Nassau DA To Retry Overturned Murder Conviction

HEMPSTEAD, NY — The Nassau County District Attorney announced today that it would seek to retry Christopher Ellis, of Hempstead, for the 1990 murder of Joseph Healy. Ellis was released last month after a judge overturned his conviction after it was discovered that police withheld evidence in the case.

Ellis, 51, was sentenced to 31 1/2 years in prison for the murder of Healy, an assistant football coach at Hofstra University. At his 1993 trial, Ellis was convicted of second-degree murder, two counts of first-degree attempted robbery, two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, two counts of third degree criminal possession of a weapon and third-degree criminal possession of stolen property.

The road to Ellis's release began in 2019 with the filing of a allegation of wrongful conviction. The Nassau County Conviction Integrity Unit, part of the district attorney's office, began investigating. During the investigation, they found notes from a detective on the case about leads police had on two other suspects in the murder.

Those notes, which should have been given to Ellis's defense attorney, were never handed over. After finding the notes, the Conviction Integrity Unit told Ellis's attorney, who petitioned for his release.

"The Nassau County District Attorney has no basis to believe that the failure to disclose the notes was intentional, or that the prosecutor was even aware of their existence as they were not in the prosecution file," said DA Spokesman Brendan Brosh. "The Conviction Integrity Unit was unable to confer with the former prosecutor because he passed away in September 2018."

However, the district attorney's office says that it has reviewed the case and has determined to go ahead with a retrial of Ellis.

"While failure to provide the detective’s notes requires vacatur of Mr. Ellis’ murder conviction, prosecutors have determined, based on a thorough review of the evidence, that retrial is warranted to ensure justice is done," Brosh said.