[Music] [Music] the suspect's going to be a skinny black male we in dark shorts possibly using like a small barer type pistol very very tragic very [Music] tragic I'm Pat mcginness I'll be 50 Christmas Day and I defend people charged with killing people James Stevens and his wife we at a local rata Inn they went to a continental breakfast as they left they're walking down a Breezeway in that hotel and somebody shot and killed Mr Steven's [Music] wife at that same time Brenton Butler was at his home saying good morning taking care of his dog but those two events collided about 2 and 1 half hours later he was arrested by the police and taken to be viewed by Mr Stevens and Mr Stevens identified him as the man who shot his [Music] wife this entire case everything important to it took place in two hours between 7 and 9 on a Sunday morning and what the jury ultimately comes to believe about those two hours is going to determine whether Brent goes to prison for life or has returned to his family [Music] you going with [Music] [Music] me on the morning of May the 8th I first read about the Brenton buper case in the paper the article said a 15-year-old black kid had shot and murdered a white tourist that he had confessed and if true that appeared to be the end of the story my immediate reaction was he had thrown his own life away as well as that of the tourist I had a chance later that morning to meet Brenton Butler for the first time what he told me about the case made sense what he told me about what how the detectives had treated him made me angry and as I learned more I became increasingly angry a suspect is going to be a skinny black male wearing dark shorts unknown shirt had on a hat last SE on foot running southbound possibly using like a small barer type pistol the latest update is a black mail uh with a fish like hat on with a a cloth [Music] build okay officer Martin I've asked you here today because you've been listed by the state as a potential witness in case it's pinning against Brenton Butler specifically Mr Butler's being charged with responsibility for the death of Maryann Stevens honor about May 7th of 19 of 2000 I'm an pel I'm an attorney with the public defender office office in Jacksonville Florida and I've worked here for almost 23 years the canine Officer we we're talking about how little we had just a black male in the area and he was I was actually facing north and he was facing south and he said well you know there's a young black male right there it could be him could be anybody I said well okay I I said well I'll go talk to him you know being that we didn't have much to go on I said well I'll go around there and talk to him so I pulled out and drove over to them I told them that that we had a murder up the street that the police were looking for anybody that may be able to help us solve it or anybody that could have SE anything I asked him if he lived in the area he said yes he lived nearby and uh I said well would you mind coming up here and talking to the detectives for a minute and tell them if he said anything he goes no not at all when you get to the hotel where do you park parked in almost in that ditch right um somewhere along in here I was half hanging in in and out of the road I remember having to jump across that ditch okay so then what happens they went and um talked among himself for a minute or two and went and got the U victim's husband and um he indicated that Britton Butler was the person who shot his wife so he's about 50 ft away and he says that's the guy right and we were all well kind of take him back so we had him come over even closer almost to the car at that time and he looked again and he said yep I forgot officer Martin came in and candidly admitted that the only reason Brenton Butler was even stopped that morning was because he happened to be a black male walking in the neighborhood now think about that that means for every African-American in Jacksonville Florida if they happen to be walking down the street lawfully going about their own business not doing anything wrong that they are subject to being stopped and asked to get in the police car and driven away from what they're doing and subject to being shown to the victim of a crime with the possibility that that victim would identify them on under the most suggestive of circumstances that being that they happen to be sitting in the backseat of a police car and most victims would think that they wouldn't be sitting in the backseat of a police car unless they' done something wrong right so that's where we are today in Jacksonville Florida and uh I personally find that to be disgusting and reprehensible [Music] [Music] [Music] okay the case set for today is the state of Florida versus Brinton Leonard Butler is the state now ready to proceed with its opening statement okay then M Dar you may proceed good morning ladies and gentlemen may it please the court certainly on May 7th of this year the defendant Brenton Butler approached Maryanne and James Stevens at the remata inn and he demanded Mrs stev's purse before she had a chance to comply he raised a gun to her face and fired hitting Mrs Stevens at the bridge of her nose killing her the evidence that you will hear that proves the defendant who the one who committed this crime really comes down to two things first Mr Stevens the only eyewitness to the actual shooting positively identified the defendant as the person who did this to his wife and he will come here in court and he will will positively identify the defendant in court the second piece of evidence is that the defendant gave a statement to the police on the afternoon of the shooting admitting to the shooting that's great may please the court Council for the state good morning ladies and gentlemen the evidence in this case will show you that Brenton Butler did not commit this homicide and in fact could not have killed Mrs Stevens the morning of May 7th at 12: noon you will hear the Detective Williams and Darnell began their questioning of Brenton Butler they asked Brenton Butler where he was Saturday night and Sunday morning on Sunday morning I woke up I took a shower I brushed my teeth I saw my mom and my little brother I took care of my dog and a little after nine: I left to go to Blockbuster to fill out a job application and the detectives told him you're lying we've got an eyewitness detective Glover arrived at the homicide office before 6:00 p.m. and he will tell you he will tell you that he was told that that Brenton Butler was ready to confess ready to confess here is a boy who has said absolutely nothing but it's not me I didn't do this and at 5:56 you'll learn the detective Glover entered the interview room alone to talk to Brenton Butler and detective Glover said You're Not Innocent You're Not Innocent we've got an eyewitness it's [ __ ] like you that make me mad these days and detective Glover said you know if I had done this I'd have thrown that purse and gun in the woods isn't that what you did didn't you throw that gun and that purse in the woods and detective Glover takes Brenton Butler alone hanging on to Brenton Butler's belly belt as Brenton is handcuffed into the woods deep into the woods and in the middle of the woods in that semi Darkness right before it gets totally dark ladies and gentlemen detective Glover hit him in the stomach not once but twice and hit him in his face could you state your name please James Mary and Stevens now the Stevens were in 142 that's on this side yeah right here okay 142 now this is where they turned it's about 7:30 in the morning they've got muffins coffee paper they're talking to each other as they walk after you finished breakfast did you see anyone on the way back to your room yes ma'am I saw a black gentleman walking down the sidewalk ahead of me maybe 100 to 150 ft he had on a short pants went right below the knees and a dark shirt was best plus he was wearing a hat with a narrow brim we were proceeding down talking all of a sudden there was somebody in my wife's face and my face and said give me your pocketbook she first said oh like that and she started to drop the pocketbook off her shoulder and her arm to give it to him so they looked up the man turned in wheel believe he thought the man right-handed which makes sense because the bullet entered here so turn with your right hand okay right turns the gun is less than 18 in from her face says give me the purse or give me the wallet there some conflict about that she starts to take the purse off before she can do it he fires she's falling back how close was he to you two and a half three feet okay what part of his body were you looking at well looking at his face but you indicated you also saw his gun yes when at he told her to give him her pocketbook he raised the pistol and shot her right in here and you're indicating um over your nose area well it's in the bridge right there okay you're indicating on the right side inside the bridge of the nose is that correct yes ma'am okay now p no not the right side I'm showing you the wrong side it's on this side okay but but you're indicating the bridge area the bridge area yes okay now the person that did this on May 7th that confronted you and your wife and shot your wife do you see this person in the courtroom today yes ma'am could you identify where he's sitting and what he's wearing he's sitting right below Miss nail there he has a red shirt on can't see his pants down below the table and he has on glasses you're honor if the record could reflect that the witness has identified the defendant he should reflect he's identified the defendant is there any doubt in your mind that this is a person that you saw in front of you on May 7th pull a gun and shoot your wife there's no doubt in my mind she fell almost exactly here now this is what 47 ft to here apparently by the time they made it from there to here Mr Stevens believes the man had made it back 100 ft or so start walking towards me from that point it's 150 okay stop so he's got to make it from there to here in the time they make it to here if that's the guy all of a sudden the man was right in front of you correct 2 and 1/2 ft away two and a half to three feet no warning no warning and by that I mean you didn't hear the sound of feet running down that concrete sidewalk no I did not you didn't hear the sound of feet running on the grass next to the concrete sidewalk no I did not you didn't perceive any quick movement in front of your eyes not till he was there and you saw the gun yes it did it was raised daringer type gun correct over under Barrel yes stack Barrel or stack whatever they call them Mr Stevens from the time the man appeared suddenly in front of you and your wife to the time he grabbed the pocketbook and ran four four to five seconds yes then they of four to five that's what's in the deposition 4 to 5 Seconds yes 1,001 1,002 a,3 1,004 1,005 approximately that yes that's all the time that's correct now the shirt that the man had on you did not see a logo on the shirt did you sir man we're going to look at the physical evidence which will consist of what they took off our client his clothes his shoes his underwear uh not that that's any major concern um the items collected at the crime scene glasses fragments aom now this is item this is submission number one submission number two [Music] down only a couple got a little bit Mr Stevens let me show you a photograph that's been marked defendant exhibit D yes ma'am you don't recognize that do you sir I'll tell you where it was at but I did not look at it but uh I told you that shirt was a dark shirt that he had on and that's we identified it Mr stens that was on the front of his shirt shirt you're saying that this was what was on the front of a shirt Mr Stevens a logo but I told you there was a logo Mr Stevens are you saying today that there was a logo on the front of the shirt worn by the as salant I told you it was on his back my question today is are you saying today that there was a logo on the shirt worn by the as salant no not the original salent not the original salent there was not a y a logo on the front of his shirt I believe that later I told you when we were taking the deposition that I saw a logo on this individual and it was on his back because I remember when he was turn all right sir it's not any variation of it but he had time for hour and a half 2 hours to change clothes so there was was no logo on the shirt you saw worn by the as salent is that correct at first no sir not at first I didn't want to be terribly hard on the man because frankly I think the jury thinks like feels like he's been through enough but at the same time there were certain points that I had to establish I wanted to do that not in a nice way and it would have been nicer if he hadn't like thrown that shirt logo on me it's kind of kind of surprised me when all of a sudden he started talking about having seen a shirt logo um but I I think we got out what we needed to get out from Mr Stevens isn't it true sir that you do not recall giving a description of the as salant to a uniform patrol officer who arrived shortly after the incident I did not testify to that in the deposition no and isn't it true isn't it true sir that you do not recall telling that first officer who talked to you that the as salant was a black man with skinny build wearing dark shorts an unknown color shirt and a hat and carrying a daringer style pistol I can't remember what I told him CU I don't remember talking to him this trip to the Butler is uh just to clear up some final questions I have about aspects of their testimony this store over here is probably the only place between the motel and Brent's house on the way to Blockbusters as far as I know the police have never yet checked it the police sent dive teams on a couple of occasions to check out that pond of course there was no gun but they never bothered to knock on a single neighbor's door to see if anybody had seen him leaving the house between 7 and 8 in the morning there so many things they haven't checked in this case the Sunday morning that your brother got arrested yes do you know about what time you got up that morning around 7:30 okay now as I understand when you woke up you heard music from Brent's room is that right yes sir did you see him come out of his room dressed yes okay now you I think said he had a navy blue and lilac shirt and a dark blue polo shorts what's Lilac or Lilac I didn't say that did not say that okay well I said navy blue natica shirt natica okay and when you woke up Melissa was already out getting the coffee and so right you had your coffee in your room yes you guys talk for a while yes do you recall what you chatted about if you don't that's fine but if you do was cool not anything very significant okay you didn't see Brent I didn't did you hear him I heard heard I didn't hear him I heard music and bumping uh coming from the [Music] room okay so it's it's almost 7 by the time you even check on the board right you go out and do your devotional it's been maybe 20 minutes out there come back here now he hasn't showered yet he's just still at the same steing his boxes cuz I remember he had him play at boxes so it's maybe around 7:20 then yeah could all right there was nothing unusual about his demeanor that he wasn't sweaty or excited or puffing or anything like that no just s it quiet um you've frequently go into his room to clean it and so on you've never seen a gun in there no never seen ammunition in there no never seen a fisherman type hat Noe only hats you know he's got are these too and the skull cap yeah and and I talked some about the order of witnesses yesterday uh we may end with y'all with Melissa being the last witness uh for variety reasons I think you guys tell a strong consistent story about where your son was at the time and of the four of you no offense Andre I think she's cuter than you are and makes a better Witness all right and I think a jury here and Mama talk about her boy and since she actually saw him like four separate times she's kind of a critical witness anyway that's all the news with fits the print tonight we pray and thank you for giving the defense attorney wisdom from on high yes God then you are the great attorney we trusting in your Holy Name Jesus bless this family could you state your name please James H Williams and where are you employed Jacksonville Sheriff's office within homicide are you assigned to any particular group yes ma'am I'm assigned a homicide team three okay and who else is in team three uh our Sergeant is Sergeant Joiner uh my partner's detective Darnell uh detective Bowski and detective e going back to May 7th of this year were you actually there when Mr Stevens was first brought out I was standing at the car on Richard Street with with uh officer Martin and uh Brenton okay and tell us about that Mr Stevens walked up looked at him and said that's him but he said I don't want a closer look Mr Stevens asked if he could look closer which I allowed him to do I had him he actually I actually opened up the pastor side door of the police car and Mr Steven sat down in the car and he looked at um Brandon he said that's him and I asked him I said are you absolutely positive that this is the person that um shot your wife and he says his statement was I wouldn't send an innocent man to jail okay you were the Le detective in the case yes sir that's correct so the overall responsibility for the investigation would fall to you is that right yes sir it should how many witnesses did you interview yourself in this investigation I spoke to a um ker Donaldson for a few minutes did you do a thorough interview of her no sir she was too emotional to talk to at the time did you do a thorough interview of Mr Steven no sure I did not okay who did you do thorough interviews of Bren Butler okay anybody else no sir so you have this young fell in there he was put in a locked room right yes sir okay a sound resistant locked room right yes sir [Music] very serious guy nobody in is no serious actually married a friend just measuring it's about 10 by 10 so you have this young fell in there when you're asking him questions and he's telling you I was at home and I had yogurt and did these things right yes sir wouldn't it be relatively simple to go out and ask his parents was he home yes sir did you do that no I didn't well you do a thorough competent meticulous investigation right arely overrule some way there is that right sir I try to yes sir wouldn't it be thorough and competent and meticulous to just drive out there or pick up the phone and say can you tell me what your son's activities were today if you saw him when you saw him what was he wearing could you have done that yes sir I could have why didn't you well I was in the process of interviewing him I had a positive ID and I had parents that told two detectives that are on my team that they had seen their son a few or 30 minutes prior to them arriving he had he wasn't he was in our custody at that time and the I'm sorry and the parents had also said it wasn't unusual for Brenton to leave early in the morning without them seeing him okay you know you didn't have a gun you knew you didn't have a purse you knew you didn't have any money you knew you didn't have a fisherman's hat right that's all correct okay did you ask Brent can I go search your house or your room no sir I did not did you get a search warant for his house no sir I did not you wanted to find a gun and a purse and bloody clothes and everything else right yes sir would have been nice so why not get a search warrant well we just didn't and get a search warrant okay did you go out and knock on any of the neighbors doors and say excuse me did you see Brenton Butler outside of his house between 7 and 8 this morning or 6 and 8 no sure I did not okay you didn't do that Mayon no sir do you consider that thorough and confident perhaps I should have done it sir if you don't have it organized and you can't immediately what I call discipline the witness by punishing him or embarrassing him when he lies then they feel free to lie or to change the story if on the other hand he knows every time he lies to me I can turn and go on June 29th you were under oath at that time you were asked these questions and gave these answers is that right you knew what the truth was and so on that has um a chastening effect on a witness it's like uh if a dog wets your carpet you don't discipline them it'll continue to wet your carpet a witness lies to you and you don't discipline them or embarrass him they'll continue to if you smack the dog on the nose with a newspaper pretty soon he won't wet your carpet same is true of witnesses did you tell uh Brenton Butler that you had sent policemen out to his house and his parents had been told where he was yes sir I said they detectives went out to his house and spoke with his parents well spoke can tell are different words do you recall which that's right I don't recall which one was said did you tell him his parents have been told he was down there I was I told him his parents were detectives have been out to his house and that parent the detectives been at his house and they I don't know what it was said I don't remember exactly what it said the detectives had been out to his house that's the only thing I that I remember saying as far as how he took it is whether they were informed that he was there or not I don't know he asked my parents come down yet I said no they haven't but no detectives have been out to your house on September 27th when you were under oath knowing the matters you were being questioned about well in advance and giving the answer that you did you were certainly trying to tell the truth at that time right yes sir and since then you just don't recollect or did you forget or what happened no sir I just I I don't remember exactly how that part of the conversation with Brent and went that's what I said okay so that part of the whole truth is lost to us right that's right i' do you know how we can establish it no sir then it's lost isn't it if you think say sir did you tell them that you would arrange for an attorney form for him I said we could see we can make arrangements for that okay did you tell them you would arrange an attorney for him I said we can make arrangements for that okay did you make the first Arrangement no sir did not did you pick up the phone no sir you just told the young man at noon he had a right to an attorney right yes sir and then you told him you'd arrange for one right yes sir but you didn't that's correct you didn't take the first step on Mak him it on that promise I didn't promise him sir I just made a statement to him and no I did not make a phone call okay when you say We'll arrange an attorney for you that's not a promise I don't make promises to the individuals I'm interviewing I'm not try to follow if you make if you say you're going to do something yes sir but it wasn't said it wasn't brought across as something I promise you I'll do or make it it not wasn't said I promise you I will go do something so only you only do it if you promise no sir you said you brought the word a promise well you didn't do it right that's correct would you have done it if you said I promise well I would have decided when it got to that point you knew less than 100 yards from where you sat there was a courtroom in operation with a public defender right uh I'm not sure the the distance but you're it was a public a trial courtroom attorneys are there by the jail in retrospect do you think perhaps you could have been more thorough and more confident in the investigation perhaps it's always good to self judge yourself see make sure you do a better job next time thank you sir I'm going to turn your attention to May 8th of this year did you find a purse during during your morning walk yes ma'am I did and where did you find this purse in the dumpster at 63rd Maine at Allstar 6:30 the next morning Mr Stevens who uh collects cans for part of his living was traveling up the street he found the purse in a dumpster outside an alternator shop walked across the street and called the police he found uh the woman's wallet and identification in it he didn't know for sure whether there was money in it or not but he didn't check it thoroughly turned out there was close to $1,200 in the purse they dumped their trash some of them on the corner up here that dumpster there is where the first was found it's put trash in when it's empty you'd have to lift those flaps and touch it probably leave fingerprints but the police never brought an Evidence technician out here to check for fingerprints on it between here and the Rada end there's probably a thousand dumpsters so I think there has to be some reason this one in particular was chosen fair amount of drug dealing and so on in this area it's racially mixed and there's a kind of a rough crowd that lives right behind this building to get here and the remata in it's about a 9 and 1/2 Mile Drive it's probably without traffic about a 20 minute drive for 15-year-old boy walking round trip it'll be quite some trick Mr Stevens okay now the pocket it was white it had some blood on it did you notice the blood no sir okay did you did you look to see whose it was at all I opened it up I took the wallet out M now they didn't get a woman's name that was killed on television M I found the pocketbook all of her IDs was in it her credit cards and everything else how are you doing man my name is Pat mcginness I'm with the public defender's office so you called the officer he met you over there you gave him the purse and then he continued your route right when the police officer came back to me the same one I gave the part off yes sir okay he said do you have a few minutes I said yeah he said somebody wants to talk to you that's when the detective pull up said boy where's the gun said he's he me he he acced me of taking the gun and did he call your boy I think I I correct yes if I call correctly and did you get the wrong impression that he thought you took that gun yeah was his matter the way he was dealing with you was it kind of accusatory he accused me of taking it I said if you want to search me search me you can also search my buggy cuz that bag was on the back of it I had three bags of cans hanging if you want to search it search it but I've got no gun there was no gun in the pocketbook what did he say he looked dumi and the police officer says I could leave so I left I appreciate you taking the time to speak with me you're welcome and uh like I said many stuff I have found in the past this is the first time I've ever had to go to court well hopefully it'll be the last time but I appreciate you taking the time to do but now how the pocketbook got from sass side to the north side only God knows i' answer cuz I damn sure don't know it right how are you doing sir bye M mcon you pretty good when the detective came to see you what' he have to say to you he got out of the car he says where's the gun boy what gun gun that's in the pocketbook I saw no gun in the pocketbook now if you want to search me do so if you want to search my buggy please do so but you going to find no gun because I saw no gun was your impression he was accusing you of stealing the gun yes sir [Music] [Music] [Music] how you [Music] doing Oakland the Raiders they playing good ball this year they're at 7 and one the Chiefs is 5 and three and the Broncos 4 and four no not at all you know but I just want you to everything went well today as far as your preparation we're just happy with what we have at this point we have more than ample information and documentation to put before the judge to let him know that actually a lot of things really wasn't done properly your granddad called me today and song Happy Birthday to me he said you got a big birthday present coming so I don't know what it is I don't know what it is so how um let me see what I was going to ask you the you the birthday present yeah you the birthday present that's what I said to myself I said shoot the biggest birthday present I can get is brenon that would be the best birthday present so let let your daddy pray with you before we go okay and I love you sweetheart okay okay son so um let's pray the heaven the father be come before you this evening and as usual we know that actually you are in control dear heavenly father dear heavenly father we ask you to be in that court room for us tomorrow dear Heaven father we ask that actually you give Mr mcginness all the tools that his needed and his staff yes to really work on our son behalf de heavly father de father we ask you to touch the judge de Heavenly Father may we ask you to really touch his mind for he can make just rulings on in our favor dear Heaven father father we love you we honor and we adore you to Heavenly Father we going to give you the praise all of our days amen amen hey Brian what up they pleas stay by G [Music] they questioned Brent off and on over a period of 12 hours and they brought in a fellow I regard as a specialist in obtaining confessions and he didn't succeed and it frustrated him they took a 15-year-old boy out to the woods and the others left them alone gave them their privacy so they'd have plausible deniability they left him with this specialist that man punched him in the stomach twice and punched him in the face and he beat a 15-year-old boy because he said he was innocent that's some yeah he looked worse than this one I saw him yeah he looked much worse than that when I took the pictures this one is good but it's it still doesn't show them the way I saw him no I saw him the same day you saw them and right in here was just swollen awful usually I wait to the end of the interview on the interview she to do the photos we stopped as soon as he came in to take them cuz it was so apparent right in here you can see the glare a little bit better as far as the leverage can Andrew do anything to enhance the resolution but as far as it being on an africanamerican the skin tones a lot different but we're going to need to explain to Jory this doesn't accurately right to show the way he looked but this one's pretty good and I contacted the state attorney which is something I generally don't do that early in a case and I gave the state my photographs and I told him what I believed we could prove and it didn't matter because they were politically in a position where they felt they had to prosecute to defend the honor of these detectives and um everything that has happened since then I believe has been an effort to defend the honor of these detectives who I do not find to be Honorable Men could you state your name please Michael Glover and where are you employed the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office in what capacity I'm assigned to the homicide division how long have you been with the homicide division 5 years and how long have you been with the Sheriff's Office 11 years where did you first meet Mr Butler in the homicide office in one of our interview rooms and what happened when you first went into the interview room when I first walked in I saw the defendant and the defendant looked at me and he made a comment that indicated boy am I glad to see you did you then have a conversation with him yes ma'am I did and I asked him was it an accident and it was at that point he nodded his head and said yes and then and said I didn't mean to shoot the victim he began to hug me and and cry and I hugged him back and he indicated he said that he that the victim had given him a mean look well it was at that point I got close to his ear and I and I I said why did you shoot the lady and he at that point he said he didn't mean to hurt anybody he just needed her purse after that I he immediately made a a statement saying that he had the Gun Down by side and he raised the gun up toward her face and it fired and as PR when he said after that he threw the weapon somewhere but he didn't remember where he threw the weapon what happened then at that part of the interview I asked him to tell me again what happened with the weapon and this time I wanted you to be truthful about it and it was it was at that point he he stated that he put the weapon on the back of a 18-wheeler truck and I told him well you've you you've been truthful and you've been communicating with me you've been cooperating with me I I was explained to him how I appreciated that but I told him that I didn't believe that he actually placed the weapon in the purse on the back of a on the back of a 18wheeler truck and I asked him again tell me where did you put the weapon and it was at that point he stated that he threw the weapon in the woods near the scene yes he is a black man his father also is a Sheriff so it's just like whatever Glover says a lot of people believe it's credible evidence you know and he has been involved in so many different things um I'm angry due to the fact when he said that when Brent saw him he just hugged him and said I'm so glad to see you and I know Brent better than that because you really have to approach him go up and talk with him and he's not the type of person that will run up and hug you uh you all probably have seen that uh in the courtroom you know he kind of stays to himself so it's like what Glover is saying like I said I don't believe it during that time period when you in the woods with the defendant did other than holding the belt did you touch him in any way no ma' did you hit him no ma'am did you raise your voice no ma'am did you make any threats no ma'am did you threaten his family no ma'am and then also the interview you already had with him did you ever threaten him or his family no ma'am I didn't Mr Glover how are you yes sir related to n Glover yes sir he's the sheriff yes sir when did he become become Sheriff um four years ago was July 1st 1995 yes sir was it 95 when you became a homicide detected yes sir okay they were stuck with a problem you got two lieutenants two sergeants you got the media camped out with trucks there already you got a white tourist in Florida at a motel kill but they're not getting anywhere on the confession so they think okay we'll pull in an africanamerican to see if he can establish some rapport with a child Glover said and and I find this incredible that the police that Williams and Darnell told him that they thought the child was ready to confess those were the words he used if I remember so he goes in with a state of mind that hey this kid's ready to confess where the first hostility comes about is when he says I did some bad things in my life and the kid says I've never had any dealings with the police and um Glover gets upset and says you're lying and it's [ __ ] like you that make me mad you were there to get a confession we've established that right yes sir and you didn't know whether he was innocent or guilty right no sir not that point you told Brenton Butler to be truthful right yes sir but you had a very particular idea of the truth you wanted right yes sir you wanted him to say something different than what he' been telling the other detectives since 10:00 that morning right no sir I mean if he was involved in in and I wanted the truth rest to him of his involvement you uh set yourself right up in his face knee to knee right yes sir I did they teach you that in those interrogation schools you go to yes sir you've been to five of those right yes sir okay and they tell you to get some physical contacts with the subject of the interview don't they what do you mean when you say physical contact touching people yes sir it's part of some of the techniques we use are in reference with touching people okay and you grabbed his hand didn't you I held his hand I never referred to Glover as detective Glover he didn't do any detective work in this case and it bothers the witness when he's not by the title he thinks he should have and my purpose when I'm trying to show someone is lying is to make them uncomfortable to make them off guard um sometimes I like it when they fight me because when they do I believe I'm going to win how tall are you sir 511 what do your way 240 lbs okay played high school ball yes sir college ball yes sir played lineman yes sir as a lineman you hit people yes sir you were on scholarship yes sir you hit people well yes sir and you hit him hard right yes sir and uh do you think a 240lb man considerably his senior uh grabbing his hand was going to make Mr Butler more comfortable and more willing to chat with you yes sir is that generally the response you get when you go around grabbing guys hands so I don't go around grabbing guy's hand I didn't be that procedure from the comment he made to me when I first entered the interview room well did you ask Mr Butler friend little buddy that you holding his hand where'd you get the gun no sir did you ask him who might have ever seen him with this gun no sir did you ask him where he got ammunition for this gun no sir you ask him where he stored it no sir ask him how or where he carried it to or from the scene no sir just weren't curious at that time not at that time no sir okay gotten curious since yes sir done any more investigating don't sir that's not my case not my responsibility no sir yeah oh weren't you a little bit interested in the murder weapon we're covant yes sir didn't you even want to know what type it might have been well so not at that time why would three detectives take Brent out to the woods and I don't think that they would take him out to the woods solely for the purpose of roughing him up I just don't believe that lover suggested it that's why but Williams who's the lead detective presumably would know that those Woods had been surged already by Patrol officers and dogs yeah Williams Doesn't Know Jack about his own case they would have to have a good faith basis to believe that perhaps the gun and purse were in the woods don't you think I think they think well we haven't broken the kid we know he got picked up around here it's a good chance he dumped the gun let's go see if we can find it and if we can we'll confront him with him and maybe get a confession if I'm understanding you correctly you're telling us you're having this conversation with Brenton Butler and he says he threw the gun in the woods right that's correct did he say where he was when he threw this gun into the woods on the roadway so it would be within an arms throw of the roadway right I'll still be guessing but yes sir well he didn't say he kicked it right no sir he didn't say that gun had wings or anything like that right no sir so you think an arms throw is a fair inference from what you remember it depends on how through how hard you threw [Music] it Joiner and Darnell was peely parked on the far side of Kagel according to um Williams they spent like an hour in these Woods according to Darnell it was 15 minutes and just walking through these woods with all the vines in handcuffs at dusk with only the good detective Glover to help you would be a scary [Music] [Music] proposition if it's Dusk and Glovers yeah hitting uh Brent there's no way they're going to be able to see it from out there how long during your walk in the woods were you out of sight of detectives Darnell Williams and Sergeant chiner maybe 30 minutes do you know why everybody left you Prett much search in the immediate area where he originally showed but you had the guy who was supposed to know where the gun was right yes sir and on the trip to the woods he had himself trusted up kind of like a Christmas turkey with arms in front and tied to his belt and you had a little strap in the back i s he was cuffed okay and uh he really was not in a position to defend himself at all should he be attacked by anybody right I wouldn't let anybody attack him you right-handed or left-handed right-handed so if you're facing somebody you pop them uh do you more often hit the right or left side that is to sustain the objection the for question now You' gone out there uh you say expecting to find a gun right yes sir must have been kind of disappointing when you didn't wasn't it yes sir you're little annoyed about it no sir did you happen to punch Bren Butler twice in the gut no sir how about once in the left eye no sir and uh if you did that' be a violation of Department regulations right that's correct and uh that could result in suspension or dismissal and if you had done that would you tell us the truth about it sir yes sir is that um your custom to tell the truth in situations such as that objection your honor and how did that appear to you as you viewed it oh it was a large well like I mean he had been hit from the you're I'm going to object to any conclusions by this Witness overruled this that and does it show up on defendant for that's just a different view with a swelling it's you can ex you get I take it from different angles so you can see it rather than a bruising that you can take straight on so it was just it's right in that area right there there's a bruising right in here where would that be on your body Miss Smith right right in middle of my chest area [Music] at this time we'd call Brenton Butler juveniles are not very easy to work with they have a lack of sophistication often times they have limited vocabulary they have difficulty sometimes expressing themselves um they are not as focused on things they have a tendency to be distracted um and how I worked with Mr of Butler was to take the interview that had been done of him and the affidavit that he had executed for his bond hearing and break it down into small pieces when you got down to the police station where you were you put into a room yes ma'am and who came in Darnell William was the next person you met detective Glover correct now bran had you ever seen that man before no ma' when he walked in did you say boy am I glad to see you no ma what did he start talking to you about he started talking about about sports uh is he being friendly is he being nice or being is he being mean at that point he's being nice did did there come a time when he became not so nice to you yes ma'am did he use any racial comment towards you yes ma'am what did he tell you he said his nigg like you that make me mad these days what did he do when he told you that he start poking at my chest was what his his uh his finger look going like this poking up my chest was he saying anything as he was doing this yes ma'am what said I'mma get you I'mma get you did he touch you again yes ma'am what did he do he banged his fist into my chest show me it like did he then give you a scenario of what he thought had happened yeah said you accidentally shot lady you ran and you threw the threw the gun and Pur in the woods what did you say said no sir I a have nothing to do with that does the issue of trying to go out into the woods and find the gun come up yes ma'am how how far did detective Glover Walk You Into the Woods it was pretty deep and what's the lighting like inside the woods at this time it's pretty dim like shady at some point Brent did detective Glover hit you yes ma'am where did he hit you first my stomach how hard I fell to my knees and what' you say said I couldn't help you what did I don't know anything about a gun person what did he do hit me my stomach again what did you do I fell to my knees did it hurt yes ma'am what happened after you fell on your knees the second time well I was crying then he said you look pathetic he pulled me up on my shirt did you get hit again yes ma'am where hit me in my left eye how how hard did he hit you it was no was no knockout punch or nothing like that but it it was a hit and I took a couple steps back took a few steps back I anticipated that the police were not going to admit that they had harmed him and it would be important to put his injuries into the context of the interrogation and the only real way to do that since there are only three detectives and Mr Butler as witnesses to these injuries and since I anticipated that the detectives would be denying the injuries the only way to really explained to the court or the jury how the injuries occurred would be for him to testify so when you saw detective Darnell what did he do that point he had pulled out a form and what did he start to do with that form with you he said he had said you had you had robbed you robed the older lady and you had pulled out gun real fast you had you had shot you had R home or something like that I really and what he doing as he's telling you these things at that point he he he writing he writing it down okay and when he got done going through this what did he tell you to do told me to sign what happened at that point then he had unsnap this Hoster like then I said what you going to do shoot me said you guess right he said every 10 second that's passed by you're going to hit me did 10 seconds pass by yes now and what did he do yeah yeah hit me twice in left did you um sign the form yes ma'am now Brent did you shoot the lady Mrs Stevens at the Rada in the morning of May 7th no ma'am were you at the Rada in the morning of May 7th noal never been no [Music] good morning ma'am good morning can you tell us who you are I'm Melissa batler I think you said you usually get up 47 is that correct I okay and um do you know if that was true this morning yes because I still can't sleep past 7:00 what' you do when you got up well um I you when I used to get up in the morning I go ahead and pray as usual and go in the bathroom and do what I I need to do in there and it took took about 10 minutes after I left my bedroom I went directly to Brent's room his door was closed I opened his door he was in bed still in his boxes but his back was turned towards the door his face facing his bedroom wall the next time that I saw BR after leaving my bedroom when I was here and Brent was right here in the foer area near the fourth bedroom which is here I would assume he was coming out of the fourth bedroom from the laundry room which is here did you speak at all with each other at that point yes when we met here I said good morning Brent and he said good morning now did you encounter any policemen that morning yes did either of those gentlemen speak to you or your husband in your presence yes um tell me if you would about that conversation they asked do Brent Butler live here and we said yes and my husband said what can I help you with and they said well we just want to question here him not accusing him of anything we just want to question him to see if he know anything about the break-ins in the area now you went in and Brenton wasn't there you told the police that right yes um did that alarm you or upset you or was that unusual well it was not unusual for Brent to leave the house without telling us but it was very unusual for Brent to stay gone for a long period of time cuz he will stay no more than 30 minutes to an hour he have never left the house and just gone and stayed and that's what up upet at me and I called my sister Emma and I said what could have happened to him and she said well call some of his friends Sean is the onlyest friend that I know that Brent associate with so I called Shawn on my cell phone to ask had he talked to Brent today he said No at that point I know something has happened to my son so um excuse me just take a moment there's water beside you if you need it did you get to speak to Brenton later that night yes but it was very late do you recall what he said to you and you to him he said Mom I didn't do it I didn't do it and he said um I'm going to spend the rest of my life in here because they made me sign this paper and I said what paper but he didn't quite understand because he was so upset himself and I said no you won't I said Bron just pray and hold on it may be necessary just to get a complete understanding of the conversation so overrule the objection so I told him to uh just pray and hold on and that our father would do his dad and I would do anything to get him out of that that me even Mortgage in the house to get him out of this thank you okay M you may proceed need if you need a break just let us know I just want to clarify a few things that's all I'm going to be asking you about you indicated that the first time you saw your son he was still in his bedroom yes ma' and your Bas in the time that you saw him on your regular pattern yeah you didn't look at a clock no and I think you said now what time was it that you saw him in the laundry room it was um well not exactly in the laundry room I met him in the foer area cuz I was coming down the hallway uh leading to the foer area but that's on the way to the laundry room yes okay where you keep your cleaning supplies yes y I don't have any other questions just briefly ma'am um you realize you're under oath yes is there any question in your mind that your son was home between 7 and 9 in the morning no question I know my son was home thank you ma'am [Music] told no actually he said he didn't I've got it they knew they didn't have a case and a detective went in and he wrote out what he wanted and he's a man who gets what he wants and then he threatened a 15-year-old boy and he poked him and he displayed his gun and he got him to sign a piece of paper it was a pathetic piece of paper that made no sense that never has been since that date supported in any way there is no truth in it but it was close enough for government work um so you asked Detective Williams about talking to the defendant did you do so I did was anybody else with you no it's just me tell the uh jury about your conversation I told them that a decision had been made that he would be arrested and charged with the murder of Maryann Stevens told him that we would complete some paperwork and that he would be incarcerated at the Juvenile shelter and what happened then once I told him about the incarceration I told him that this if he wanted to tell his side of the story that this would be his last opportunity to do so well at that point he touched my knee cuz we're sitting for face to face and said when I talked to detective Glover he had told me that there was an easy Road and he touched my opposite knee and said and there was a hard Road I said well I wasn't present for That interview and I'm not sure what you're talking about but as far as an easy road I don't see one I only see a hard Road that's a very serious offense uh with that in mind I asked him if at this time he wanted to present his side of the story he said he did I left the interview room I told him I had to get the forms I left the interview room I went and talk Detective Williams who was still sitting at his desk I advised him that I was going to take a written statement that he had provided me with his side of the story he said okay I said I need you to go in the monitoring room and monitor the written statement so you can witness the written statement he said okay fine what happened when you went back into the interview room we recorded written statement uh on a sheriff's office statement form when we finished the statement uh we read it over together out loud I asked him if he agreed to it and he said yes he signs on each bottom of each side of the statement testing that this is his statement and at the end I drew a diagonal line and he signed on that diagonal line as well as on the bottom where it's a statement made by your honor I don't have any other questions at this time okay Mr mcginness he may cross before he came up for cross examination there was a break I went out to have a cigarette and as I pulled my cigarette out he looked at me and there's no love loss between us and he said um suck down another cancer stick and I just looked at him and I said I always enjoy a cigarette before sex cuz I wanted him to know I was going to screw him uh I don't think the message was lost on him and I did now initially when you spoke to him this young man was polite to you is that right yes he was calm he was he was well-mannered yes okay and then you and Williams started calling him a liar didn't you no never called him a liar I told him I thought he was lying did you that wasn't my question did you call him a liar or not sir indirectly okay how about directly did you do that I don't recall calling him liar directly it's not in your notes probably not I don't recall does that happen with such frequency you just don't take note of it objection overrule does that happen with such frequency you just don't take note of it sir and what is that that I call calling people Liars no uh I like that and I like the fact that I didn't believe these men and I didn't respect them because of what they had done so it puts you in a fighting mood it makes you want to show them to be what they are this is the first two pages of the statement you took right yes now all this information up here that's in your handwriting yes okay and I Brenton Butler and providing the state of my own free will without any threat or promise he didn't say that right it's correct okay and detective Darnell is writing this statement at my request he didn't say that right correct and virtually all of your statements start out the same way right they do okay everybody just ask you to write your statements right the ones that do and what percentage would that be I don't know any statistics extraordinarily high percentage wouldn't it I would say most asked me to write yes and is that because you have remarkably good penmanship or do you know I just always assumed it was that they were too lazy to write it themselves okay but you knew he could read and write right sure didn't you think it might be a good idea to let him if you wanted his side of the story to let him put his own side of the story down this is his side of the story okay last night I got home late and didn't get a chance to eat did you ever check to see if that was true no okay did he look malnourished when you were talking to him no and Detective Williams was over in the monitoring room was he Detective Williams is in the monitoring room so he would have heard him say all these things right I can't testify what to Ty to Williams heard as far as you KN knew the audio hookup was still working over there right yes the woman gave me a mean look and mumbled nasty [ __ ] under her breath as far as you noted Mr Stevens ever corroborate that in any way I've never talked to Mr stevens or interviewed him about this case but you've read report plenty of times right I've read what was relevant to me okay and as I raised the gun from my pocket quickly it went off is that something he said yes I had pulled the trigger unknowingly that was his language unknowingly no he said he that he didn't know he pulled the trigger okay so you just like that word better right that's just how I wrote it when we formulated the sentence I took the woman's money from her wallet and put it in mine right yes that's he said that right that's what he told me yes and I went home to feed my dog did you say why it was so important to feed the dog at that point I never got the impression it was important that was just what he did when he got home well why'd he go home if he just completed this successful arm robbery and killed somebody did you say no later I was walking to Blockbuster Video to get a job application why did he need a job if he taken up this new career as an arm robber I don't know okay when the police stopped me the policeman asked me to come with him to the remata in which I did did he say why he went with the police if he just killed somebody over there he just said he was asked and he complied complied was that what he said no that's my word okay if we could let's let's try and distinguish between your words and his okay the man who was with the woman I shot came to the car and told the police I was the one who shot her right he said that yes you could hear that in the next and he's saying this stuff out loud right we're formulating sentences is he saying this stuff out loud actually I'm saying this and he's agreeing to it okay what of these words did he say out loud that could be heard in the monitoring room all of them okay while somebody was in the monitoring room Detective Williams was in the monitoring room so he would have heard him say all of these words is is that right the video did you hear him ask detective Darnell to to write the statement out for him no sir did you hear him say last night I got home late and I didn't get a chance to eat did you hear Brenton Butler say that no sir did he ever say I approached an older white man woman and asked spare change did you hear him say that no sir I did not during the portion of conversation you you monitored with Darnell did he ever describe with any particularity or the clothing of the lady he supposedly shot I never heard him say that's true while you're monitoring Darnell did you ever hear him say he shot anybody no sir okay now since that time the six months that have followed which of the facts asserted in here have you been able to verify in any way I've not attempted to verify any of them thank you sir [Music] [Music] I want Jesus to walk with [Applause] me thank you we come with Thanksgiving in our heart yes Lord today are home praying and listen of your Holy Name we thank you for prayer Partners back bless us and hold us keep us in Jesus precious name weay thank you Lord [Music] amen I will probably go to sleep about 10: probably get up about 2:30 I'll take all the notes I've made over weeks and months and I'll start a distillation process throwing out the things that I think either not compelling or not important enough to use any portion of my hour and a half on boiling it down to the facts that I think work best for us and then trying to couch those facts in a way that'll be compelling to the jewelry that will ring true with them I are these things we've heard worthy of belief are they consistent with what other Witnesses say are they consistent with the physical evidence are the things the detectives said true or false and if so how do we tell this Joy tomorrow could well come back against me when I say against me I take it personally the man or boy in this case will'll suffer is Brenton Butler and he could well suffer with the loss of his Liberty for the rest of his life um that's a very frightening thing so I believe in my heart of hearts that he's innocent I'm not allowed to say that to the jury I can't tell them that I believe that I can tell them that the evidence shows that and they may or may not agree with my view of the evidence and if they disagree I don't know what I'll do uh this is not a loss I will be able to take easily ladies and gentlemen the defendant Bretton Butler shot and killed maryan Stevens during an arm robbery on May 7th of this year the state must prove the material elements of this charge Beyond A Reasonable Doubt and I submit that we have we have an eyewitness a person who was right there and watched the defendant Bretton Butler shoot his wife right in front of his eyes four to five seconds it is an eternity when facing a man with a gun you recall Miss Fel counting well I I tell you it's this 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 looking directly at the man holding a gun and shooting your wife Mr Stevens is a man he's 65 years old he told you about all of his life experiences and I submit to you that when he looked at that person and then he saw the defendant two and a half hours later that he identified him as he said I'm sure of it I would not put an innocent man in jail now let's talk about The Alibi the murder of Mrs Stevens occurred around 730 in the morning on Sunday the 7th the defendant lives less than one mile away what does it take less than five minutes to get away from the scene and then five or 10 more minutes to get home we're not talking about a very long distance now according to his mother between 7 and 7:15 she hears the defendant in the bathroom room and then around 8 he is coming from the laundry room think about that that's according to his mother sometime around 8:00 30 minutes after Mrs Stevens was shot let's talk about the confession the defendant says he never made those statements not that they're not voluntary he never made them that is what the defendant claims about this now I tell you the claims in this case are outrageous they're horrible they're horrendous to claim that these police officers beat this 15-year-old until he didn't confess but finally signed the written confession they're horrible if you believe those after this trial I urge you to call the media call the FBI call anybody they're outrageous but I submit to you to believe those those allegations you need to believe in a conspiracy worthy of Oliver Stone look at this person this is a person who confessed who told his side of the story as detective Glover talked about Mr beinus is going to have an opportunity to talk to you and I want you as he talks to think about the things I've said but I submit to you that first if you just look at Mr Stevens identification right there the one eyewitness positively identified the defendant identified him by his face and that alone proves our case Beyond A Reasonable Doubt thank you Winston Churchill used to say that the quality of a Nation civilization can be measured by the methods as Police use in the enforcement of criminal laws I suggest to you by that yard stick we're in deep trouble ask yourselves what you know about this investigation are you satisfied can you be satisfied can you ratify and endorse and condone what happened in this case I think based on the evidence not the police had a problem at this Motel there was a murder it was a stranger murder they are the most difficult to solve it requires diligent police work it requires attention to detail it requires an appreciation of the forensic evidence it requires careful analysis it didn't happen here but what did the police do in Casablanca they had to Line Round Up The Usual Suspects what they did is they went looking for black people and two and one half hours after this shooting a 15-year-old boy who on his way to get a job application a young man that works that's worked in the past that pays for his own clothes and his CDs that the state would have you believe at age 15 he gets up has his yogurt decides to go kill somebody kills him comes home and feeds the dog somebody who's never in his lifetime been seen by anybody with a gun and Mr Stevens made an identification he made an identification of a man 4 in shorter than the person he described 5 to 10 years younger who was wearing a shirt the absolute most noticeable thing about it is the Nautica logo the man who wielded that gun would have had to have the gun at least at chest height to get the angle of Entry that Dr Flora described the gun would have been right there this logo cannot be missed from 2 and 1/2 ft looking at someone if it's there but that very same identification created some real problems for the police their only eyewitness was whole heart edly committed to an identification that if they were going to make a case they had to make that come true and they had the television crews out there already they had a case they knew was going to get a lot of attention because had a white victim a Black Shooter a tourist in Florida and that media attention the racial aspects of it the pressures on the police I think colored everything that happened later that day why was everybody distancing themselves from Glover in the woods here's the fellow who claims he's got the man who knows where the gun is they're going to the woods and Glover went deep in that Woods he went out of earshot nice side to everybody without lights but he's looking for a gun he says and he punched a 15-year-old boy in the gut twice and once in the eye think about why Glover was brought in what does the evidence tell us his most distinguished achievement was before his father became sheriff and all of a sudden they realized his potential as a homicide detective cuz he he sure wasn't one before that before that his most noteworthy achievement was hitting people and hitting them well objection your honor you may our reporter please join us at the side or now you may have noticed when detective Glover was on the stand he's a right-handed man and when a right-handed man it's a man he's facing which Sid is he going to hit we know that Brenton Butler went into police custody unmarred and unscratched we know he didn't emerge that way we spent hours talking to Witnesses who would reluctantly give up itss of the truth a little bit at a time but you now know what Detective Williams should have known had he bothered to check the morning of May 7th and I believe it reveals something very frightening there is still a man out there that man is 20 to 25 years of age he's probably about 6 feet in height he has a collar on his shirt he still has a functioning gun and because no diligent effort was made in the investigation in this case likely some other citizen will come to harm because the work wasn't done when and how it should have been done I ask you each individually and collectively to act with Fidelity to your Oaths to well and truly try the issues in this case and I suggest that if you do this will truly be a Thanksgiving this week on Chevy Drive I thank you for your kind attention we want everybody to be fresh we want everybody to be clear of mind so uh what we'll do in just a moment then it's we'll recess for the evening we'll come back I will for sure have everything ready to go so you are released we'll see you at 9:00 outside courtroom number 4 in the morning [Music] [Music] we have all our trust in the Lord and that's where it really has been it for one for the Lord and we don't know where we would actually have been by now and so it's no mistake the Lord don't make mistakes and so we going to be here we here and the Lord is going to be in that c you going to be in that court room and you talking about when they allow you to come home when you are safee you going to talk about some Hallelujah good time in there you going to talk about some shouting people going to run inside that BR they going run us out cuz you when you get all these Christians together and they going to be having having a joyous good time they going like heyy they going to be thanking de and praising the Lord Brenton lonard Butler the defendant in this case has been accused of the crimes of Murder in the first degree and armed robbery if you find Maryann Stevens was killed by Brenton lonard Butler you will then consider the circumstances surrounding the killing in the deciding if the killing was first deegree Mur murder or was murder in the second degree murder in the third degree manslaughter or whether the killing was excusable or resulted from justifiable use of deadly force A Reasonable Doubt is not a mere possible doubt a speculative imaginary or forced doubt A Reasonable Doubt as to the guilt of the defendant may arise from the evidence conflict in the evidence or the lack of evidence if you have a reasonable doubt you should find the defendant not guilty if you have no Reasonable Doubt you should find the defendant guilty [Music] [Music] is still here father up [Music] their Glory praise and honor J precious name Jesus name bless my pre [Music] friend Jesus [Music] preci [Music] amen if you're here for the Brenton Butler case if you would please bring out the courtroom quietly Jury has reached the verdict w we have a verdict if you want to come over and let Sue or anybody else who's interested know what does that mean uh it's only 45 minutes things I either found for us or against us I'm hoping it's for us as everyone who was outside and following the trial here and had an opportunity to be present back Mr Stevens is here and the butler families here are we ready to proceed Council okay then let's uh let's bring the jury back [Applause] in Mr Young where are you the four person yes I am and has the jury reached a verdict yes we have and so I'm going to hand the verdict forms to our Clerk and ask that she publish the verdicts and ladies and gentlemen the jury I wish you that you please stand and hearken to your verdict in the Circuit Court of the for judicial circuit in and for Duval County Florida case number 25635 CF division crg the State of Florida versus Brenton Leonard Butler verdict as to count one we the jury find the defendant not guilty please please everyone please please maintain the quum in the courtroom thank you case number 25635 CF division crg the State of Florida versus Brenton Leonard Butler verdict as to count to we the jury find the defendant not guilty so say we all done at Jacksonville Duval County Florida signed by the FL person dated November 21st 2000 okay does council for the state or the Fant wish the jury be pulled okay ladies and gentem if you all please be seated L I want to thank you for your time and patience in this matter uh I hope you all come away from this with a sense that you really have done something to contribute to the community to the criminal justice system I hope that you have some pride in in the sense of the process and uh pride in the way that you have uh contributed to that and participated in our system which I think is the best legal system in the world [Music] get the [Music] bra do good [Music] work take care gentlemen thank you [Music] over man [Music] go I'm very happy that a good young man has been returned to his family for [Music] [Applause] Thanksgiving I'm not [Music] guilty good night [Music] there is still a man out there that man is 20 to 25 years of age he's probably about 6 ft in height he still has a functioning gun because the work wasn't done when and how it should have been [Music] done stay right here for your news this is abc25 well he was a high school student accused of murder tried and acquitted now a year later police say they had the wrong guy First Coast News it team reporter Winston Dean is at the REM a hotel where this crime happened and Winston tell us more about the man who put it all together we understand it wasn't anyone in law enforcement you indeed are right about that Allan and critics of what happened to Brenton Butler say the scary part is the person who may have solved this crime doesn't wear a badge or carry a gun it was a lawyer whose salary we as taxpayers have to pay someone who never gave up in this case Brent Butler's public defender the first week of January we got a tip from a public defender client told us that he'd been in a Cell another man Juan Curtis this Bell Juan Curtis had admitted being the shooter shooting Mrs Stevens in the face because Mrs Stevens had thrown a cup of coffee on him during the course of the robbery after the trial the original trial in this case we retrieved the purse from Mr Stevens and we process for evidence all parts of the purse that had not been previously processed we have discovered a fingerprint that belongs to Juan Curtis the shooter in the offense [Music] one Curtis Mr Curtis you're trou with murder and armed robbery Mr Curtis you want me to appoint an attorney to represent you sign that for I find that you meet the criteria for appointment of council I'm going to appoint ref Eller to represent you and he will be touched with you of the Dual County chair Ronald page [Music] is going to be a skinny black male wearing dark shorts under shirt and on a hat the latest update is a black male 20 to 2 Skin could be anybody [Music] [Music] he [Music]