A Massachusetts man who spent decades in prison for a murder he didn't commit is being awarded $13 million

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. (AP) – Nearly thirty years behind bars, Michael Sullivan's mother and four siblings died, his girlfriend went on with her life and he was badly beaten in multiple prison attacks.

Everything about the murder case, he insists that he never committed it.

Earlier this month, 64-year-old Sullivan received a degree in justice when a Massachusetts jury found him innocent of the 1986 murder and robbery of Wilfred McGrath. He was awarded $13 million – although federal laws award $1 million for misdemeanor convictions. The jury also found the police pharmacist to have perjured himself in the case, although his testimony did not support Sullivan's conviction.

It is the latest in a series of cases that have been dropped in the state over the years.

“The most important thing is to find me innocent of murder, to get it off my record,” Sullivan said, speaking at the Framingham, Massachusetts, office of his attorney, Michael Heineman. “The money, of course, will help me a lot.”

A spokesman for the Massachusetts attorney general said, “We respect the judge's decision and are evaluating the merits of the request.”

Sullivan was convicted of murder and armed robbery in 1987 after police say McGrath was robbed and his body was dumped behind an abandoned store.

Authorities became involved with Sullivan after discovering that his sister had been out with McGrath the night before her murder and that the two had gone to the house where he shared with Sullivan. Another suspect in the murder case, Gary Grace, framed Sullivan for his murders. Grace testified at trial that Sullivan was wearing a purple jacket the night of the murder and a former State Police chemist testified that he found blood on the jacket and hair that belonged to McGrath, not Sullivan.

Sullivan was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. Meanwhile, Grace pleaded guilty to second degree murder and was sentenced to 6 years. Emil Petrla, who beat McGrath and helped dispose of his body, begged to be put to death. He was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole but died in prison.

“I couldn't believe I was convicted of murder,” Sullivan said, recalling prosecutors talking about the purple jacket five times during closing arguments. “My mother was crying in court, my brother was crying. I was crying. It was very difficult for me and my family.”

Prison would prove a nightmare for Sullivan. In one attack he almost had his nose ripped off and in another he nearly lost his ear. And because he was in prison, the prison system did not allow him to take any courses to acquire the much needed skills.

“It's very difficult for a person, especially when you know you're innocent,” said Sullivan. “And prison is a bad life, you know. Prison is a hard life.”

But in 2011, Sullivan's fortunes changed dramatically.

Sullivan's lawyer requested a DNA test – which was not available at the first hearing – which found no blood on the jacket. Tests also found that items on the coat did not contain McGrath's DNA and could not determine if the hair found on the coat was his.

Dana Curhan, a Boston attorney who represented Sullivan from 1992 to 2014 and pushed for DNA testing, said Sullivan always told him that McGrath's blood was not on the coat. But he was surprised to learn there was no blood, undermining the prosecution's argument that Sullivan had beaten McGrath “and bloodied him.”

“In the prosecutor's closing, he basically said, 'Well, if he wasn't the one who did it, why did they find blood on both the cuffs of the jacket?'” Curhan said. “He kept saying that. Now, we don't have blood or DNA matches. You would expect that the person who did what he allegedly did would be covered in blood. There is no blood. It really was.”

A new trial was ordered in 2012 and Sullivan was acquitted in 2013. He spent the first six months under house arrest and had to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet for years.

“When I walked out the front door, I was depressed, he said.

In 2014, the Supreme Court of Justice upheld the decision to grant Sullivan a new trial and, in 2019, the state decided not to retry the case. At the time, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said it was impossible for her office to successfully retry the case against Sullivan due to the death of some witnesses, and the diminution of memories of other potential witnesses.

Sullivan admits he “shut down” after he was released and, to this day, struggles to work in a world that changed dramatically during his incarceration. Before he was arrested, he worked in a peanut factory and 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 a job. He still can't use a computer and helps his sister a lot with odd jobs. His girlfriend, whom he had known since the age of 12, was going to visit him for ten years in prison but in the end he “had to move on with his life.”

“I'm still not quite used to the outside world,” Sullivan said, adding that she spends most of her time with her Yorkshire Terrier, Buddy, and the pigeons she keeps at her sister's house.

“It's hard for me,” he said. “I'm not going anywhere. I am always afraid … I am very lonely.”

Sullivan's sister, Donna Faria, said the family “never once” believed he killed McGrath. They were in court to support and talk to 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 that he “never had children, never married like the rest of us.”

“If he didn't have me, my brother would be walking the streets like many homeless people,” said Faria. “It's like he doesn't trust people. When he is close to his family, he feels safe. If he's not there, he's not doing it.”

These days, Sullivan spends most of his time at Faria's house in Billerica, Massachusetts, and often washes his family's clothes as he did for other inmates during his time in prison. Despite the jury's award, Sullivan doesn't expect his life to change much.

Sullivan will get himself a new truck but said he wants to save a lot of money to make sure his nieces and nephews get what they need when they turn 21. he said he plans to ask the court, as part of the decision, to grant him medical and educational assistance.

“They will have money. That will make me very happy,” he said. “The most important thing about my nephews is to take care of them.”