Suffolk DA Rachael Rollins Aims To Erase Weapons Charges In Sean Ellis Case

BOSTON (CBS) - The Suffolk District Attorney's office is hoping to erase final weapons charges for Sean Ellis, a man who served over 20 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of killing of a police officer.

Ellis was found guilty in 1993 for the killing of Boston Police Detective John Mulligan in Roslindale. But his murder conviction was overturned in 2015 after the state's highest court found corrupt detectives handled the homicide investigation. The conviction became the subject of a Netflix documentary "Trial 4".

In 2018, a Suffolk Superior Court judge formally ended the prosecution of Sean Ellis and he was set free, but a firearms conviction remained on the record.

On Wednesday, District Attorney Rachael Rollins filed in court assenting to a motion for a new trial for the remaining gun convictions.

"This level of misconduct and indifference by the prosecution team (both BPD and the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office) cannot be condoned, ignored, or tolerated," Rollins wrote.

Last December, Ellis and his attorneys, Rosemary Scapicchio and Jillise McDonough, filed a motion for new trial to overturn the gun convictions on his record.

"To be at a point now to have my name cleared, it's just truly emotional and now I can get on with my life in the manner that it was in prior to my life being snatched from me," Ellis said on Wednesday.

The Boston Police released a statement Wednesday saying they recognize the issues in the case, but believed the weapons conviction was valid and should stand.