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Her name is Sabrina Butler-Smith.
She was labeled a "monster", a "child killer" and spent nearly 3 years on death row for a crime that never happened. 🧵1/10
She was labeled a "monster", a "child killer" and spent nearly 3 years on death row for a crime that never happened. 🧵1/10
In 1989, when Sabrina was 17 years old, she had returned to her apartment, after jogging, to discover her 9 month old son had stopped breathing. She immediately rushed her son to the hospital, where he couldn't be revived. 2/10
The very next day, Sabrina was charged with capital murder.
Due to bruising on the child, from the resuscitation attempts by the hospital staff, the police immediately decided that Sabrina had caused the injuries and that was what resulted in the child's death. 3/10
Due to bruising on the child, from the resuscitation attempts by the hospital staff, the police immediately decided that Sabrina had caused the injuries and that was what resulted in the child's death. 3/10
After the trial, she was convicted of murder and child abuse and sentenced to death by lethal injection.
Two years later, the courts reversed and remanded her convictions - saying that the prosecution had failed to prove that the incident was anything more than an accident. 4/10
Two years later, the courts reversed and remanded her convictions - saying that the prosecution had failed to prove that the incident was anything more than an accident. 4/10
In 1995, the medical examiner changed his opinion about Walter's cause of death, which he now believed occurred due to a kidney malady.
On December 17, 1995, Sabrina was acquitted and exonerated. 5/10
On December 17, 1995, Sabrina was acquitted and exonerated. 5/10
When Sabrina was acquitted of murder, she had spent more than five years in prison and thirty-three months on death row. She is the first of two women in the United States to be exonerated from death row, the other being Debra Milke in Arizona. 6/10
Instead of being able to grieve over the loss of her child, Sabrina spent over 5 years fighting for her life and trying to prove her innocence.
Sabrina lost 6 1/2 years of her life in prison, two years and nine months of them on death row, for a crime she didn’t commit. 7/10
Sabrina lost 6 1/2 years of her life in prison, two years and nine months of them on death row, for a crime she didn’t commit. 7/10
Since 1973, at least 190 people have been exonerated from death row in the U.S., according to the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC). A 2014 study estimated that at least 4% of those sentenced to death are innocent. 8/10
These numbers don’t demonstrate the full scope of the impact that the death penalty has on the problem of wrongful conviction as the threat of the death penalty causes innocent people to plead guilty and induces false testimony from witnesses. 9/10
Sabrina's story is far too common.
The death penalty is repugnant and should be abolished. It has no place in a civilized society where human error and prejudice can, and has, sentenced innocent individuals to be put to death by the State. 10/10
The death penalty is repugnant and should be abolished. It has no place in a civilized society where human error and prejudice can, and has, sentenced innocent individuals to be put to death by the State. 10/10
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