FRAMINGHAM, Mass. (AP) \u2014 For the nearly three decades that he was behind bars, Michael Sullivan\u2019s mother and four siblings died, his girlfriend moved on with her life and he was badly beaten in several prison attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All for a murder he long insisted he never committed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier this month, the 64-year-old Sullivan got a degree of justice when a Massachusetts jury ruled that he was innocent of the 1986 murder and robbery of Wilfred McGrath. He was awarded $13 million \u2014 though state regulations cap rewards at $1 million for wrongful convictions<\/a>. The jury also found a state police chemist falsely testified at the trial though his testimony isn\u2019t what guaranteed Sullivan\u2019s conviction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s the latest in a string of convictions that have been overturned<\/a> in the state in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe most important thing is finding me innocent of the murder, expunging it from my record,\u201d said Sullivan, speaking at the Framingham, Massachusetts, office of his lead attorney Michael Heineman. \u201cThe money, of course, will be very helpful to me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A spokesman for the Massachusetts attorney general said, \u201cWe respect the jury\u2019s verdict and are evaluating whether an appeal is appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sullivan was convicted of murder and armed robbery in 1987 after police say McGrath was robbed and beaten and his body dumped behind an abandoned supermarket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Authorities zeroed in on Sullivan after they learned his sister had been out with McGrath the night before the murder and the two had gone to the apartment she shared with Sullivan. Another suspect in the murder, Gary Grace, implicated Sullivan and had his murder charges dropped. Grace testified at the 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 a hair consistent with McGrath, not Sullivan\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sullivan was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. Grace, meanwhile, pleaded guilty to accessory after a murder, and was sentenced to 6 years. Emil Petrla, who beat McGrath and helped dispose of his body, pleaded to second-degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole but he died in prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI couldn\u2019t believe I was convicted of murder,\u201d Sullivan said, recalling prosecutors mentioned the purple jacket five times in their closing argument. \u201cMy mother was crying in the courtroom, my brother was crying. I was crying. It was very hard for me and my family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Prison would prove a nightmare for Sullivan. 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\u2019t allow him to take any classes to gain much-needed skills<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s very hard on a person, especially when you know you\u2019re innocent,\u201d Sullivan said. \u201cAnd prison is a bad life, you know. Prison is a tough life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n But in 2011, Sullivan\u2019s fortunes changed dramatically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sullivan\u2019s attorney requested DNA testing \u2014 which had not been available for the first trial \u2014 that found no blood on the coat. The testing also found substances on the coat did not contain McGrath\u2019s DNA and could not determine if the hair found on a jacket belonged to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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\u2019s blood wasn\u2019t on the jacket. But he was surprised to learn there wasn\u2019t any blood, which undermined the prosecutor\u2019s argument that Sullivan had beaten McGrath into a \u201cblood pulp.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAt the prosecutor\u2019s closing, he essentially said, \u2018Hey, if he wasn\u2019t the one who did it, why did they find blood on both of cuffs of the jacket?\u2019\u201d Curhan said. \u201cHe kept repeating that. Now, we don\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen I walked out the front door, I was in an emotional state, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n