Photo: Dr. Elton Bouldin appears at his trial for trespassing and failure to report and incident of school violence on Tuesday, Oct. 11
CULLMAN – "My intent was to verify Justin's story so we could provide a recommendation for an alteration to the expulsion rule," said former Cullman High School Principal Dr. Elton Bouldin when he took the stand at the end of his trial today at the Cullman County Courthouse. He contends that he only wanted to help. Bouldin stands accused of first-degree trespassing and failure to report an incident of school violence within 72 hours, both misdemeanors, in relation to his and Cullman High School Assistant Principal Mark Stephens' visit to the home of then-student Justin Butts on April 14, 2016. Stephens will be tried separately.
The one-day trial began Tuesday morning, with the majority of time being spent in Cullman Circuit Judge Martha Williams' chambers. Bouldin's fate is now in the hands of Williams, as he elected a bench trial. The prosecution and defense rested their cases around 5:50 p.m., and a verdict is expected on Wednesday.
After a lunch break, witness Justin Butts was the first to take the stand. Confident and self-assured, he walked the court through his version of the events leading up to the April 14 incident at his home. Justin Butts testified that he and four other students- Brennen Stricklin, Spencer Allen, Austin Smith and John Brown-, along with teacher and advisor David Benefield, traveled to Columbiana, Alabama to compete as a team in the 2016 Envirothon competition from April 7-9. At some point during that time, Justin Butts says he discovered that his .22 pistol was in the tackle box he brought to the 4H center where the competition was held. He says it was not loaded and that later he put it under his pillow, and finally in his suitcase for the remainder of the trip.
The boys worked on their project over the course of the competition, he said, and "butted heads" over changing the name of their project team. He said Stricklin was not in the room when the decision was made to change the name.
According to Butts, on the morning of April 9, when the boys were walking to breakfast as a group, Stricklin found out about the name change and was unhappy. "I got a little smart about it. He got a little smart about it. And it just escalated from there," he said. "Brennen said he was going to go with his idea, and I told him that he would look stupid since the rest of the team would have the other name."
When prompted by the defense, Butts admitted that it was at this point that he told Stricklin, "I'll pop a cap in your ass." Stricklin's response, according to Butts, was to punch Butts in the face. Butts says he did not retaliate, but went back to the room to clean up. Later that day, Butts visited an area healthcare facility and received eight stitches above his eye as a result of the incident. Later in his testimony, he said he did recall putting hands on Stricklin before he got hit.
Butts testified that on his way back to Cullman from the competition, on Saturday, April 9, that Stephens, who was a Butts family friend, called him to ask that he pick up some keys at Cullman High School and drop them off at Stephens' house on his way home. Butts says he did, and that it was then that he told Stephens about the incident, and that Stephens said he'd "take care of it."
On Monday, April 11, according to Butts, Stephens advised him to write his statement about what happened.
It was over the the course of Monday that Stephens, according to witnesses, interviewed the five boys who were present during the incident.
Bouldin testified that Tuesday, April 12 was the first he heard about the incident. "I was in a staff meeting at (Cullman City Schools' Superintendent)Dr. (Susan) Patterson's office when Mr. Stephens called me and told me he'd done initial interviews and that there was a fight and a firearm was present. He asked, 'What should I do?'" said Bouldin. That same day, according to Bouldin, Stephens emailed him copies of the five student interviews.
Bouldin says he reviewed the interviews on Thursday, April 14 some time after 2 p.m. He says student testing had him busy that week. "That was the first time I was aware that Butts threatened the other student (Stricklin) with a gun," testified Bouldin.
Bouldin testified that Stricklin said Butts threatened him with a large gun, such as a .45 caliber, and that it was this discrepancy, in the type of gun Butts had on the trip, that prompted Bouldin to visit the Butts home. "I wanted to confirm the caliber of the gun," said Bouldin, explaining that he needed to know Butts was being truthful with him.
Bouldin says that Stephens was advocating for Butts, saying, "He's a good kid." He says both he and Stephens wanted to help Butts avoid expulsion if it was possible, so that he could graduate. Bouldin says he wanted to confirm Butts was telling the truth about the gun, so he could recommend that he not be expelled.
"My intent was to verify Justin's story so we could provide a recommendation for an alteration to the expulsion rule," said Bouldin, who says he asked Stephens to arrange the visit to the Butts home because he thought having Stephens there, knowing Stephens was a Butts family friend, would diffuse any situation that might arise.
And this is where the stories diverge. The Butts family and Bouldin testified to two very different versions of the events that transpired on Thursday afternoon, April 14.
Butts says that teacher Aaron Sparks told him to go straight home after school, because Bouldin and Stephens wanted to speak with him.
Bouldin says the pair left the school at 2:55 p.m. to travel to the Butts' home, in order to arrive before Butts, because he "needed to be convinced that they couldn't go in the house and replace the larger gun with a .22."
Both parties say Butts arrived to find Bouldin and Stephens in the family's driveway. Bouldin says at that point Justin Butts' mother, Julee Butts, called Stephens. When Stephens ended the call, according to Bouldin, Bouldin asked Stephens, "Are we good to go?" and Stephens replied that everything was fine.
Jason Butts testified, "Around 2:30 p.m, my wife received a call from Stephens asking us to meet at the office, and we told him we couldn't meet because we were in Birmingham." Said Julee Butts, "Justin called and said Bouldin and Stephens were there and I told him not to let them in."
It was then, according to Bouldin, after all parties had exited their vehicles, that he asked Justin Butts if he could see the gun and tackle box. Bouldin testified that he said, "We're here to try to help you. We'd like to look at the tackle box."
Justin Butts agreed and showed them the tackle box, which was just inside the garage door. It was at this point that Justin Butts told the men that the gun was in his bedroom.
Justin Butts says he asked Bouldin and Stephens to wait and he'd go get the gun. Bouldin says Butts invited them in and said, 'It's in my bedroom. You'll have to pardon the mess.'"Justin Butts says the pair said, "We'll follow you."
"He then showed us the gun, and it was the largest barrel .22 I'd ever seen," said Bouldin, holding up his hands to show the court the size of the weapon, indicating that he now understood why Stricklin thought the gun was larger than a .22. That, and the fact that the gun was not loaded and no ammunition was found in the tackle box, Bouldin says aligned with Justin Butts' statement and it was then that he believed Justin Butts was being truthful.
Bouldin testified that the topic of expulsion was brought up, and that he told Justin Butts that it would be a decision of the superintendent and the school board. At this point, Bouldin said, Justin Butts was upset and crying. He says the asked if there was anyone they could call and that he then left Stephens with him at approximately 3:25 p.m., while he himself left the house to listen to a voice mail and return a phone call.
Justin Butts testified that while Bouldin and Stephens were in his bedroom, around 3:20 p.m., him mom called once and his dad, twice. He says his dad asked to be put on speaker phone.
Said Julee Butts, "They were in my living room at 3:18 p.m. I could hear them talking. They had no business being there, because we were out of town."
Jason Butts said he was on speaker phone when, "I told them to get out of the house. I called back 15-20 minutes later and Justin was crying. He said they'd been all through the house. I told them, 'You two better not be there when I get home.'" Jason Butts said this went on from around 2:30-4 p.m.
"We had to hear our son crying," testified Julee Butts, "saying he might be expelled and not finish school."
Bouldin vehemently denies that there was ever a call on speaker phone. "There was no conversation on a speaker phone between Mr. Butts and I," he said emphatically, later reiterating, "There was no one on the speaker phone and I do not remember anyone talking to Justin on the phone (in the house)."
"When you were at the Butts' home, did Justin ask you to leave?" asked an attorney for the defense. "He did not," said Bouldin.
Surveillance video from Cullman High School that was entered into evidence shows Bouldin and Stephens leaving the high school parking lot at 2:55 p.m. It shows them pulling back into the parking lot at 3:43 p.m. and returning to the school's lobby at 3:45 p.m. The defense maintains that Bouldin and Stephens could only have been at the residence for a maximum of 20 minutes, figuring in a 10-15 minute drive time to the Butts' home from the school.
Six days after the events of April 14, Julee Butts had warrants sworn out for the arrest of Bouldin and Stephens. Court documents show that Julee Butts accused Bouldin of failure to file a report within 72 hours of the alleged assault of a student. She also claimed Bouldin and Stephens trespassed on her property.
Both men turned themselves in and were released the same day.
Bouldin said in a statement on April 20, "Today the parent of a CHS student obtained two misdemeanor warrants from the Cullman County Sheriff Department. One warrant alleges Criminal Trespass 3rd degree against Principal Dr. Elton Bouldin and Assistant Principal Mark Stephens. The second warrant alleges Dr. Bouldin failed to report an incident of school violence to Superintendent Dr. Susan Patterson. The accusations are not true. However, misdemeanor warrants do not allow those accused an opportunity to respond to the charges prior to the court hearing. Mr. Stephens and I look forward to our opportunity to provide accurate information on these two alleged incidences."
Both were placed on suspension briefly before being fully reinstated by the Cullman City School Board.
As for the failure to report charge, Bouldin maintains that he did what he was supposed to do. He testified that he emailed Patterson, informing her of the original incident and that Justin Butts had been in possession of a firearm at school, including all of the student interviews, on April 14. He says he also told her that both Justin Butts and Stricklin had been placed in In School Suspension (ISS) for the fight, which is standard protocol. Since, he says, he only learned of the original incident at the Envirothon on April 12, he was within the 72-hour time limit to report it.
Williams said, "It's interesting to me that the email happened after entry into the home."
Bouldin left his position as principal of Cullman High School in June to serve as principal of Cullman City Schools' new Virtual School. He retired in August after 28 years in the city school system.
Bouldin is represented by attorneys Mark Boardman, Perry Knight and Teresa Petelos. The case is being prosecuted by Cullman County Deputy District Attorney John Bryant.
Stephens' trial is set to begin on Nov. 10.
Copyright 2016 Humble Roots, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
