Sunday Morning Trial

736 Words2 Pages

Murder on a Sunday Morning The film Murder on a Sunday Morning depicts the true story of the trial of a fifteen-year-old boy named Brenton Butler. On May 7, 2000, a 65-year-old woman named Mary Ann Stephens was shot and killed at a motel in Florida. Only a few hours later, the police saw Brenton walking on the street nearby and arrested him. After months, Brenton went to trial for the murder of the woman. Various police officials testified, under oath, evidence which placed Brenton at fault, but Brenton’s lawyer, Patrick McGuinness, was able to disprove the evidence. In the end, the jury saw through the false accusations proposed by various police officials and plead not guilty. Currently, police officials and other people of political importance …show more content…

The officers did very little investigation work in the case, and simply blamed the first African American which they could find. McGuinness proves this in court by describing to the jury the various areas which the detectives overlooked. The only actual evidence presented in the case was the eyewitness testimony of the victim’s husband and a written confession which was forced from the defendant after numerous threats and injuries caused by several officers. Over time, it becomes more and more apparent that the officers’ story was false and Brenton was innocent. Brenton was to trial for murder with very little evidence, all of which was proven to be false. Even though Brenton was released in the end, the time he spent in jail waiting for his trial would most likely haunt him …show more content…

For Brenton Butler, they were just the opposite. The detectives on the case were able to use their status to prosecute Brenton without having any substantial evidence other than the false story they provided. This is a major flaw in the justice system in America. People of political power are able to control every aspect of one’s life. They even have to take away one’s freedom and basic rights by sentencing them to prison for a crime which they did not commit. Brenton is just one of the thousands of victims of this social injustice, many of which, were never proven

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