Sabrina Butler

Background

Sabrina Butler was an African-American woman who was seventeen when her nine month old child stopped breathing. She took her baby to the hospital, where doctors attempted resuscitation but failed.

Sabrina Butler spent five years on Death Row in Mississippi after being convicted in 1990 of killing her infant son, Walter. When she was acquitted, she had spent more than five years in prison and thirty-three months on death row. She later lived in the same Mississippi town in which she was convicted, remarried, and raised three children. She hoped to be a criminal investigator.

The offence

Sabrina Butler was convicted of child abuse and capital murder and sentenced to death in 1990.

At the trial, the prosecution claimed that Sabrina killed the child with “ablow” to the stomach.

The defense contended that Sabrina did not intentionally murder her child. The defense said that Sabrina, who was borderline mentally retarded, discovered the child not breathing, attempted resuscitation, and took him to a hospital emergency room. Walter was pronounced dead on arrival.

The defense attorneys argued that the child’s injuries were caused by Sabrina’s attempts to resuscitate him, but failed to provide adequate evidence to support this theory.

The prosecution sought to prove that Sabrina’s account of the events leading to her son’s death were false and that she had inflicted the fatal wounds intentionally.

Sabrina Butler gave conflicting versions of what happened to the authorities, possibly because of shock and panic over her son’s death, compounded by the effects of her borderline mental retardation and inability to explain herself clearly. The trial used these contradictions against her.

Investigation

During investigation, Sabrina was later questioned by police.

Authorities later believed that the baby died of cystic kidney disease or sudden infant death syndrome, not as a result of any criminal behavior.

On the day her son died, Sabrina was arrested for child abuse due to the bruises left by her resuscitation attempts.

Timeline

• April 12, 1989 — Sabrina Butler rushed her nine month old son, Walter, to the hospital after he suddenly stopped breathing.
• April 13, 1989 — Sabrina Butler’s baby died the next day after doctors attempted resuscitation for thirty minutes and failed.
• 1990 — Sabrina Butler’s murder trial commenced on March 8, 1990.
• 1992 — The Mississippi Supreme Court reversed and remanded Sabrina Butler’s convictions on August 26, 1992.
• 1995 — Sabrina Butler’s case went to retrial.
• Dec. 17, 1995 — Sabrina Butler was acquitted in re-trial.

Trial

Sabrina Butler’s murder trial commenced on March 8, 1990.

Sabrina Butler did not testify at her trial.

She was convicted of both murder and child abuse following her trial. Because she was a teenager, she became the only woman on Mississippi’s Death Row in 1990, condemned to die by lethal injection.

During the trial, the prosecution sought to prove that Sabrina’s account of the events leading to her son’s death were false, and that she had inflicted the fatal wounds intentionally.

Defense attorneys contended that the child’s injuries were caused by Sabrina’s attempts to resuscitate him, but did not provide adequate evidence to support this theory.

Appeals

After her conviction, Sabrina Butler filed an appeal with the Supreme Court of Mississippi on several bases.

The Supreme Court reversed and remanded her convictions on August 26, 1992.

In Butler v. State, 608 So.2d 314 (Miss. 1992), the court held that the prosecution had failed to prove that the incident was anything more than an accident.

Retrial

In 1995, Sabrina Butler’s case went to retrial.

A leading death penalty defense lawyer represented Sabrina at the second trial.

The defense introduced additional evidence supporting Sabrina’s version of events. A neighbor testified that the injuries occurred during an unsuccessful attempt to administer CPR. The defense also got the physician who conducted the autopsy to admit that the physician’s work had been inadequate.

The medical examiner changed his opinion about Walter’s cause of death, which was believed to have occurred due to a kidney malady.

A jury deliberated briefly, and on Dec. 17, 1995, Sabrina Butler was acquitted and exonerated.

Outcome

Her conviction was overturned by the Mississippi Supreme Court in 1992, which held the prosecution had failed to prove the incident was anything more than an accident. In the re-trial, she was acquitted and exonerated on Dec. 17, 1995.

Other details

Authorities later believed the baby died of cystic kidney disease or sudden infant death syndrome.

Walter’s name was Walter Dean Butler, and he was nine month old. Sabrina was seventeen at the time her child stopped breathing. The summary also stated that Sabrina was 18 at the time of the events described at trial, was borderline mentally retarded, and was living in the same Mississippi town in which she was convicted.