Butler v. State, 1 Div. 160

• Court: Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals
• Writing for the Court: BOWEN
• Citation: Butler v. State, 500 So.2d 470 (Ala. Crim. App. 1986)
• Decision Date: 13 May 1986
• Docket Number: 1 Div. 160
• Parties: Carol BUTLER and William Butler v. STATE.

Page 470

500 So.2d 470

Carol BUTLER and William Butler v. STATE.

1 Div. 160.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama.

May 13, 1986.

Rehearing Denied June 10, 1986.

Certiorari Quashed Dec. 19, 1986

Alabama Supreme Court 85-1091.

Lynn E. Quinley, Daphne, for appellant Carol Butler.

James W. May, Gulf Shores, for appellant William Butler.

Charles A. Graddick, Atty. Gen., and Cecil G. Brendle, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

BOWEN, Presiding Judge.

William Butler and his wife, Carol, were separately indicted for sexual abuse in the first degree. Their cases were consolidated for trial. Mr. Butler was convicted of sexual abuse in the first degree and was sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment. Mrs. Butler was convicted of sexual abuse in the second degree and sentenced to one year in the county jail. Both of these convictions must be reversed because of the highly improper admission of evidence of prior sexual misconduct.

The evidence shows that Mr. and Mrs. Butler had been married for about ten years. Mr. Butler was the stepfather of three of Mrs. Butler's children by a former marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Butler had one child (girl) of their own. These children were living with the Butlers when the charged sexual abuse occurred. Mr. Butler also had six children (five girls and one boy) by a former marriage, who were raised "somewhere else."

The record shows that Mr. Butler delivered strict and severe discipline with a belt, a bamboo rod, an extension chord, and an ax handle and physically abused some of the children in so doing. Sometime in the spring of 1983, Mr. Butler forced the fifteen-year-old stepson, a deaf-mute, to engage in "sex" with Mrs. Butler. On that occasion, Mr. Butler also sexually abused his stepson.

At trial, Mr. Butler did not testify. Mrs. Butler took the witness stand, denied any improper conduct, and maintained that she and her husband were fulfilling their "divine responsibility to raise our children according to the word of God."

On rebuttal and over the objection of defense counsel, the District Attorney elicited testimony from one of Mr. Butler's daughters, M.A.F., that, when she lived with him, "twelve or thirteen years ago," Mr. Butler physically and sexually abused her and forced her to have "sex" with him. M.A.F. also testified that she also witnessed her father "having sex" with her sister, D.S. In ruling that this testimony was admissible, the trial judge stated:

"Well, the way I look at it, and I have been doing some studying on this, too, during these recesses. But that this event could not have occurred, say, in the last ten years because he was not with this family. This is a prior family-type situation that occurred and it shows similar acts prior to, towards the intent, identifying the circumstances again. Now, as I understand from the District Attorney, this is a similar set of facts where force was done arising out of fear for this man.

"Now, it would identify past events. The occurrence in many cases, it's necessarily further back to ordinarily be able to consider it."

Later, the trial judge stated that this would show "a pattern" on Mr. Butler's part.

There was no evidence that Mr. Butler had been separated from his children or stepchildren for ten years as the above comments of the trial judge seemingly imply. There was no...