what was brenton butler alibi

She understands that, saying she had an "obligation" to try to do justice tothe story, and its characters. He argued that under the circumstances of the case, the exclusion of the confession would deprive him of his constitutional right to a fair trial. [4], After Butler's acquittal, his attorneys tipped the Sheriff's Office to two other suspects, Juan Curtis and Jermel Williams. (2001). Delegal said she published it herself after rejections from small publishers who said they liked the story and her writing,but told her they wanted "authentic voices.". In the movie, A Time to Kill, the main character Jake Brigance who is an attorney in the state of Mississippi describes the danger he faces when he takes on a murder case. At a hearing early Wednesday, he posted $30,000 bond and was released on the condition he was not to have any contact with the girl. The prosecutor's case was based on testimony by employees of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office as well as what was purported to be a written confession by Butler, the outlet stated in another article. It is likely that most jurors would put greater weight on the confession than the subsequent recantation. A flash flood watch has been posted for most of northeast Georgia. Under the circumstances of this case, the exclusion of the confession violated the defendant's right to due process of law. During the investigation of a shooting death outside of a motel, police arrested 15-year-old Brenton Butler and . He remained in the county jail until the Curtis trial. Brenton is the son of a middle-aged, middle-class black couple: his mother Latrice (King) works at a private school full of snotty white kids; his father Isaiah sweeps blood at a slaughterhouse. The claim of bias which the defense sought to develop was admissible to afford a basis for an inference of undue pressure because of [the juvenile's] vulnerable status as a probationer, as well as of [the juvenile's] possible concern that he might be a suspect in the investigation. Davis, 415 U.S. at 317-318, 94 S.Ct. The prosecutor must have believed then that Butler's confession was reliable. Subsequently, the state accused Curtis and another man, Jermel Williams, of the robbery and murder of Mrs. Stephens. During the investigation of a shooting death outside a motel in 2000, police arrested 15-year-old Brenton Butler and charged him with the murder. The innocent boy was 15-year-old Brenton Butler, whose trial for the slaying of a Georgia tourist provided the story for Murder on a Sunday Morning. In just hours they had an eyewitness and the killer. He raised the gun to her face quickly and it went off. In our view, the argument for admitting the confession in this case is even stronger than the one presented in Chambers. The Court rejected the state's argument that the confessions were inadmissible under the Mississippi hearsay rule, stating that the hearsay rule may not be applied mechanistically to defeat the ends of justice. Chambers, 410 U.S. at 302, 93 S.Ct. The first point the Court made in Chambers was that the confessions were spontaneous. They were approached by a man who demanded Mrs. Stephens' purse. As it turned out then, Curtis was no better off than Chambers. However, this exception is applicable only when the declarant is unavailable as a witness. Looking for a suspect, the police grabbed the first convenient person they spotted: a 15-year-old kid named Brent Butler. As a mother, she couldn't help but think of how much he'd suffered and lost. All rights reserved. At this point in the trial, counsel for the defendant proffered Brenton Butler's confession. Tourist Murder", "Butler Family Plans $2.5 Million Civil Lawsuit", "Falsely Accused Teen Sues For $8.5 Million", "Butler Family Settles Lawsuit With City", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Brenton_Butler_case&oldid=1126716534, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 10 December 2022, at 21:37. As these opinions implicitly recognize, a trial judge may be required to admit a third-party confession under constitutional principles, even if it does not qualify as a declaration against penal interest under the state law of evidence. The Brenton Butler case (officially State of Florida v. Brenton Leonard Butler) was a murder case in Jacksonville, Florida. In 2004, Butler wrote a book about his experience, entitled They Said It Was Murder. Chambers called McDonald as a witness, but he was not permitted to confront him with the oral confessions. People cannot be charged because of hate and vengeance, but to ensure justice for the crimes they have committed., The media and the government should keep to themselves, and let nature take its course. Brenton Butler Murder Case. Simpson, her ex-husband, was acquitted Oct. 3, 1995, of their deaths in a trial that riveted the nation and divided many along racial lines (latimes.com editors). The general principle that state evidence rules must, in some instances, yield to greater principles established by the Constitution has been applied specifically to require the admission of a confession by a third party. If the declarant is available to testify, the confession does not qualify as a declaration against penal interest and it is excluded because it is hearsay. Brenton Butler We found 14 records for Brenton Butler in IN, FL and 8 other states. This argument is made with an acknowledgment that Butler's confession did not meet the formal requirements of the declaration against penal interest exception to the hearsay rule. Novel by Jacksonville author, daughter of a detective, is inspired by Brenton Butler case. The defendant, Juan Curtis, appeals his convictions for first-degree murder and armed robbery. After he spent months in prison, a jury deliberated less than an hour before acquitting him.
A subsequent grand jury investigation criticized the police handling of the investigation but found no criminal wrongdoing. Rather, the question is whether there is substantial evidence to corroborate the confession. We would be more concerned if Butler had been bragging to his friends, or if he had something to gain by his statement, or if he had been threatened or coerced in some way. This seemingly racial bias is what connects the story of the real Brenton Butler and the fictional Brenton Butler of Seven Seconds. The shop is a cool throwback to the barbershops of the 50s and 60s. Federal courts have come to the same conclusion. When asked if he could identify the man who shot his wife, Mr. Stephens said that he could make an identification if he could see the man's legs. BROWNING, J., concurs. An attorney reviewed its long, gripping courtroom scenes, andDelegal has a background in law as well, from working as a paralegal at her husband Tad's law office. In support of this conclusion, the Court listed four factors that supported the reliability of McDonald's confessions: (1) each of the confessions was made spontaneously to a friend shortly after the murder was committed; (2) the confessions were corroborated by other evidence; (3) the confessions truly were statements against McDonald's penal interest; and (4) McDonald was available to testify and could have been cross-examined by counsel for the State. [1] Butler was brought to the victim's husband, who identified him as the killer. Brenton Leonard Butler) was a murder case in Jacksonville, Florida. In the movie, Brigance is threatened by community members to drop the murder case., Police Must Follow the Law (Most of the Time) He came forward with the information about Curtis on January 9, 2001, the second day of his own trial. 1105, 39 L.Ed.2d 347 (1974), the United States Supreme Court held that a defendant had a constitutional right to impeach a juvenile by showing that he was on probation, even though an Alaska statute prohibited disclosure of that fact. She said she wrote the book to honor him, in a way, and there's a character an older police officer who treats Jason with compassion who is close to what her father was like. The Court reasoned that the opposing party could then confront the witness to uncover a possible explanation for the confession. The officer must also decide if the law is so evil that he/she has no choice but to disobey it and accept whatever punishment results from that decision., Miranda was not aware he should be given a lawyer if could not afford one and the right to not self-incriminate. Both stories speak to the presence of racism in the American criminal justice system. Butler confessed to the crime but later testified that two JSO detectives, including Nat Glover's son Michael Glover, had physically attacked and coerced him into confessing. Officer Williams said that he asked Mr. Stephens, Are you absolutely sure if this is the individual that you feel shot your wife? Stephens said, Yes, I am. According to Officer Williams, Mr. Stephens then emphasized the point by saying, I'm not going to send an innocent man to jail.. The cops figured they had it solved in record time. Because Butler was available, his earlier statement to the police could not be admitted as a declaration against penal interest. A grisly hit-and-run by a White police officer leaves a Black teenage boy dead, forcing his parents and an attorney to fight a police cover-up for justice in "Seven Seconds," a series that premieres on Netflix today (February 23).According to Netflix, the 10-episode series follows the chain of events stemming from Jersey City Police Department officer Peter Jablonski (Beau Knapp, "The Signal . "Ten years later, the Butler trial's legacy remains palpable. The trial faced many challenges during the time, it was even considered the Trial of the Century because it caused so much controversy. Florida allows litigants to impeach their own witnesses, but that does not necessarily resolve the constitutional problem identified in Chambers. The prosecutor called the defendant's brother, Antoine Bryant, but was unable to get him to repeat the testimony he had previously given to the grand jury. Butler's confession meets that test, as well. Like Butler, he is 15 when he's picked up by police after a woman from Georgia is shot at a nearby hotel. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Butler categorically stated that he was the one who shot Mrs. Stephens. During the investigation of a shooting death outside a motel in 2000, police arrested 15-year-old Brenton Butler and charged him with the murder. Butler was acquitted by a jury of the May 2000 murder of Mary Ann Stephens, and later received apologies from Jacksonville's sheriff and top prosecutor, along with a $775,000 settlement from the city. The Jacksonville teenager falsely accused of a murder four years ago has been in and out of jail again -- this time in Indiana. Funny. Mrs. Stephens did not move fast enough, so he pulled out a chrome revolver that he had found several days earlier. Explains that a. b. butler was in prison for 16 years for a crime he didn't commit. Thirdly the media can misunderstand things that happened, and can potentially make things worse than naturally portayed. Besides it discusses the impact the instance had on his household and the near-death of his female parent due . But the record does not disclose the presence of any of these factors. What I would have done differently in this case is not to assume because someone fits the description and pin them as the primary suspect of a crime. Jax Teen Acquitted Of Murder Arrested In Indiana, Teen Falsely Accused Of Murder Writes Book About Ordeal, Officers' Discipline In Butler Case Overturned, Internal Affairs: Suspend 3 Officers In Butler Case, Falsely Accused Teen Sues For $8.5 Million, Grand Jury To Hold Off On Decision In Butler Case, Shorstein, Glover Apologize To 'Wrongly Accused' Teen. Was brought to the police could not be admitted as a mother, she could n't help but think how... Had on his household and the killer violated the defendant proffered Brenton and... 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