ipl-logo

Brenton Butler Trial

753 Words4 Pages

Murder on a Sunday morning is a documentary assembled and directed by a French filmmaker Jean-Xavier de Lestrade. The documentary presents a case of a young boy who was wrongly convicted of a crime he didn’t commit. Brenton Butler, a 15-year-old boy, was charged with shooting and killing Mary Ann Stephens, a 65-year-old tourist woman, in a parking lot in Jacksonville, Florida on May 7th, 2000 (De Lestrade, 2001). In an attempt to protect their image and not scare away tourists, the Jacksonville police officers carried out a hasty arrest which led to the prosecution of the wrong suspect. 15 minutes after Mrs. Stephens was shot dead while walking with her husband, the police hurried and picked the first black suspects who happened to be available. …show more content…

Butler, as the guilty one, which he did without having all his facts right. After Mr. Stephens identified Mr. Butler as the one who committed the crime the police took Mr. Butler to the police station where he was practically coerced to confess to a felony he knew nothing about. But when the case reached the court chambers, and aware they had no case to prosecute, the police officers chose to give forceful confessions, which further weakened their case (De Lestrade, 2001). The attorney of the accused (Mr. Butler), Patrick McGuinness, knowing that the prosecution’s case had reeked to high heavens, framed a powerful defense that exposed the false confessions given by the police and the shoddy investigations done by the detectives involved in the case (De Lestrade, 2001). In the end, Mr. Butler gained his rights and freedom back, which were denied to him when the police, the media, and public sentenced him wrongly. Despite all the wrongful accusations the jury declared him not guilty for all the charges leveled against

Show More
Related

  • Michael Beard's Murder Trial

    557 Words  | 3 Pages

    Bath, N.Y. (WENY) -- Another thorough day of testimony in Michael Beard's murder trial. Monday morning, Brian Lang the owner of ServPro, the company Thomas Clayton worked for, took the stand. He testified to his business relationship with Clayton and GPS tracking in the ServPro vehicles. He said he grew up with Clayton in Binghamton and hired him in January of 2015.

    Read More

  • The Proof Of Al Lipscomb's Guilty

    180 Words  | 1 Pages

    Where is the proof? These accusations have been ongoing for nearly twenty plus years and not one time has he been found guilty. Do you remember when he was under indictment with Al Lipscomb for the similar accusations and then they both were acquitted of all charges. And the judge moves the trial away from Dallas because of local influences in the matter! North of Oak Cliff west of down town Dallas as always is why Judge Kendall made the statement “My gut feeling is that, from everything that was going on in that case, including the lawyers beginning to try it in the newspapers, as well as the prominence of Al Lipscomb, and John Wiley Price there is no way the duo and the government could have gotten a fair trial in Dallas, Texas," he said.

    Read More

  • Why Was Calvin Johnson Convicted

    316 Words  | 2 Pages

    A full sixteen years later, with the power of DNA testing, Johnson was found falsely accused and was released. So what was wrong with the facts that proved Johnson guilty? The thing was, none of those were facts. A fact

    Read More

  • Nature's Evidence: Changing The Lives Of Kevin And Sue Neal

    907 Words  | 4 Pages

    One summer day changed the lives of Kevin and Sue Neal forever when Kevin reported the vanishing of his stepchildren, beginning the case entitled Nature’s Evidence. Kevin called 911 on July 9th at 1:52 in the afternoon to report that his two stepchildren disappeared under his watch. A month later, a neighbor, whose yard linked to the cemetery, smelled and found their decomposing bodies in the back of his yard, which leads investigators to wonder one important question: who murdered these children? Prosecutors immediately turn to Kevin, a man who already had violence in his background, because not only were the children supposed to be under his watch during the day, but various pieces of crucial evidence link the murder to that day and his property.

    Read More

  • Who Is Lonnie Franklin Linked To Serial Killers?

    897 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the 1980’s a victim was linked to a string of murderers in the 1980’s. Lonnie Franklin is mostly known for being a serial killer, the Grim Sleeper. Throughout this documentary deviance is shown, one afternoon a man who worked for Lonnie who thought he was an insurance man received a car from Lonnie and he found splattered blood in the seats. Lonnie told his insurance man to set the car on fire and the man did so because nobody expected Lonnie to do anything that would cause harm and they never told him no. The environment Lonnie lived in influenced him, he lived in a very poor section of town, not many jobs, and bad schools.

    Read More

  • Oj Simpson Research Paper

    3486 Words  | 14 Pages

    In spite of that Cochran remarked the most famous quote of that case, “If It dont fit, you must acquit.” Surly enough the gloves seemed to not fit and on October 3, 1995 the Jury found Simpson not guilty for the murder of Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman, It was by far the most watched murder trial in history. To this day we are not certain if he did or did not do it and only O.J himself knows if he was behind these infamous murders of all

    Read More

  • John T Scopes: The Guilty Of Teaching Evolution In Education

    1087 Words  | 5 Pages

    This could further add to John’s crime. As a jury, I undoubtedly think that John T Scopes intentionally violated the law even after being warned by his student. Harry’s evidence was very disadvantageous and unfavorable to the defense side. One of the reasons why Butler Law needs to be established is the unstable society and system caused by contradictory theories. And Harry was affected negatively as he was over thinking, stressed and had problem sleeping.

    Read More

  • Aileen Wuornos Criminal Cases

    2069 Words  | 9 Pages

    Aileen “Lee” Wuornos worked as a prostitute in central Florida and from 1989 through 1990 where she robbed and murdered seven men. All seven men were middle-aged white males. Aileen Wuornos claims these murders were an act of self-defense against being raped but later recanted and said she killed out of hate for human life. Once she was caught by the police and went to trial she was sentenced to the death penalty for six of the seven murders. She was the second female murderer executed in the state of Florida since 1976.

    Read More

  • Research Paper On Matthew Heikkila

    703 Words  | 3 Pages

    On January 29, 1991, a vile crime occurred in the Heikkila home in Basking Ridge, New Jersey. Twenty-year-old Matthew Heikkila, the adopted son of Richard and Dawn Heikkila loaded up a “sawed-off 20-gauge shotgun” (Sullivan). He labeled shotgun shells “Mom” and “Dad”, and shot his parents both in the head. Matthew plotted the murder to get the chance to steal his parent’s credit cards, and treat his girlfriend to a birthday dinner. Matthew then left his parent’s dead bodies on the floor of his home and he and his girlfriend enjoyed a night in NYC.

    Read More

  • Is The Us Constitution Effective

    796 Words  | 4 Pages

    It took nine years for the jury to realize Bloodsworth was innocent. This shows our preamble has a flaw if people are sentencing other to jail even though they're innocent, causing the innocent to rot in jail wrongfully.

    Read More

  • Examples Of False Confession In The Crucible

    622 Words  | 3 Pages

    False Confessions: Will they ever be stopped? Confessions are a large part of the justice system, they can make or break a reputation. In the court system, many confessions can change a person’s future. James Ochoa a 20-year-old was convicted of car theft when he was put in jail for his false confession.

    Read More

  • Murder On A Sunday Morning Analysis

    681 Words  | 3 Pages

    Murder on a Sunday Morning, is an Oscar award-winning documentary that tells of the conviction and trial of 15-year-old Brenton Butler for the death of Mary Ann Stephens in Jacksonville, Florida of May 2000. The film is a 111-minute movie directed by Jean-Xavier de Lastrade. The plot originates from the incident of Mary Ann Stephens being shot in the head by a black assailant; and then begins to unravel as Brenton Butler is arrested 90 minutes after the murder has occurred. Pat McGuinness, one of the main interviewees in the movie, takes up the case and defends Brenton Butler. The documentary presents the film from the trial, as well as interviews and investigations that Pat McGuinness and his partner Ann Finnel performed to gather facts for

    Read More

  • Murder On A Sunday Morning And 12 Angry Men Similarities

    604 Words  | 3 Pages

    Murder on a Sunday Morning Throughout the real-life story, Murder on a Sunday Morning, a 15-year-old African American male by the name of Brenton Butler, is accused of murdering an innocent Florida tourist and is being tried for a life sentence. This film shows similarities to the fictional film 12 Angry Men, where a teenager is on trial for the murder of his father. These similarities are shown in a variety of ways throughout these films, such as the argument for the defendant being mainly focused on as well as both cases being strongly based on witness testimonies. Nonetheless, there still are differences in these films such as how the argument was discussed through the lawyers or jurors. One of the major similarities shown throughout

    Read More

  • Carroll Watson Trial

    414 Words  | 2 Pages

    #1 WHO: Victim, Carroll Bonnet; Suspect, Jerry Watson WHAT: 61 yr old Carroll Bonnet was stabbed to death in his apartment during a burglary WHEN: October 17, 1978 WHERE: Omaha, Nebraska WHY: Burglary gone wrong HOW: Fingerprints and palm prints from victim’s bathroom as well as the latent prints from the victim’s stolen vehicle were lifted for evidence.

    Read More

  • Thirty-Eight Who Saw Murder Didn T Call Police Analysis

    452 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the article Thirty-Eight Who Saw Murder Didn 't Call Police, author Martin Gansberg recalls the events that occurred on the night of March 13, 1964. "38 respectful, law abiding citizens" (120) stood idle as Kitty Genovese was hunted down on three separate occasions and murdered. Not once was an attempt made to alert authorities, an action that may have resulted in Kitty 's life being spared. When questioned, the spectators had a multitude of excuses for why they had not notified authorities, some of which included, "I didn 't want to get involved," (122) and even, "I was tired" (123). This article demonstrates the violence of this time period and the unwillingness of humans to assist those in need.

    Read More

More about Brenton Butler Trial

Open Document