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'Trial 4': Release date, plot, trailer and all you need to know about Netflix's limited docuseries on Sean Ellis

'Trial 4' will tell the story of Sean K Ellis, who has spent 22 years in prison after being convicted of the 1993 murder of Boston police detective, John Mulligan

BY NEETHA K

PUBLISHED NOV 1, 2020

Netflix's new limited docuseries, 'Trial 4' will tell the story of a man who says he was wrongly convicted of murdering a police officer when he was just 19 years old. The eight-part docuseries will feature Sean Ellis as he faces his fourth trial — 25 years after he was first tried in 1995 — as he may end up going back to prison. Ellis had been previously sentenced to life and was released when new evidence came to light. Read on to know more details about 'Trial 4'.

Release date

All eight episodes of 'Trial 4' will be available to stream on Netflix on Wednesday, November 11, at 12 am PST.

Plot

'Trial 4' will tell the story of Sean K Ellis, who has spent 22 years in prison after being convicted of the 1993 murder of Boston police detective, John Mulligan. Ellis was put on trial three times within the space of a year, and now faces his fourth trial – which could see him back in prison for life. After his first three trials for armed robbery and first-degree murder, Ellis, aged 19 at the time, was found guilty in 1995 and sentenced to life. His first two trials resulted in a hung jury. In 2015, Ellis was freed from jail on bail, after a judge ordered a new trial saying evidence about how the case had been handled had been withheld from the defense. Ellis, who has always maintained his innocence, is now awaiting trial number four and the prospect of life behind bars again.

Attorneys for Ellis had long asked for a new trial based on questions relating to the case evidence and the fact that the three lead detectives in Mulligan’s murder investigation were corrupt. Two of the detectives, Kenneth Acerra and Walter Robinson, pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges in 1998, while the third, John K. Brazil, was given immunity in exchange for his testimony in the case. Additionally, Rosa Sanchez, a witness who placed Ellis at the crime scene, initially identified the wrong person in a photo lineup. She lived in the same house as Acerra, who was in a relationship with Sanchez’s aunt, according to the Boston Globe.

In 2015, Ellis was released on bail after a judge ordered a new trial, saying that exculpatory evidence had been withheld from the defense. The new evidence included the fact that one Boston Police Department officer had implicated another in the murder, and that Mulligan himself was corrupt, according to the Boston Globe.

Producers/Director

The series was directed by Rémy Burkel ('Sin City Law', Oil for Fraud'). Jean-Xavier de Lestrade ('Murder on a Sunday Morning', 'The Staircase') and Matthieu Belghiti ('The Strange Life of Dr. Frankenstein') executive produce, with Allyson Luchak producing.