Sabrina Butler Smith Was 1 of 2 Women Exonerated off Death Row — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00Each week we tell the stories of those
2. 0:01wrongfully convicted and living on death
3. 0:03row. And while it's true that a vast
4. 0:05majority of cases involve sending
5. 0:07innocent men to death row, there are
6. 0:09also women facing execution whose
7. 0:11stories need to be told as well. My next
8. 0:13guest, Sabrina Butler Smith, used to be
9. 0:15one of those women. Sabrina was just 17
10. 0:18years old when a predominantly white
11. 0:20Mississippi jury convicted her in 1989
12. 0:22for fatally beating her 9-month-old son,
13. 0:25Walter, and a judge sentenced her to
14. 0:28death by lethal injection. It wasn't
15. 0:30until several years later that an
16. 0:32independent medical investigation found
17. 0:33that her son had died from a genetic
18. 0:36kidney disease. Sabrina spent almost 7
19. 0:38years in prison, about three of those
20. 0:40years in a small cell on death row,
21. 0:43where she spent 23 hours a day with no
22. 0:45human contact before being cleared of
23. 0:48all charges in 1995.
24. 0:50To this day, she is one of just two
25. 0:52women in US history to be exonerated
26. 0:54from death row. And Sabrina Butler Smith
27. 0:57joins me tonight by phone. Sabrina, it
28. 0:59is such a pleasure to have you on.
29. 1:01Welcome.
30. 1:02Thank you. Thank you so much.
31. 1:07You were just 17 years old, um, when
32. 1:10your 9-month-old baby Walter died in his
33. 1:12sleep due to an unknown disease, and
34. 1:15then found yourself in an interrogation
35. 1:17room for nearly 4 hours where detectives
36. 1:20accused you of killing your child. You
37. 1:22were a kid. You were distraught after
38. 1:25just having lost your baby boy.
39. 1:27Uh, you were afraid. You had no parent
40. 1:30or lawyer present when you were being
41. 1:31railroaded by these detectives, and you
42. 1:34were eventually charged with murder.
43. 1:36Tell us what happened that day before
44. 1:38you realized you were being accused of
45. 1:40killing your baby.
46. 1:42Well, the way it happened, the detective
47. 1:45who was interrogating me decided to
48. 1:47write a statement. And after 4 hours of
49. 1:50interrogation, he shoved that paper in
50. 1:52my face and told me to sign it. It was I
51. 1:55was scared to death. I didn't know what
52. 1:56to do. I They They were in my face like
53. 1:59they were going to jump on me and all of
54. 2:00that. And I was just I was a basket
55. 2:03case. I didn't know what to do. And I
56. 2:06signed at the bottom of the page because
57. 2:08I felt like that was the last ditch
58. 2:10effort I had to try to get somebody to
59. 2:12see that I didn't do this. If somebody
60. 2:14would ask the question, "Why did she
61. 2:17sign at the very bottom if she committed
62. 2:19this crime?" And And it did pay off. It
63. 2:22did.
64. 2:23They saw it. That was question that was
65. 2:25asked during the second trial.
66. 2:29So, walk us back though from the
67. 2:32beginning of that day
68. 2:34before you actually found yourself in an
69. 2:36interrogation room. You went out for a
70. 2:38jog and then what?
71. 2:41Well, that night that particular night,
72. 2:43I mean, what what makes me hurts me so
73. 2:46is that
74. 2:48LaWanda showed no signs of being sick.
75. 2:50I put him to sleep that night and I
76. 2:52decided to jog up to the end of the
77. 2:54street where I live. Where I stayed it
78. 2:56was in a dead end and it was apartments
79. 2:58that you could see the the beginning of
80. 2:59the street um where they were. So, I
81. 3:02jogged up to the end of the street and I
82. 3:04wasn't even gone 10 minutes. Came back
83. 3:07and I went in the kitchen cuz I kind of
84. 3:08knew when my son would wake up. So, I I
85. 3:11went in the kitchen first and I got a
86. 3:13bottle and I went to his room. When I
87. 3:16went to his room I noticed something was
88. 3:18wrong and he you know he wasn't the way
89. 3:20he was before I left. He turned around.
90. 3:22He was a different way.
91. 3:24I saw that he wasn't breathing. So, I
92. 3:26panicked. I didn't know what to do. I
93. 3:28just ran outside, start beating on doors
94. 3:30and it was late over there where I
95. 3:32stayed at and and no one knew me really
96. 3:34because I you know was a loner. I didn't
97. 3:37really hang around anybody. So, people
98. 3:39were reluctant to open their doors.
99. 3:41Well, one lady opened her door and she
100. 3:43was saying that her kids were in the bed
101. 3:45and she didn't have time. So, she closed
102. 3:47the door in my face.
103. 3:48I didn't get any help from her.
104. 3:51So, when I ran downstairs,
105. 3:53this girl from the inner apartment, she
106. 3:55grabbed my son and
107. 3:57she put him on the floor and she started
108. 3:58CPR.
109. 4:00And when she did that, I I was just out
110. 4:01trying to get somebody, anybody that I
111. 4:03thought could help me, you know, to get
112. 4:05him to the hospital. So, I got this
113. 4:08couple who was willing to take me and
114. 4:10when I ran back in, she said
115. 4:13well, she told me to hold his nose, blow
116. 4:15in his mouth and press in his stomach,
117. 4:17but she told me the wrong way.
118. 4:19So, I applied adult CPR to my son all
119. 4:21the way to the hospital, but I didn't
120. 4:23know that. I I just was trying to get
121. 4:25him to breathe.
122. 4:25Mhm.
123. 4:26And I was scared at the same time. I've
124. 4:28been here in Columbus by myself since I
125. 4:31was 14 years old. No parents, no
126. 4:33nothing. So, I was trying to be an
127. 4:35adult, but I was a kid myself.
128. 4:38And they knew that and they took
129. 4:40advantage of that.
130. 4:43And you were actually, Sabrina,
131. 4:46concerned about the fact that you had
132. 4:48briefly left your baby for a jog. I
133. 4:51mean, it never even entered your mind
134. 4:52that you could be accused of killing
135. 4:54him.
136. 4:55No, that was the furthest thing from my
137. 4:57mind. I mean, you know,
138. 4:59when I got to the hospital though and
139. 5:01they took him from me, you know, I I'm a
140. 5:03kid and I just thought I said, "Oh, man,
141. 5:06you're in trouble." You know, that's the
142. 5:07first thought came to my mind, "You're
143. 5:09in trouble for leaving your son at the
144. 5:10house." But I never thought I never
145. 5:13thought in a million years that that
146. 5:15they would come out and charge me with
147. 5:16murder.
148. 5:17You know. So, the first thing I said to
149. 5:20myself was, "You can't be honest." And I
150. 5:22And I wasn't honest. I did just like a
151. 5:24child would do if they're in trouble,
152. 5:26you know.
153. 5:27Mhm.
154. 5:27Um
155. 5:29and I I wasn't honest when they were
156. 5:30asking me questions at first.
157. 5:34Mhm.
158. 5:36So, Sabrina, you I mean, you had a
159. 5:38legitimate You had a legitimate
160. 5:40explanation. I mean, that could have
161. 5:41happened to to anyone. Um but no one
162. 5:44cared to listen. Uh police and
163. 5:46prosecutors, they they had their
164. 5:47narrative and they were sticking to it.
165. 5:49And your case actually went to trial.
166. 5:52A jury of 10 whites and two black jurors
167. 5:54convicted you. What happened to your
168. 5:56defense? I mean, why didn't you testify
169. 5:58or the neighbor who performed CPR on
170. 6:01your baby incorrectly testify or the the
171. 6:03neighbor that didn't help you
172. 6:05testify or the couple that ended up
173. 6:07actually taking you to the hospital cuz
174. 6:09you didn't have a car at the time? Why
175. 6:11didn't they testify?
176. 6:13My
177. 6:15attorneys that I had were ineffective.
178. 6:17One of them was drunk during the whole
179. 6:19trial.
180. 6:20And the the first chair, he didn't call
181. 6:22any he didn't do any investigative work.
182. 6:25He didn't call not one witness
183. 6:27on my behalf, which I found was rather
184. 6:29odd. I mean, but by me not really
185. 6:32knowing the law, I kept begging to take
186. 6:34the stand in my own defense, but was
187. 6:35denied. They told me that just stand and
188. 6:38look at the jury, they got the thing
189. 6:39nipped in the bud. Those were the words
190. 6:41that they used. And I just kept looking
191. 6:43at the jury and I knew just by looking
192. 6:46at these people that my life was over. I
193. 6:49knew it because nobody looked like me.
194. 6:52Nobody.
195. 6:54So, I knew that they were going to throw
196. 6:55me away. I just knew that.
197. 6:58So, that's exactly what happened. I
198. 7:00mean,
199. 7:01everything my attorney said, the judge
200. 7:04didn't hear it.
201. 7:05This attorney, he had a field day. He
202. 7:08was he said everything he thought he
203. 7:09could say.
204. 7:11He alluded to the fact that I didn't
205. 7:12testify, all kind of stuff. And that was
206. 7:14really
207. 7:15he should not have done that, but he
208. 7:18did.
209. 7:20I was found guilty March 13th of 1990
210. 7:23and my death date was July the 2nd of
211. 7:251990.
212. 7:28So, you're found guilty, you're 18, you
213. 7:31were
214. 7:32sentenced to death by lethal injection
215. 7:34by a judge.
216. 7:36Um
217. 7:37tell me about the moment when you
218. 7:39arrived on death row. I mean, the cell
219. 7:42that you were presumably going to spend
220. 7:44the rest of your life, or at least your
221. 7:46life up until your execution. What what
222. 7:48was going through your mind? What was
223. 7:49that like?
224. 7:51That was so hard because
225. 7:54here is I lost my son, and the whole
226. 7:56time I was incarcerated before I went
227. 7:58back on the second trial, I never knew
228. 8:00what he died from. Nobody never told me.
229. 8:03They also never told me that the state
230. 8:05had to exhaust all state remedies before
231. 8:07they could actually carry out a death
232. 8:09sentence. So, I didn't know that,
233. 8:10either.
234. 8:12That was one of the hardest moments of
235. 8:13my life because I actually thought they
236. 8:16they were going to kill me. I mean, to
237. 8:19be on death row and innocent is is is
238. 8:22already bad for people that actually
239. 8:24commit crime. I mean, I didn't do
240. 8:25anything wrong.
241. 8:27And there I was trying to Nobody
242. 8:29listened to me.
243. 8:31I couldn't do nothing but cry. I mean,
244. 8:32there was nothing for me to do.
245. 8:35My life was in their hands.
246. 8:38And I could just remember pacing the
247. 8:40floors and
248. 8:41listening for all the chains and all the
249. 8:44sounds because I thought I actually was
250. 8:46going to die.
251. 8:47I just I just I mean, I wouldn't wish
252. 8:49that on anyone.
253. 8:51And the way the state sanction killing
254. 8:53is wrong. They're using this thing as a
255. 8:56death the death penalty as a weapon.
256. 8:59And I think that is so wrong.
257. 9:01You cannot tell me that
258. 9:04you you gosh,
259. 9:07excuse me. I I get I get really
260. 9:09emotional because I'm
261. 9:11I talk as much as I can and I hope to
262. 9:14bring a voice to all of the people that
263. 9:16can't talk
264. 9:18because this is wrong what the state is
265. 9:20doing to us
266. 9:22as human beings.
267. 9:25They took They tried to take my life
268. 9:27from me.
269. 9:28I sat in this cell 2 years and 9 months
270. 9:31of my life
271. 9:33for nothing.
272. 9:34For nothing.
273. 9:36They knew I didn't commit no crime. They
274. 9:38knew all the time that my son had kidney
275. 9:41problems, heart problems, and chronic
276. 9:44bowel syndrome. It was nothing nothing
277. 9:47that I did to cause his death.
278. 9:49I have a daughter today that has the
279. 9:51same exact disease he died from. The
280. 9:54same thing.
281. 9:55Mhm.
282. 9:57And they can't tell me anything.
283. 9:58what I was going to say.
284. 10:00Well, you you know, after spending
285. 10:02almost 7 years in prison, uh you you
286. 10:05finally got some new counsel. Uh they
287. 10:07ended up actually calling the
288. 10:09appropriate witnesses in your retrial.
289. 10:13Um
290. 10:13medical experts that actually pointed to
291. 10:16the fact that your son actually died
292. 10:17from a chronic disease that your
293. 10:19daughter suffered from later as well,
294. 10:21and a jury found you uh acquitted you of
295. 10:26all charges. And and now you are working
296. 10:28and and dedicating your life uh to
297. 10:30helping those in similar situations
298. 10:32where they're on death row for a crime
299. 10:34they didn't commit. I mean, Kevin
300. 10:35Strickland was just released after 43
301. 10:37years there in Missouri. So, we can't
302. 10:39thank you enough, Sabrina Butler Smith,
303. 10:41for all of the work that you've been
304. 10:42doing. Um and I I know it's easier said
305. 10:45than done or it's easy to say this
306. 10:48because I wasn't accused of a crime I
307. 10:50didn't commit and sentenced to death.
308. 10:52But, your life and your experience
309. 10:56it it means something, and it's going to
310. 10:58mean so much to others, and it wasn't
311. 11:00for nothing.
312. 11:02So, again, thank you so much for sharing
313. 11:03your story.
314. 11:05Thank you so much. I sure appreciate it.
315. 11:07Thank you.