Sabrina Buie And The Death Penalty

Summary:

In 1983 a young 11-year-old girl, Sabrina Buie, was found in a soybean field in a rural area of Red Springs, NC. She had been raped and murdered. There was no physical evidence as to who committed the crime. However, suspicion was cast upon two half-brothers, Henry Lee McCollum, 19, and Leon Brown, 15, who had recently moved to the area from New Jersey and were considered outsiders. Both men were considered mentally disabled. The brothers were arrested. After many long hours of threats and questioning, McCollum broke down and admitted to a story that he made up so the questioning would end. He thought he would then be able to go home. Afterwards, Mr. Brown was told of the confession and that he would be executed if he didn’t cooperate. They both signed the coerced confessions. The men were tried in court and found guilty though they both stated the confessions were coerced and they were not guilty. Both were found guilty and given the death penalty. In an appeal, the death penalty was upheld for Mr. McCollum, but Mr. Brown’s sentence was changed to life in prison.

This evidence included a cigarette butt found near sticks used in the murder. DNA testing of the cigarette butt revealed the DNA belonged to Roscoe Artis. Mr. Artis lived only a block from where the body was found and had a history of convictions for sexual assaults. In fact, only a few weeks after the murder, Mr. Artis confessed to another rape and murder of an 18-year-old girl in Red Springs. In spite of the similarities of the crimes, Mr. Artis was never investigated for Sabrina Buie’s rape and