Suffolk County DA: Do not bring Quincy Butler to an unprecedented FIFTH trial for crimes he did not commit!

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is on course to re-try Quincy Butler again, for crimes he did not commit, 17 years later and with no new evidence, for a historic FIFTH time. This will be the first time ever in Massachusetts history a case will have been tried this many times.

On Feb 13th, 2004 Betsy Tripp was murdered and her boyfriend, Morris Thompson was shot. As horrific as this crime was, it was never properly investigated by the police and after the States key witnesses both changed their stories from their initial police statements, Quincy Butler was arrested. In 2009, despite no physical evidence against him, Quincy was brought to a fourth trial which ended in an illegal conviction that was overturned in 2017. 

When reviewing the evidence in this case we see that the DNA found on the suspected murder weapon was tested and matches neither victims nor defendants. In fact, all of the state's evidence actually excludes Quincy Butler from possibly committing the charges filed against him. The state's case rides solely on the perjured testimony of two witnesses. Both of whom are on record giving police initial statements that drastically changed within a matter of days. Both of these key witnesses gave what even the judge described as inconsistent and conflicting testimonies on the stand, trial after trial, never able to keep their stories straight. Both witnesses having well documented drug abuse histories. And finally both witnesses are on record having received thousands of dollars from the Commonwealth under the guise of witness protection with no actual evidence that they needed any such “protection”. 

Quincy Butler was never properly identified by the witness. He was not put in a line up nor was his photo put in a photo array. The police claim they “accidently dropped” Quincy's driver license in front of the witness and as such, was falsely identified.

Quincy has been on house arrest for the past two and a half years on top of the 15 years he spent in maximum security prison. In addition to these 17 years of his life being stolen from him for a crime he did not commit, The commonwealth has erroneously prevented his son from having his father for his entire childhood. Only in these past two years has he been able to establish a relationship with his 18 year old son. 

Quincy Butler is being charged with 2nd degree murder and is being held on house arrest as well as $25,000 bail. 

We are asking the current Suffolk County District Attorney, to  administer justice for Quincy Butler and not bring this case to a 5th trial. 

In addition to signing this petition, there are several ways to contact the Suffolk County District Attorneys office and ask them to drop all charges against Quincy Butler.

Phone: 617.619.4000