Louise Butler

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Charge:	Murder
Sentence:	Life Imprisonment
Years Imprisoned:	0.167
Year Crime:
Year Convicted:	1928
Year Cleared:	1928
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Alabama
County or Region of Crime:	Lowndes
City of Crime:
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"Louise Butler was codefendant of George Yelder. Butler and George Yelder were lovers, and they were convicted by all white juries after separate trials on April 24 and 25, 1928 respectively, for the murder of Butler's 14-year-old niece Topsy Warren earlier that month. Both trials lasted less than a day, and their convictions were based on the eyewitness testimony of three girls -- Topsy's 9-year-old sister and two cousins. Butler and Yelder were both sentenced on April 25, 1928 to life in prison Less than a week later the supposed victim was discovered alive living in another county 20 miles away. After Topsy was discovered alive, the three witnesses admitted they made up the story that Butler and Yelder murdered her. In June 1928 Butler and Yelder's convictions were vacated and they were released after two months in custody. Butler had initially confessed under police pressure, but later repudiated it. Because of her repudiation the judge did not admit Butler's confession during her trial and Yelder's trial."
Conviction Caused By:	Deliberately fFalse witness testimony by three children.
Innocence Proved By:	Alleged victim was found alive in another counry.
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:
Age When Released:
Sex:	Female
Skin/Ethnicity:	Black
Information Source 1:	"“Miscarriages of Justice in Potentially Capital Cases,” Hugo Adam Bedau & Michael L. Radelet, Stanford Law Review, November, 1987, Vol. 40, p. 102."
Information Location 1:
Information Source 2:	"Convicting the Innocent - Sixty-Five Actual Errors of Criminal Justice, by Edwin Borchard, Yale Univ Press, 1932"
Information Location 2:
Information Source 3:	"Louise Butler, Center on Wrongful Convictions, Northwestern School of Law"
Information Location 3:	http://www.law.northwestern.edu/wrongfulconvictions/exonerations/alButlerSummary.html
Information Source 4:
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Information Source 5:
Information Location 5:
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Louise Butler

Charge:

Murder

Sentence:

Life Imprisonment

Years Imprisoned:

0.167

Year Crime:

Year Convicted:

1928

Year Cleared:

1928

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Alabama

County or Region of Crime:

Lowndes

City of Crime:

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Deliberately fFalse witness testimony by three children.

Innocence Proved By:

Alleged victim was found alive in another counry.

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

Age When Released:

Sex:

Female

Skin/Ethnicity:

Black

Information Source 1:

"“Miscarriages of Justice in Potentially Capital Cases,” Hugo Adam Bedau & Michael L. Radelet, Stanford Law Review, November, 1987, Vol. 40, p. 102."

Information Location 1:

Information Source 2:

"Convicting the Innocent - Sixty-Five Actual Errors of Criminal Justice, by Edwin Borchard, Yale Univ Press, 1932"

Information Location 2:

Information Source 3:

"Louise Butler, Center on Wrongful Convictions, Northwestern School of Law"

Information Location 3:

http://www.law.northwestern.edu/wrongfulconvictions/exonerations/alButlerSummary.html

Information Source 4:

Information Location 4:

Information Source 5:

Information Location 5:

Book About Case:

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Comments About Case: