By O’Ryan Johnson
Boston Herald
BOSTON — One of the men convicted of killing Boston police detective John Mulligan in 1993 was granted a new trial yesterday, authorities said.
Sean K. Ellis was convicted of fatally shooting Mulligan five times in the face as he slept in his car during a paid detail in Roslindale on Sept. 26, 1993.
Late yesterday, a Suffolk Superior Court judge granted his defense lawyer Rosemary Scapicchio’s motion for a new trial, reportedly because authorities withheld information from Ellis’ trial lawyer about Mulligan’s alleged involvement in a robbery. Scapicchio could not be reached for comment. Conley’s office said they had not yet seen the decision.
“Suffolk prosecutors were notified late tonight by Sean Ellis’ attorney that a Suffolk Superior Court judge had granted his motion for a new trial,” Conley’s office said in a statement last night. “We have not yet received word from the court or a copy of the judge’s findings, but we strongly disagree with the decision to vacate the jury’s verdict and we’re reviewing all of our appellate options.”
Scapicchio told the Boston Globe that the information withheld included the alleged involvement of Mulligan and his police partners in an armed robbery a year before he was killed.
Ellis’ co-defendant, Terry Patterson, pleaded guilty to the killing in 2006. Like Ellis, Patterson had maintained his innocence, but had been convicted of first-degree murder in 1995. The Supreme Judicial Court overturned Patterson’s conviction in 2000 based on faulty fingerprint evidence, among other issues. Rather than try Patterson again, Conley’s office got him to plead guilty to manslaughter and armed robbery charges. In 2006, Patterson was sentenced to 12 years in prison, less time served.
Ellis, whose first two trials ended with hung juries, was convicted after his third trial. Ellis, who lost an earlier appeal to the SJC of his first-degree murder conviction, is serving a life sentence at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Facility in Shirley.