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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
"Child Pornography (Possession, Manufacture, or Dissemination)" |
Sentence: |
5 years |
Years Imprisoned: |
1.67 |
Year Crime: |
2008 |
Year Convicted: |
2009 |
Year Cleared: |
2017 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Utah |
County or Region of Crime: |
San Juan |
City of Crime: |
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Result: |
Judicially Exonerated |
Summary of Case: |
"Eric Leon Butt Jr. was wrongly convicted in 2009 of dealing harmful materials to a minor. Butt's prosecution was based on crude drawings of himself naked that were in two letters he sent his five-year-old daughter from jail in 2008. After his conviction by a jury Eric Butt was sentenced in July 2009 to five years in prison. He was paroled in March 2011. Butt's direct appeal was denied that was solely based on the argument the prosecution's trial evidence was insufficient to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Butt filed a post-conviction petition after his release that asserted his trial lawyer provided ineffective assistance of counsel for failing to assert the defenses that Butt had a free speech right to make the drawings, and a "parent-child communication" defense. The State conceeded to vacating Butt's conviction of the drawing he made in his first letter, but not the drawing in the second letter, arguing that his First Amendment defense had no merit. The district court granted the State's motion for summary judgment, ruling that "Butt suffered no prejudice because his First Amendment defense lacked merit. And it concluded that the parent-child communication defense was too “novel” to fault trial counsel for failing to raise it. Butt appealed. On June 19, 2017 the Utah Supreme Court reversed Eric Butt's conviction on the basis his drawings in his letter to his daughter were protected free speech, and his lawyer was ineffective for raising that defense at trial. Although the court didn't specifically state that the prosecution presented insufficient evidence, Butt's prosecution was based on the drawing so without it there was no evidence he committed a crime." |
Conviction Caused By: |
Ineffective assistance by Butt's trial lawyer. |
Innocence Proved By: |
"On June 19, 2017 the Utah Supreme Court reversed Eric Butt's conviction on the basis his drawings in his letter to his daughter were protected free speech, and his lawyer was ineffective for raising that defense at trial. Although the court didn't specifically state that the prosecution presented insufficient evidence, Butt's prosecution was based on the drawing so without it there was no evidence he committed a crime." |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
36 |
Age When Released: |
38 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
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Information Source 1: |
"Eric Leon Butt Jr. v State of Utah, 2017 UT 33 (UT Sup. Ct., 6-19-2017) (Setting aside Butt's conviction based on his lawyer was ineffective for failing to argue at trial that his drawings to his daughter were protected free speech under the state and federal constitutions.)" |
Information Location 1: |
https://www.utcourts.gov/opinions/supopin/Butt%20v.%20State20170619_20141121_33.pdf |
Information Source 2: |
"Man’s drawing of himself naked was not harmful to daughter, Utah Supreme Court says, By Pamela Manson (Staff), The Salt Lake Tribune, July 3, 2017" |
Information Location 2: |
http://www.sltrib.com/news/5433194-155/mans-drawing-of-himself-naked-was |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org