FRAMINGHAM, MA (AP) During his nearly three decades in prison, Michael Sullivan suffered severe beatings in multiple prison attacks, lost his mother and four brothers, and saw his girlfriend move on with her life.
All for a murder he denied for a long time.
Sullivan, 64, received some justice earlier this month when a Massachusetts jury found him not guilty of Wilfred McGrath’s 1986 murder and robbery. Despite state laws capping awards for unjust convictions at $1 million, he received $13 million. Although Sullivan’s conviction was not assured by his evidence, the jury also discovered that a state police scientist had given a false statement throughout the trial.
In recent years, the state has overturned a number of convictions, this one being the most recent.
Speaking in his primary lawyer Michael Heineman’s office in Framingham, Massachusetts, Sullivan stated, “The most important thing is finding me innocent of the murder, expunging it from my record.” Naturally, I will much benefit from the money.
We accept the jury’s decision and are considering whether an appeal is warranted, a representative for the Massachusetts attorney general stated.
Following police claims that McGrath was robbed, beaten, and his body discarded behind an abandoned supermarket, Sullivan was found guilty in 1987 of murder and armed robbery.
When authorities discovered that his sister had gone out with McGrath the night before the murder and that the two had visited the apartment she shared with Sullivan, they focused their attention on Sullivan. Gary Grace, another murder suspect, was implicated by Sullivan and had his murder charges withdrawn. Sullivan was wearing a purple jacket the night of the murder, according to Grace’s testimony during the trial. A former State Police chemist also stated that he discovered blood on the garment and a hair that was McGrath’s, not Sullivan’s.
Sullivan received a life sentence after being proven guilty. Grace was given a six-year term after entering a guilty plea to accessory after murder. Emil Petrla entered a guilty plea to second-degree murder after beating McGrath and assisting in the disposal of his body. He was given a life sentence with the chance of release, however he passed away while incarcerated.
I couldn t believe I was convicted of murder, Sullivan said, recalling prosecutors mentioned the purple jacket five times in their closing argument. Both my brother and mother were crying in the courtroom. I was in tears. My family and I had a very difficult time.
For Sullivan, prison would be a nightmare. He had his nose almost bitten off in one attack and nearly lost an ear in another. And because he was a lifer, the prison system didn t allow him to take any classes to gain much-needed skills
It s very hard on a person, especially when you know you re innocent, Sullivan said. You know, prison is a dreadful existence. Prison is a tough life.
But in 2011, Sullivan s fortunes changed dramatically.
Sullivan s attorney requested DNA testing which had not been available for the first trial that found no blood on the coat. The testing also found substances on the coat did not contain McGrath s DNA and could not determine if the hair found on a jacket belonged to him.
Dana Curhan, a Boston attorney who represented Sullivan from 1992 until 2014 and pushed for the DNA testing, said Sullivan had always told him McGrath s blood wasn t on the jacket. But he was surprised to learn there wasn t any blood, which undermined the prosecutor s argument that Sullivan had beaten McGrath into a blood pulp.
At the prosecutor s closing, he essentially said, Hey, if he wasn t the one who did it, why did they find blood on both of cuffs of the jacket? Curhan said. He kept repeating that. Now, we don t have any blood nor a DNA match. You would expect someone doing what he was alleged to have done to be covered in blood. There is no blood. That really was the case.
A new trial was ordered in 2012 and Sullivan was released in 2013. He spent the first six months on home confinement and had to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet for years.
When I walked out the front door, I was in an emotional state, he said.
In 2014, the Supreme Judicial Court upheld a decision to grant Sullivan a new trial and, in 2019, the state decided against retrying the case. At the time,Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryansaid it was virtually impossible for her office to successfully retry the case against Sullivan given the deaths of some witnesses, and a diminishment of the memories of other potential witnesses.
Sullivan admits he shut down after he was released and, to this day, struggles to function in a world that changed dramatically while he was in prison. Before he was arrested, he had worked at a peanut factory and had planned to go to school to become a truck driver and eventually work for his brother who owned a trucking company.
Instead, he left prison with no job prospects and little hope of finding work. He still can t use a computer and mostly helps his sister with odd jobs. His girlfriend, whom he had known since he was 12, would visit him for a decade in prison but eventually had to go on with her life.
I m still really not adjusted to the outside world, Sullivan said, adding that he spends much of his time with his Yorkshire terrier Buddy and pigeons that he keeps at his sister s house.
It s hard for me, he said. I don t go nowhere. I m scared all the time … I m pretty much a loner.
Sullivan s sister, Donna Faria, said the family never for a minute believed that he killed McGrath. They were at the trial in support and would talk with Sullivan twice a week while he was in prison and visit him every few months.
But Faria laments all that Sullivan lost while in prison, noting he never had kids, never married like the rest of us did.
If he didn t have me, my brother would have been walking the streets like a lot of the homeless people, Faria said. It s almost like he don t trust people. If he is around his family, he feels safe. If he is not, he doesn t.
These days, Sullivan spends most of his time at Faria s house in Billerica, Massachusetts, and often does her family s laundry like he did for fellow inmates while in prison. Despite the jury award, Sullivan doesn t expect that his life will change all that much.
Sullivan will treat himself to a new truck but said he wants to save most of the money to ensure his nieces and nephews have what they need when they turn 21. Sullivan hasn t been getting any therapy for the hardship he endured but his attorney Heineman said he plans to ask the court, as part of the judgment, to provide him with therapy and educational services.
They ll have money. That will make me very happy, he said. The most important thing is my nieces and nephews taking care of them.
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