Documentary about slaying of Georgia woman wins Oscar

Posted 10:43PM on Monday 25th March 2002 ( 23 years ago )

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA - French filmmakers Jean-Xavier de Lestrade and Denis Ponchet came to Duval County hoping to do a documentary about a wacky lawsuit. When they couldn't find one, they were directed to the local Public Defender's Office, where they learned about the case of 16-year-old Brenton Butler, who was facing trial for the 2000 murder of Mary Ann Stephens, a Georgia tourist. Their film ``Murder on a Sunday Morning'' - detailing Butler's defense, his trial and acquittal - won the Academy Award for best documentary Sunday. HBO will air the documentary Sunday night. De Lestrade during his acceptance cited Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech about an America where children ``will not be judged by the color of their skin but the content of their character. ``Thirty-eight years later we film ... the story about a teen-ager who had been stopped and sent to jail because he was just a black kid walking in the street near a crime scene.'' Stephens, 64, of Toccoa, Ga., was shot in the face outside a Jacksonville Ramada Inn on May 7, 2000, by a person who grabbed her purse. Butler was arrested later that day and identified by Stephens' husband as the killer. Butler signed a confession, and he was being held at the county jail. That was the situation when de Lestrade and Ponchet received permission to film defense attorneys Patrick McGuinness and Ann Finnell as they worked with three investigators, a paralegal and a secretary to secure Butler's acquittal. ``I trusted them. These were classy guys,'' said Chief Public Defender Bill White, who approved their filming with one stipulation - if Butler was convicted, the documentary would not be shown in the United States until all appeals were concluded. When Butler's trial began in November 2000, the prosecution's case was plagued by a lack of evidence. The gun used in the slaying was never found. Butler's fingerprints were not on the victim's purse, and he did not have gun powder residue on his hands or blood on his clothing or shoes. Only the testimony of Stephens' husband and the confession tied Butler to the slaying - and Butler testifed detectives beat the confession out of him. It took a jury less than an hour to acquit, but that wasn't the end of the story the defense team's investigation led to the arrest of two other suspects, who are awaiting trial. ``I'm very, very proud of them,'' White said of McGuinness, Finnell and their colleagues. McGuinness and Finnell attended an HBO Oscar party Sunday in Los Angeles. After the acquittal and the other suspects' arrest, Sheriff Nat Glover and State Attorney Harry Shorstein took the extraordinary step of apologizing to Butler, who is finishing high school and working part time. He has declined to comment since his acquittal. Butler's father, Andre Butler, said through the family's lawyer, Thomas Fallis, that the Oscar was bittersweet. ``Although our family continues to suffer greatly, we hope our tragedy as captured in this documentary will help prevent others from having to endure the same,'' Butler said in a statement in Monday editions of The Florida Times-Union.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/3/196964