Sabrina Butler Porter

Go to Database Search Page

Go to Database Index Page

Charge:	Felony Child Abuse - Murder
Sentence:	Death
Years Imprisoned:	6
Year Crime:	1989
Year Convicted:	1990
Year Cleared:	1995
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Mississippi
County or Region of Crime:	Lowndes
City of Crime:
Result:	Judicially Exonerated Released
Summary of Case:	"Sabrina Butler was wrongly convicted in March 1990 of felony child abuse in the death of her 9-month old son on April 11, 1989 in Lowndes County, Mississippi. Seventeen-year-old Sabrina Butler's son had a heart murmur, and when he stopped breathing in his crib the child he was taken to a hospital emergency room but doctors were unable to revive him. Sabrina was charged with felony child abuse the next day based on the bruises caused by the doctor's efforts to revive the child. She was convicted based on testimony that she caused the bruises by abusing her child -- even though there was no evidence of any abuse and she wasn't present when the child stopped breathing. Mississippi law allowed a sentence of death for felony child abuse, and Sabrina Butler was sentenced to death. In August 1992 the Mississippi Supreme Court overturned her conviction and ordered a retrial. (Butler v. State, 608 So.2d 314 (MS Sup Ct 1992)) On December 17, 1995 she was acquitted after a retrial, during which the medical examiner changed his original opinion, stating that the child died of an internal kidney malady, and a neighbor testified that the bruises occurred during an unsuccessful attempt to administer CPR to the child. Butler was imprisoned for almost 6 years, including 2 years and 9 months on death row. As of May 2009 Sabrina Butler was the only woman in the U.S. exonerated after being sentenced to death row. When she later married her name became Sabrina Butler Porter. The State of Mississippi awarded Butler $329,000 in wrongful conviction and imprisonment compensation in 2011."
Conviction Caused By:	Erroneous medical evaluation that Sabrina Butler's child died from internal injuries caused by child abuse.
Innocence Proved By:	In 1992 the Mississippi Supreme Court overturned her conviction and ordered a retrial. She was in 1995 acquitted after a retrial.
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:	"$329,000 (State of Mississippi, 2011)"
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:	17
Age When Released:	23
Sex:	Female
Skin/Ethnicity:	Black
Information Source 1:	Death Penalty Information Center
Information Location 1:	http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/Innocentlist.html
Information Source 2:	"Fatal Flaws - Innocence and Death Penalty in the USA, Amnesty International"
Information Location 2:	http://www.amnestyusa.org/rightsforall/dp/innocence/innocent-6.html
Information Source 3:	"Female death row exoneree shares story with students, By Toby Shearer, The Carolinian, April 28, 2009"
Information Location 3:	http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_55622.shtml
Information Source 4:	"Freedom no cure-all for those wrongly convicted, Michael Perlstein, New Orleans Times-Picayune, March 30, 2003."
Information Location 4:	http://www.truthinjustice.org/no-cureall.htm
Information Source 5:	"Butler v. State, 608 So.2d 314 (MS Sup Ct 1992)"
Information Location 5:	http://cwcy.org/resources/184_attach_Butler%20v%20Mississippi%20(1992).pdf
Book About Case:	"Exonerated: The Sabrina Butler Story, By Sabrina Butler-Porter (2012)"
Book Information:
Book About Case (2):
Book Information (2):
Movie About Case:
Comments About Case:

Go to Database Search Page

Go to Database Index Page

Sabrina Butler Porter

Charge:

Felony Child Abuse - Murder

Sentence:

Death

Years Imprisoned:

6

Year Crime:

1989

Year Convicted:

1990

Year Cleared:

1995

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Mississippi

County or Region of Crime:

Lowndes

City of Crime:

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Erroneous medical evaluation that Sabrina Butler's child died from internal injuries caused by child abuse.

Innocence Proved By:

In 1992 the Mississippi Supreme Court overturned her conviction and ordered a retrial. She was in 1995 acquitted after a retrial.

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

"$329,000 (State of Mississippi, 2011)"

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

17

Age When Released:

23

Sex:

Female

Skin/Ethnicity:

Black

Information Source 1:

Death Penalty Information Center

Information Location 1:

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/Innocentlist.html

Information Source 2:

"Fatal Flaws - Innocence and Death Penalty in the USA, Amnesty International"

Information Location 2:

http://www.amnestyusa.org/rightsforall/dp/innocence/innocent-6.html

Information Source 3:

"Female death row exoneree shares story with students, By Toby Shearer, The Carolinian, April 28, 2009"

Information Location 3:

http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_55622.shtml

Information Source 4:

"Freedom no cure-all for those wrongly convicted, Michael Perlstein, New Orleans Times-Picayune, March 30, 2003."

Information Location 4:

http://www.truthinjustice.org/no-cureall.htm

Information Source 5:

"Butler v. State, 608 So.2d 314 (MS Sup Ct 1992)"

Information Location 5:

http://cwcy.org/resources/184_attach_Butler%20v%20Mississippi%20(1992).pdf

Book About Case:

"Exonerated: The Sabrina Butler Story, By Sabrina Butler-Porter (2012)"

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Comments About Case: