Exonerated After 22 Years in Prison, Former Needham Student Advocates for Justice

When Sean Ellis was 19, a jury in Suffolk Superior Court convicted him in the September 1993 murder of a Boston police detective. After being granted a new trial in 2015 by then Judge Carol Ball ’76, who wrote, “Justice was note done,” in the case, referring to a wave of corruption allegations against the Boston police, prosecutors chose not to pursue another case against Ellis. Last Friday night, Ellis addressed a crowd of over 100 people, who had gathered at the Center at the Heights to hear his story. Sharing the stage with Ellis was Professor Stephanie Hartung, who said, “the way the District Attorney’s office and the Boston Police Department handled the exoneration was disgraceful.”