Donnie Butler, 51 [Updated]

Sept. 7, 2010, 5:48 p.m.

Donnie Butler, a 51-year-old black man, died Thursday, Aug. 19, at the state prison in the 44000 block of 60th Street West in Lancaster, according to Los Angeles County coroner's records.

At the time of his death, Butler was living in a two-man cell, Los Angeles County sheriff's homicide Sgt. Robert Gray said. While conducting a security check at 10:13 p.m., a prison guard found him dead.

According to preliminary coroner's records, Butler had a noose around his neck and may have died from strangulation. An official cause of death has since been deferred and results will not be available for six to eight weeks, authorities said.

Gray said investigators are still trying to determine if the case is a homicide or suicide. Butler was residing in an area of the prison for those who have mental health problems, Gray said. However, Butler did not have any problems at the prison before his death.

[Note: This homicide did not appear on a coroner's report several weeks ago. It was added Sept. 7, 2010, after the coroner's office alerted The Times about the addition.]

[Updated Feb. 28, 2011: Coroner's officials said Butler died from asphyxia and his death was ruled a homicide.]

[Updated March 1, 2011: Sgt. Gray said Butler's cellmate, Derik Brock, a 40-year-old black man, initially refused to speak with investigators about the victim's death.

Brock later wrote a letter to detectives asking them to return to the prison so that he could reveal information. On Sept. 23, in a meeting with investigators, he confessed to killing Butler.

Gray said Butler and Brock were both serving life terms. Butler was convicted of murder and Brock was convicted of attempted murder.

Brock told investigators that he was depressed and "tripping." He had stopped taking his medication and came to the realization that he was never going to get out of prison.

There was no falling out between the cellmates, but Brock had decided he was going to kill Butler, Gray said. Brock tricked Butler into letting Brock tie him up, and then Brock took a torn bed sheet and strangled him.

Brock is being held at the Men's Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles and is scheduled to be arraigned in the slaying March 15 at the Antelope Valley courthouse.]

Anyone with additional information about Butler's death is asked to contact Sgt. Gray at (323) 890-5569.

-- Sarah Ardalani

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14 reader comments

i was a child at the time of the crimes.but to this day i always and still think that mr.silva was guilty of both crimes.i guess thats why i goggled up the kids in the neighborhood hero.donnie buter. im 43 now i stayed in the house right across the street from where this all took place(314w.71st) i dont ever remember talking or seeing a police officer come to the house to talk to my grandma or my mom.sure donnie got caught up with drugs,talked to himself,slept in alleys but when us kids were out in the middle of the street playing football he was there quarter backing for both teams giving us pointers trying to make us better in the game he loved. to you donnie may your soul rest in peace...stephon randolph aka peewee

— STEPHON RANDOLPH Dec. 16, 2010 at 12:58 p.m.

from the la times back in 85 when i was 3 years old...
Ex-Football Star Guilty of Killing Boy, Raping Girl
January 23, 1985|TED ROHRLICH, Times Staff Writer

A former Fremont High School football star, described by a prosecutor as a South-Central Los Angeles "neighborhood bum," was convicted Tuesday of raping a 5-year-old girl and killing her 4-year-old brother by slashing the boy's throat.

Donnie Butler, 25, had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the crimes, and psychiatrists who examined him concluded that he was psychotic.

But Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Gordon Ringer, who presided at a non-jury trial, decided that Butler was, nevertheless, legally sane.

Ringer also found that "special circumstances" of murder committed during the course of sexual assaults were true. Butler thus faces a term of life in prison without possibility of parole when he is sentenced Feb. 26.

The district attorney's office did not seek the death penalty for Butler, because "there's no doubt that he is severely mentally ill," Deputy Dist. Atty. Sandra L. Buttitta said.

The prosecutor said that Butler won a football scholarship to the University of Arizona in 1978, but dropped out because of poor grades.

Butler was hospitalized twice for mental problems in 1982, before returning to Los Angeles, where he became a "neighborhood bum," occasionally sleeping in a vacant duplex in the 300 block of West 71st Street, next door to the apartment where his victims lived, Buttitta said.

The prosecutor said that Butler attacked the children on the morning of Dec. 9, 1983, within hours of his release from County Jail, where he had spent time for purse snatching.

The children had been left alone because of a mix-up with a baby sitter, who was to have called for them while their mother and stepfather were away, Buttitta said.

The stepfather, Omario Silva, captured Butler shortly after the attack and held him for police. Silva is now in prison, after pleading guilty to a charge of molesting the child who survived Butler's attack, Buttitta said. TED ROHRLICH, Times Staff Writer......CRAZY life...this guy was an outstanding athlete in high school and he had a chance in college..30 yrs later he is on the hr...just another homicide

— 562vert Sept. 22, 2010 at 8:26 p.m.

The Homicide Report

Donnie Butler, 51 [Updated]

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