Together, the three of us spent over 78 years inside Massachusetts prison cells for crimes we did not commit. That is nearly eight decades of stolen moments, lost youth and missed milestones. Today, we stand before you as free men, but we know with absolute certainty that we would still be languishing behind bars, forgotten by a system that prioritizes finality over fairness, if not for the courage, vision and leadership of Rachael Rollins.
As voters head to the polls for the Sept. 1st primary election — and as early voting ends Aug. 28 — the choice for Suffolk County district attorney could not be more stark. It is a choice between a system that fiercely protects its own failures at the cost of innocent lives, or one led by someone who confronts injustice head on. That candidate is Rachael Rollins.
My name is Sean Ellis, and I spent 21 years, seven months and 29 days in prison for a crime I did not commit. I was just 19 years old when I was arrested in 1993 for murder. For decades, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office tried to keep me in jail, ignoring the extraordinary web of police corruption and prosecutorial misconduct that infected my entire case.
When Rachael took office, she established the Integrity Review Bureau (IRB) to look honestly at prior cases.
Unlike past administrations, Rachael confronted the misconduct in my case head on, agreed to vacate my remaining conviction and dismissed the charges for good. Rachael stands up for what is right, even when it means admitting mistakes.
My name is Stephen Pina, and I spent 28 years, five months and three days in prison for a murder I did not commit. My case is a testament to cruelty of the “conviction at all costs” mentality. When a Superior Court judge finally granted me a new trial based on evidence that should have freed me years ago, the current DA initially said he would accept that decision.
Then, he went back on his word. He fought my new trial with everything the office had, dragging me through years of agonizing court dates and the terrifying uncertainty of being sent back to a cell. He fought me all the way to the Supreme Judicial Court, which unanimously ruled against him.
Because of that obstruction, I waited a total of 32 years, 10 months, and seven days to finally be exonerated. Rachael recognized the injustice of my wrongful conviction and acknowledged the egregious constitutional violations that the current administration tried to ignore.
My name is Rickey “FuQuan” McGee, and I spent 28 years, three months, and 14 days in prison for a murder I did not commit. For nearly three decades, the truth about my case was buried in the shadows of the Boston Police Department and the DA’s Office. That changed in 2021 with Rachael’s Open File policy. For the first time, the gates of discovery were thrown open.
Her policy gave my legal team access to 10,000 pages of files we were legally entitled to but never knew existed. Those documents revealed the evidence that proved my innocence. Today, I am a free man because Rachael would not allow the government to hide the truth. My support of Rachael goes back to 2018 when as a candidate for DA she met with members of the AACC in MCI-Norfolk, the first DA to ever do so.
Our stories are not isolated incidents; they are the symptoms of a broken culture that Rachael worked tirelessly to dismantle. During her tenure, she created the Law Enforcement Automatic Discovery (LEAD) database — a tool to track police officers with histories of perjury, credibility issues or bias. She added more than 115 names to that database, ensuring that corrupt officers could no longer be used as the foundation for unreliable convictions.
Rachael’s opponents, certain elected officials and the media are dismissing our voices. But our lives are not footnotes. The 78 years we collectively lost we can never get back. How many more men and women are sitting in Massachusetts prisons right now, waiting for a district attorney who cares enough about the truth to listen and double-check?
This primary election is about the soul of our justice system and the future of Suffolk County. We need a district attorney who understands that true safety is built on justice and accountability, not just the volume of convictions. Rachael has proven time and again that she has the courage to fight for the truth no matter how uncomfortable it makes the establishment.
There is only one choice on Sept. 1 — Rachael Rollins.
Sean K. Ellis is a nationally recognized advocate for justice, healing, and second chances who spent nearly 22 years wrongfully incarcerated before being fully exonerated in 2021.
Stephen Pina is a Boston-based community leader, entrepreneur, and wrongful-conviction advocate who served 28 years in prison for a crime he did not commit before being exonerated on August 13, 2026.
Rickey “FuQuan” McGee is a thought leader who utilizes his lived experiences in America, including 28 years of them wrongfully detained, to outline the need for redress in this country.
