FRAMINGHAM, Mass. (AP) — For the practically three many years that he was behind bars, Michael Sullivan’s mom and 4 siblings died, his girlfriend moved on together with her life and he was badly crushed in a number of jail assaults.
All for a homicide he lengthy insisted he by no means dedicated.
Earlier this month, the 64-year-old Sullivan acquired a level of justice when a Massachusetts jury dominated that he was harmless of the 1986 homicide and theft of Wilfred McGrath. He was awarded $13 million — although state laws cap rewards at $1 million for wrongful convictions. The jury additionally discovered a state police chemist falsely testified on the trial although his testimony isn’t what assured Sullivan’s conviction.
It’s the newest in a string of convictions which have been overturned within the state lately.
“The most vital factor is discovering me harmless of the homicide, expunging it from my report,” mentioned Sullivan, talking on the Framingham, Massachusetts, workplace of his lead legal professional Michael Heineman. “The cash, in fact, will likely be very useful to me.”
A spokesman for the Massachusetts legal professional normal mentioned, “We respect the jury’s verdict and are evaluating whether or not an attraction is suitable.”
Sullivan was convicted of homicide and armed theft in 1987 after police say McGrath was robbed and crushed and his physique dumped behind an deserted grocery store.
Authorities zeroed in on Sullivan after they discovered his sister had been out with McGrath the evening earlier than the homicide and the 2 had gone to the condo she shared with Sullivan. Another suspect within the homicide, Gary Grace, implicated Sullivan and had his homicide costs dropped. Grace testified on the trial that Sullivan was sporting a purple jacket the evening of the homicide and a former State Police chemist testified that he discovered blood on the jacket and a hair in line with McGrath, not Sullivan’s.
Sullivan was discovered responsible and sentenced to life in jail. Grace, in the meantime, pleaded responsible to accent after a homicide, and was sentenced to six years. Emil Petrla, who beat McGrath and helped eliminate his physique, pleaded to second-degree homicide. He was sentenced to life in jail with the potential of parole however he died in jail.
“I couldn’t imagine I used to be convicted of homicide,” Sullivan mentioned, recalling prosecutors talked about the purple jacket 5 instances of their closing argument. “My mom was crying within the courtroom, my brother was crying. I used to be crying. It was very laborious for me and my household.”
Prison would show a nightmare for Sullivan. He had his nostril virtually bitten off in a single assault and practically misplaced an ear in one other. And as a result of he was a lifer, the jail system didn’t enable him to take any lessons to realize much-needed expertise
“It’s very laborious on an individual, particularly when you realize you’re harmless,” Sullivan mentioned. “And jail is a foul life, you realize. Prison is a tricky life.”
But in 2011, Sullivan’s fortunes modified dramatically.
Sullivan’s legal professional requested DNA testing — which had not been accessible for the primary trial — that discovered no blood on the coat. The testing additionally discovered substances on the coat didn’t include McGrath’s DNA and couldn’t decide if the hair discovered on a jacket belonged to him.
Dana Curhan, a Boston legal professional who represented Sullivan from 1992 till 2014 and pushed for the DNA testing, mentioned Sullivan had at all times instructed him McGrath’s blood wasn’t on the jacket. But he was stunned to study there wasn’t any blood, which undermined the prosecutor’s argument that Sullivan had crushed McGrath right into a “blood pulp.”
“At the prosecutor’s closing, he primarily mentioned, ‘Hey, if he wasn’t the one who did it, why did they discover blood on each of cuffs of the jacket?’” Curhan mentioned. “He stored repeating that. Now, we don’t have any blood nor a DNA match. You would anticipate somebody doing what he was alleged to have achieved to be lined in blood. There isn’t any blood. That actually was the case.”
A brand new trial was ordered in 2012 and Sullivan was launched in 2013. He spent the primary six months on dwelling confinement and needed to put on an digital monitoring bracelet for years.
“When I walked out the entrance door, I used to be in an emotional state, he mentioned.
In 2014, the Supreme Judicial Court upheld a choice to grant Sullivan a brand new trial and, in 2019, the state determined towards retrying the case. At the time, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan mentioned it was just about not possible for her workplace to efficiently retry the case towards Sullivan given the deaths of some witnesses, and a diminishment of the reminiscences of different potential witnesses.
Sullivan admits he “shut down” after he was launched and, to today, struggles to perform in a world that modified dramatically whereas he was in jail. Before he was arrested, he had labored at a peanut manufacturing facility and had deliberate to go to high school to turn into a truck driver and finally work for his brother who owned a trucking firm.
Instead, he left jail with no job prospects and little hope of discovering work. He nonetheless can’t use a pc and largely helps his sister with odd jobs. His girlfriend, whom he had identified since he was 12, would go to him for a decade in jail however finally “needed to go on together with her life.”
“I’m nonetheless actually not adjusted to the skin world,” Sullivan mentioned, including that he spends a lot of his time along with his Yorkshire terrier Buddy and pigeons that he retains at his sister’s home.
“It’s laborious for me,” he mentioned. “I don’t go nowhere. I’m scared on a regular basis … I’m just about a loner.”
Sullivan’s sister, Donna Faria, mentioned the household “by no means for a minute” believed that he killed McGrath. They had been on the trial in help and would discuss with Sullivan twice every week whereas he was in jail and go to him each few months.
But Faria laments all that Sullivan misplaced whereas in jail, noting he “by no means had youngsters, by no means married like the remainder of us did.”
“If he didn’t have me, my brother would have been strolling the streets like a number of the homeless folks,” Faria mentioned. “It’s virtually like he don’t belief folks. If he’s round his household, he feels protected. If he isn’t, he doesn’t.”
These days, Sullivan spends most of his time at Faria’s home in Billerica, Massachusetts, and infrequently does her household’s laundry like he did for fellow inmates whereas in jail. Despite the jury award, Sullivan doesn’t anticipate that his life will change all that a lot.
Sullivan will deal with himself to a brand new truck however mentioned he desires to avoid wasting a lot of the cash to make sure his nieces and nephews have what they want after they flip 21. Sullivan hasn’t been getting any remedy for the hardship he endured however his legal professional Heineman mentioned he plans to ask the court docket, as a part of the judgment, to supply him with remedy and academic providers.
“They’ll have cash. That will make me very pleased,” he mentioned. “The most vital factor is my nieces and nephews — taking good care of them.”