Man testifies on killing he once was accused of committing

<p>Four years after he was acquitted in the slaying of a Georgia tourist, Brenton Butler took the witness stand Tuesday in the retrial of man once convicted in the slaying and calmly described being beaten by a police officer and threatened into signing a confession.</p><p>Jurors are hearing testimony in the retrial of Juan Curtis, 26, who was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison in 2002 for the May 7, 2000, slaying of Mary Ann Stephens. The Toccoa, Ga., resident was staying in a Ramada Inn in Jacksonville with her husband when she was fatally shot by a man who took her purse.</p><p>An appeals court gave Curtis a new trial after ruling the judge should have allowed Curtis' attorneys to introduce testimony about Butler's confession.</p><p>Butler was acquitted of the killing in November 2000 and his case was the subject of an HBO documentary, "Murder on a Sunday Morning," which won an Academy Award in 2002. His public defenders tipped police off to Curtis and Jermel Williams, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and has testified against Curtis.</p><p>Closing statements are scheduled Wednesday and the case should go to the jury Wednesday afternoon. If convicted, Curtis faces a maximum of life in prison.</p><p>Under questioning by special prosecutor Brad King, Butler said police picked him up as he was walking to a video store to apply for job and accused him of robbing and killing the woman.</p><p>When Butler, who was 15 at the time, denied it, but detectives "Told me I was lying."</p><p>"I have never had a gun. I never shot anyone," Butler said.</p><p>Police kept Butler locked in an interrogation room for several hours, denying his requests to talk to his parents or a lawyer. Police later took him to a wooded area, near where the slaying occurred, to look for the woman's purse and a chrome revolver used in the robbery.</p><p>Butler, now 20, testified his hands were cuffed to a belt around his waist, as they wandered through the woods.</p><p>When he told officers repeatedly he did not know anything about the woman and could not help them find the purse and gun, Butler said one of the officers punched him in the chest, knocking him to his knees. He testified that when he got up the officer hit him again and later punched him in his left eye, causing a welt.</p><p>When he was returned to the police station, he testified another officer threatened to punch him in his eye every 10 seconds until he signed a confession.</p><p>Butler testified an officer wrote up a statement and demanded that Butler sign it, which he did.</p><p>During Butler's testimony, King went through each of the elements of the statement and Butler denied each allegation.</p><p>On Monday, the three detectives who interrogated and arrested Butler testified that he gave the confession willingly after Stephen's husband identified him as the killer. They also denied hitting or poking Butler.</p><p>In his cross-examination, defense attorney Refik Eler did not try to knock to knock down Butler's story, which was consistent with his testimony in his own trial. He did get Butler to concede he is distrustful of police.</p><p>After Butler's acquittal, both State Attorney Harry Shorstein and then-Sheriff Nat Glover apologized.</p><p>In Curtis' first trial, jurors convicted him based on the strength of Williams' testimony and his fingerprint in Stephens' purse, found in a Dumpster. It was never tested before Butler's trial.</p><p>A Duval County grand jury, led by King, criticized the way police and prosecutors handled the Butler case but found no criminal wrongdoing. Butler won a $775,000 settlement from the city.</p>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2004/10/159026