Wild Chaos In Courtroom As Two Lesbian Lovers Are Sentenced For Child Murder – With Video
Nov 6, 2011 4 Comments ›› Angelia
A Charleston courtroom was the setting for a bizarre scene when two lesbian lovers collapsed, wailed uncontrollably and hyper-ventilated after hearing they would serve life for killing a three-year-old girl.
Erica Mae Butts and Shanita Latrice Cunningham had to be picked off the floor by court officials and held in chairs as they were wheeled out of the room.
The mother of Butts was physically thrown out by three staff members after shouting loudly at her daughter to, ‘Get up!’ then screaming, ‘I can’t leave my baby like this, my baby is out!’
A woman believed to be the mother of one the murderers had to be physically thrown out of court after screaming:
Erica Mae Butts, the godmother of 3 Year-Old girl she murdered:
Shanita Latrice Cunningham, Butts’ lover who also murdered Butts’ goddaughter:
As sobs echo from the gallery, a clerk can be heard to ask, ‘Do we have any EMTs in the building?’ while others try to get a panting Butts to slow down her breathing.
Butts and Cunningham, both 25 from Summerville, South Carolina, were told on Friday they will spend the rest of their lives in prison for beating Serenity Richardson to death in 2009 while the toddler was in their care.
Serenity was visiting Butts, her godmother and her mother’s best friend, and Cunningham, who was Butts’s lover, for two weeks at their home in Summerville, South Carolina when the abuse took place.
‘It is nearly impossible for words to accurately describe what these women did to that poor little girl,’ said Elizabeth Gordon, assistant managing solicitor for Charleston County.
‘They beat her repeatedly both with a belt and with plastic coat hangers. You can see the outlines of the strikes on this child’s body. There is not one area of this child’s body that was unharmed except for the soles of her feet.’
Butts admitted to Summerville police on Thursday that she whipped Serenity with a belt for urinating on the floor.
Serenity’s mother, Ieshia Richardson, a childhood friend of Butts, lives in Detroit.
‘The explanation they gave (for the beatings) was that Serenity had a potty accident,’ Ms Gordon said. ‘Their explanation is “we didn’t know what we did would kill her.”
‘They knew what they did was wrong.’
By the time paramedics reached Serenity, she was already dead and had been placed on ice and exposed to bleach in desperate attempts to revive her.
Circuit Court Judge Deadra Richardson said nothing had ever affected her as strongly as the photos of the little girl’s battered body.
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