JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A documentary based on a 14-year-old Jacksonville teen wrongfully accused of murder won an Oscar Sunday night.
"Murder on a Sunday Morning" -- which follows the attorneys who won an acquittal for Brenton Butler -- won the Academy Award for best documentary feature.
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Butler was charged with murdering Georgia tourist Mary Ann Stephens during a robbery at a Jacksonville motel in May 2000.
Jurors acquitted Butler in less than an hour of deliberation after evidence was introduced that the eyewitness was wrong and the confession was beaten out of him by detectives.
The case led to a grand jury investigation of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office investigation and its policies and practices.
The French documentary team spent six weeks in Jacksonville shooting more than 160 hours of footage.
"Our film is about honesty, and the right for every individual to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. Merci," filmmaker Jean-Xavier de Lestrade said in his acceptance speech Sunday night.
Butler has not talked publicly since his acquittal. Through the family's attorney, Butler's father issued a statement: "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."
Public defenders Pat McGuinness and Ann Finnell, who were in the Hollywood audience as the award was announced, told Channel 4 that they were thrilled that Brenton Butler's story won an Academy Award.
In the months after Butler was acquitted, one of the principal detectives in the case -- Michael Glover, son of Sheriff Nat Glover -- was removed from the homicide unit. He was reassigned to the police equestrian center.
Three other officers involved in the arrest voluntarily left the homicide department.
Channel 4's Brad Puffer asked the state attorney officials if they were concerned about the impression the documentary could leave on a national or international audience.
"Anytime there's something that paints Jacksonville in something that's less than positive, you're obviously going to be concerned," Assistant State Attorney Jay Plotkin said.
But the public defender's office doesn't seem to see this as a blemish on Jacksonville.
"I think it says something good about the City of Jacksonville -- that it really wants to enforce the presumption of innocence," chief public defender Bill White said.
Plotkin agrees there are some positives that have come from the case.
"We learned lessons from this. I think the sheriff's office learned some great lessons from this," Plotkin said. "So you take it as something you learn from and move on and hope it never happens again."
"Murder on a Sunday Morning" will air on HBO March 31.
Previous Stories:
- October 18, 2001: Falsely Accused Teen Sues For $8.5 Million
- August 3, 2001: Grand Jury: No Charges For Officers
- July 17, 2001: Butler Testifies To Grand Jury
- February 22, 2001: Butler Family Plans $2.5 Million Civil Lawsuit
- February 22, 2001: Shorstein, Glover Apologize To 'Wrongly Accused' Teen
- November 22, 2000: Teen Acquitted Of Tourist Murder