Kim Cook, chair of UNC Wilmington’s sociology and criminology department, gave a lecture April 3, in honor of her latest book, “Life After Death Row: Exonerees’ Search for Community and Identity.”

The book, co-authored by Saundra D. Westervelt, an associate professor of sociology at UNC Greensboro, follows the lives of 18 exonerees and their struggle to adjust to life out of prison after being wrongly convicted. Guest speaker Sabrina Butler helped bring the book to life by sharing her story.   

Butler is the only woman in the United State to ever be exonerated from death row. She was convicted of murder after the accidental death of her son was she a young 18 year-old mother. Though Butler was released in 1995, she was imprisoned for almost six years, including two years and nine months on death row.

Michelle Scatton-Tessier, director of the Women’s Studies and Resource Center at UNCW, introduced the event.

“Cook and I had a conversation and we thought this would be a book of interest to the public and campus community, and also went with our mission,” Scatton-Tessier said. “Sabrina’s story connects what our students are experiencing in the classroom with what is happening in the community. This book is important because it gives voices to those less represented.”

Butler definitely fell into this category. She had state-appointed attorneys, no money and very little support. She had performed emergency CPR on her child, but did it wrong, which led to her child’s death.

Once Butler was taken to the police department, she was harassed and given little chance to give her side of the story.

“They kept saying, ‘you killed this baby.’ ‘No,’ I told them, ‘that’s not how it happened. I just tried to help him breathe,'” Butler said.

Still in shock from the loss of her child, Butler didn’t realize what was happening. She was sent to a county jail for a year, then to a mental institution.

“Once they sent me back to the district attorney, they already knew what they were going to do to me,” Butler said.

Butler was overdue for a break after having survived the loss of her son and the incarceration of prison and a mental institution, but it wasn’t coming anytime soon.

Even when Butler was sentenced to death by lethal injection, she still didn’t grasp the gravity of her situation until she entered jail.

“Here I am in an adult prison, a kid myself, and I wondered: ‘why are they doing this to me? I didn’t kill my child,'” Butler said.

According to Cook, once exonerees are released, they must rely on friends and family, faith communities, attorneys and advocates. Butler had a very hard time finding any kind of help.

“I got out of jail in 1995. I couldn’t get a job, I lived in the same town and I struggled. My family treated me bad and everyone called me a child killer,” Butler said.

Although Butler struggled to make a living post-prison, her life soon changed.

“The happy part was I met and married one of the correctional officers from my facility,” Butler said.

Butler finally received compensation from the state last year.

“The system does make mistakes and we need to change it,” Butler said.

Cook emphasized that an exoneree needs family and social support, as well as community acceptance to get over life trauma, which she compares to the traumatic event of “surviving a natural disaster.” Butler received no state apology and continues to run into her prosecutor around town.

“What they’ve been through matters and can be a lesson. This is not a tragic situation we can ignore-this is a tragedy that happens in our justice system. This is our tax dollars at work,” Cook said. “Only one person [interviewed for the book] chose a pseudonym. Everyone else wanted to use their real names because they wanted their stories to matter.”

People can help exonerees by becoming aware, participating in public dialogue and by making donations to programs set up to help exonerees. All of the proceeds from Cook’s book are donated to “Witness to Innocence” and “Centurion Ministries,” two non-profit organizations that assist the wrongly convicted.

Many students attended the event, as well as faculty and members of the community.

 “I came today because I’m taking Sociology 101 and was interested in learning more about the justice system,” said UNCW student Kaylee Moore.

Some students attended because their majors coincided with the event.

“I heard about the event a week ago because a teacher told me about it. I wanted to attend it because of my interest in criminal justice,” said criminal justice major Jessica Lopez.

Cook’s words touched many in the audience, leading to a lengthy question and answer session after the lecture.

“This is not an event to end the conversation on the death penalty,” Cook said. “This is a conversation to begin more conversations in your lives and in your communities as well.”