
[honking]
Yes! Whoo!
[honking]
[chanting] Shannon! Shannon! Shannon!
[Shannon] I can't believe you made it!
[clapping]
I want to say,
as your next District Attorney,
that I understand
that our complicated history of slavery
directly contributes
to the system that we have today.
It directly contributes
to mass incarceration.
It directly contributes
to the racial disparity we have,
and contributes to who is charged
and whose crimes are solved.
[clapping]
[Phillip Martin] Dan Conley endorsed you.
How's that endorsement working?
You seem to be very strong
among police officers and firemen.
Recap that for me.
[Greg] The District Attorney endorsing me
I think was important
because it's a signal to voters,
not just the groups you're talking about,
but anybody in the county
that I'm ready to do the job on day one.
Mr. Henning has received
over $50,000 from police officers.
So, we need to ask ourselves,
why are police officers
supporting this candidate?
Is it because they're invested
in keeping the status quo?
Is it because they want cover?
That is something
that should concern all of us.
[clapping]
At what point was the public having to try
and get along with the police
when a cop shot Antwon Rose
in the back?
-I don't think I understood your question.
-[Rachael] I do.
[crowd chuckling and murmuring]
First and foremost,
there's nothing tongue-in-cheek
about this.
Black people are dying
every day in the streets.
We're turning on the TV.
That's why I'm running.
Is because this isn't funny.
It's not a joke.
There are people…
who have lost their lives…
because of systemic problems,
and when I hear people joking around
about this,
it disgusts me.
So, here's what I'll say to you.
I have sued the Boston Police for
race discrimination, not once but twice.
I've said to police officers
that look very much
like that man right there,
"If you are not racist,
if you are following the law,
we will have
a wonderful relationship together."
"But if you have racist Facebook pages,
if you are discharging your weapon
in an incident
that requires no such behavior,
you will be held accountable by me."
[clapping, cheering]
[melancholy music playing]
[indistinct chatter]
-Good luck.
-I would love to have your vote.
Thank you.
Hi! I'm Rachael Rollins.
I voted for you today!
I hope you win.
-[man] Thank you.
-Thank you very much.
[Shar'day] You're gonna give
your name and your address,
and they're gonna check you off,
and they're gonna give you your papers,
and then you get to go off in secrecy,
[chuckles]
so that you can do your voting.
[Sean] Mm-hm.
-[Shar'day] Our scene.
-Wow, that's a long line.
[Shar'day] Yeah.
[soft piano playing]
[Sean]
I wrote, "For the first time in my life,
after 21 years, seven months and 29 days
of a wrongful conviction…
I voted."
"A right that was taken away from me
throughout the unjust imprisonment."
"#LookAtMeNow,
#StopWrongfulConvictions."
It's emotional.
I was deprived of this, you know.
I was deprived from being able to do this.
[chanting] Rachael! Rachael! Rachael!
[crowd cheering]
[shutter clicking]
[clapping]
[screaming]
[crowd chanting]
Show me what democracy looks like!
This is what democracy looks like!
[cheering]
We are starting a movement right now.
[cheering]
In the place where our nation was started.
Yeah!
The daughter
of an Irish man and a Black woman…
-[man] Yes! Whoo!
-[woman] All right!
[cheering, whooping]
…is about to change
the criminal justice system.
[whooping]
We didn't have the incumbent behind us,
we didn't have the mayor behind us…
[woman] Yeah!
…but we had the people behind us…
[all] Yeah!
…and we are going to change this system
from the inside out.
-I… You… Listen!
-[cheering]
I give you my word.
Yeah!
Everything I do, I do hard.
I'm a Black woman. I have to.
[woman] Yeah, Rachael!
[whooping]
I do this for all the little brown girls,
and all the girls out there
who don't believe they can be something.
You can be anything you want.
[chanting] Rachael! Rachael!
Rachael! Rachael! Rachael!
I'm the product
of a second-generation Irishman,
Vietnam veteran.
My mother's first-generation
from Barbados.
This is the new Black Irish.
Get used to it.
We're gonna change Boston.
This is what the new face of Boston
looks like.
We made history back on September 4th,
and again today.
[reporter] Rachael Rollins
defeated four other candidates
in the Democratic primary.
She has now won
the November general election
with a landslide victory
with 80% of the vote.
Thank you so much!
[Phillip] This is an historic moment
as Rollins will become
the first woman of color
to ascend to the office
of District Attorney in Massachusetts.
Starting tomorrow,
you're gonna be dealing
with one of the biggest cases and jobs
that's going to be thrown at you
for a long time, that of Sean Ellis.
Um, what are your thoughts on the issue?
I know you--
I'm aware of the Sean Ellis case.
Technically, I start January 2nd.
If it is still on my desk, on the desk,
when I arrive January 2nd,
we'll be looking at it very hard.
How much do you think
this may be a priority?
I believe we're always
going to make it a priority
when somebody has been tried
and retried and retried and retried.
What went wrong in the first instance?
If the SJC has ruled on something,
or there have been procedural violations
of some sort.
I'm going to have to look at those things
and get a clean, fresh set of eyes on 'em.
-Thank you and congratulations.
-Thank you so much, my dear.
-Bye.
-Take care.
-Be well. Have fun tonight.
-[Rachael] Thank you. Bye.
[speaking indistinctly]
Rachael Rollins, she has the authority.
The authority ultimately rests with her,
not with the Boston Police Department.
So, if she looks at this case
and evaluates it and says it stinks,
and it stinks so bad
that we can't in good faith
continue to prosecute it,
she has the authority
to nolle pros it, to dismiss it.
[police siren blaring]
[dramatic theme music playing]