Lance Butterfield- parricide in Texas
Linda Griffith
something about it several years ago. It was interesting in this area
because it centered around a "good kid from a normal, involved family." Or
so it read. I didn't know the shooter, but I knew one of the kids who
organized his support group for trial. (Well, I taught him for 30 minutes a
day, three days a week when he was in the Sixth Grade. Outstanding kid, and
he maintained that reputation throughout High School.)
From:
http://web.star-telegram.com/content/fortworth/2001/11/20/nenews/fw010102-11
20-XA001-interview.htm
Son who killed dad expresses remorse
By MITCH MITCHELL
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
Lance Butterfield said he misses his father, and wishes he had not killed
him.
Had he known about support available to help end the abuse in his North
Richland Hills home, Butterfield said his father's life would not have ended
on Dec. 27, 1995.
[Linda's note: I can't believe that this smart kid, in this town, didn't
know what options were available to him. It's not as if we're in an area
where abuse is considered "normal" or where the various resources are
overwhelmed to the extent that they can't handle one more case. He could
have gone to any coach, school counselor. policeman, or myriad others and
gotten help.]
Had he been able to confide in relatives, his friends in school and the
community, Butterfield said he might not have shot his father once in the
back, then once in the head as he pleaded for his life.
"I saw it as an opportunity to stop the pain, as a chance for it all to
stop," Butterfield said. "At the time, I didn't see any other way out."
Butterfield pleaded guilty to murdering his father, Bill Butterfield, but a
mistrial was declared after jurors deadlocked in deciding his sentence. On
the eve of his retrial, Butterfield pleaded guilty to manslaughter as part
of a plea agreement and served two years of a three- year sentence.
Today, Lance Butterfield, 24, is three semesters from graduating with a dual
degree in accounting and finance from Texas Christian University in Fort
Worth. In his first interview with the Star- Telegram, Butterfield said he
wanted to set the record straight about his father's death and the role that
sports played in it.
The sports angle is the focus of a segment on Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel
at 9 p.m. today on HBO.
"I think three things saved Lance," HBO correspondent Bernard Goldberg said.
"He was a genuinely nice kid. He was a good athlete in a part of the country
where that counts. And his father was seen as an SOB. As a matter of fact, I
think if any one of those things had been missing, Butterfield would have
been sitting in jail right now."
Had he been an excellent math student, instead of a football standout, Lance
Butterfield may have spent much more time in prison, Goldberg said.
"There are other cases across America where a kid shoots his father, but
most of the time that kid is not a great athlete and that kid gets serious
time," he said. Lance Butterfield "is not the only kid in America who had a
pushy father," Goldberg said.
But Lance Butterfield said his sports ability and his father's obsession
with his potential were only a part of the equation that led to his father's
slaying. Lance Butterfield said his mother, Kathy Butterfield, and his
sister, Sandy Butterfield, were abused, degraded and mistreated by Bill
Butterfield.
The abuse was bad when the family was in public. But inside their home, the
abuse was worse, he said. Bill Butterfield obsessed about keeping the women
in his family thin and he controlled their eating habits, even their bowel
movements, according to trial testimony.
Sports seemed to overlap everything in the Butterfield house. Bill
Butterfield was a star running back at Carter- Riverside High School in Fort
Worth when his girlfriend became pregnant and he married her. At the time,
married students could not play football.
"I think he resented his wife every day they were married," Goldberg said.
Lance Butterfield said he sensed the resentment poisoning his parents'
marriage. Kathy Butterfield said she felt that resentment. She contemplated
leaving her husband but never followed through.
The children "would all have been grown and in school," she said. "I thought
that maybe I could leave then. But now, I don't think he would have let me
leave. ... It would have been the classic murder-suicide case. He would have
killed all of us, and then he would have killed himself."
Ultimately, Lance Butterfield, then a standout defensive back at Richland
High School, inherited his father's resentment and gave it back to him.
Bill Butterfield reviewed videotapes of all his son's football games,
pointing out in great detail each mistake his son made. The father would aim
a pitching machine that fired balls at his son's head, face and back, just
to get his attention.
To keep him focused on sports, Bill Butterfield forbade his son to see his
girlfriend, then stalked him.
"He was worried that Lance would throw it all away," Kathy Butterfield said
during the HBO interview. Bill Butterfield was worried that his son "would
lose his chance at a scholarship, a chance at playing some sports in
college."
On the day he shot his father, Lance Butterfield was jogging with his
girlfriend. His father became furious when he found out. There was a
confrontation, and when Bill Butterfield emerged from taking a shower, his
son was holding the family's revolver.
Lance Butterfield fired one shot into his father's back. After his father
wheeled around and begged him to call for help, he fired another shot into
his father's forehead.
"The second shot while the father was begging, that was what was bothering
me the whole time," said Mitch Poe, prosecuting attorney in the case.
"It was hard for me to have pity for Lance and his abuse story while he was
shooting his father in the face while he was begging him to call 911."
Poe said he had never prosecuted a patricide case that resulted in a
sentence of less than 28 years. But Lance Butterfield supporters filled the
courtroom. Messages of "Good Luck, Butter" and "We love you, Butter" were
painted on car windshields outside.
Poe said he was booed as he walked down the hallway to the courtroom. It
would have been difficult for the jury not to have been affected, he said.
"There was a dual dynamic going on," Poe said.
The same people who idolized Lance Butterfield because he was a popular
athlete came forward to vilify Bill Butterfield during the trial, Poe said.
Lance Butterfield disagrees.
"Sports didn't matter to them," he said. "They were my friends, and they
would have been my friends regardless of sports."
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Mitch Mitchell, (817) 685-3807
mitchm...@star-telegram.com
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Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel airs on HBO at 9 p.m. today, 10 a.m.
Wednesday, 9 a.m. Saturday, 11:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Nov. 29, and 10 a.m. Dec.
2.
The Lance Butterfield segment will also air at 11:35 p.m. Friday and 7 a.m.
Monday on HBO Plus.
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© 2001