The Massachusetts Bar Association is excited to announce that Sean K. Ellis, director of the Exoneree Network of the New England Innocence Project, will deliver the keynote address at the MBA Annual Dinner on Thursday, May 2, at the Westin Boston Seaport District, 425 Summer St., Boston.
Ellis is an exoneree, motivational speaker and fierce advocate for reforms to the criminal legal system. At the age of 19, Ellis was arrested for the murder of a police officer and was wrongfully convicted at his third trial, only after two juries could not reach a unanimous verdict. He was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Significant police corruption and misconduct, including witness coercion, evidence tampering and misleading forensic evidence, led to Ellis’ wrongful conviction.
He was fully exonerated in 2021 after spending nearly 22 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, and his story is now the subject of the Netflix docuseries Trial 4. In 2020, he co-founded the Exoneree Network, a peer-led program funded by the New England Innocence Project, to support the practical, emotional and spiritual reentry needs of exonerees as they process the trauma of long-term incarceration and work to rebuild their lives in freedom.
Ellis is frequently invited to speak to help spread awareness about wrongful convictions throughout New England. He spoke at NEIP’s 2020 Voices of the Innocent: Power in Community virtual event and was an exoneree storyteller at the inaugural Voices of the Innocent: Still We Rise in 2019.
The MBA Annual Dinner will also include the presentation of the Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. Scholarship, with more awards to be announced soon.
Tickets and sponsorships
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Registration for this event is due by Friday, April 26, at noon.
Questions regarding this event can be directed to MBA Membership and Marketing Manager Heather Robertson by email at
Hrobertson@massbar.org. To register over the phone, please call (617) 338-0561.