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Sabrina Butler

State: Mississippi
Incident Date: 04/12/89
 Age at Arrest: 17
 Conviction Date: 03/90
 Age when Exonerated: 26
 Exonerated Date: 1995
 Time Served: 5 years
 Conviction: Capital murder, child abuse
 False Confession: False
 Implicated by Another Youth: False
Details

Sabrina Butler was seventeen when her nine month old child stopped breathing. Sabrina took her baby to the hospital, where doctors tried but failed to resuscitate him. She was later questioned by police and arrested the same day her young son died. She was convicted of child abuse and capital murder, and sentenced to death. Her conviction was overturned by the Mississippi Supreme Court in 1992. (Butler v. State, 608 So.2d 314 (Miss. 1992)). The court held that the prosecution had failed to prove that the incident was anything more than an accident. She was acquitted in re-trial on Dec. 17, 1995.



Post Exoneration: