Opinion ID: 2065493
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Butler Episode

Text: Late in the evening of February 13, 1975, Clifton Butler responded to a knock at his door. Roxanne Johnson, an acquaintance of his, appeared at the door accompanied by a man who was not familiar to Butler. When Butler opened the door, that man and a male companion burst into the room with pistols drawn. A brief struggle ensued, during which a gun discharged. One of the intruders ordered Roxanne Johnson to lie down on the floor and then commanded Butler to produce money and marijuana. Butler demurred, claiming he had no marijuana and that all the money he possessed was in his pockets. One of the assailants then began to rummage through the bedroom in search of the desired items. During the search he questioned Mrs. Butler about some pills which he found. When the Butlers' child screamed, the robber threatened, if you don't shut that goddam baby up, I'm going to blow his head off. Suddenly, the police arrived. The robber who had remained with Butler warned his cohort in the bedroom, Pop, Pop, Pop, police at the door, police at the door. The man in the bedroom jumped out the second-floor window and fled. The other assailant, appellant Lumpkin, was disarmed and arrested. When Butler returned from the police precinct, he and his wife discussed the incident. They then agreed that they recognized the man who had been referred to as Pop as appellant Gerald Evans, an old schoolmate of Butler's. Mrs. Butler added that she had last seen Evans in 1968 or 1969 and that she knew him then as Black Papa. They subsequently identified Evans both from a photographic array and at a lineup.