Former Cullman High School Principal, Dr. Elton Bouldin, faces the judge during the second day of his jury trial for third-degree trespassing. / Nick Griffin
CULLMAN – Former Cullman High School Principal Dr. Elton Bouldin's jury trial concluded Tuesday with Judge Scott Vowell declaring a mistrial after the jury was unable to come to a unanimous decision after three hours of deliberation. The trial began Monday afternoon and went through the day on Tuesday. Shortly before 6 p.m., the jury informed Vowell that they were split and could not come to a decision, but the judge asked them to keep trying. Shortly after 7:45 p.m., he declared a mistrial. Bouldin was facing third-degree trespassing charges stemming from an incident in April 2016 when he and Cullman High School Assistant Principal Mark Stephens went to the home of a student, Justin Butts. The two educators entered the home- Bouldin says they were invited in; Butts says they were not.
The day was long and packed to the brim with testimony from former students Austin Smith and Brennen Stricklin, current Cullman City Schools administrators Aaron Sparks (Cullman High School assistant principal) and David Wiggins (East Elementary School principal) and Superintendent Dr. Susan Patterson.
The jury heard some new information from the testimonies of both Jason Butts and Bouldin about what exactly occurred at the home of then-student Justin Butts on April 14 of last year.
The two had conflicting stories when it came to what occurred over the phone during the incident, with Butts testifying that he and his wife Julee were told by their son Justin Butts that Bouldin began tapping on his driver's side window when he returned home from in school suspension (ISS) that afternoon in order to get him to exit the vehicle. He also stated that later after Bouldin and Stephens had entered the house, he instructed his son Justin to put him on speaker phone so that he could speak directly to Bouldin. Butts said he asked, "Can you hear me?" and said he heard Bouldin reply by saying yes. It was at that time he said he told Bouldin, "Get out of my house; you better not be there when I get back."
Contrary to Butts' account, Bouldin testified that Stephens was the one who tapped on Justin Butts' window when he arrived and when asked about Justin Butts’ version of the events, claimed that Justin "made that up." Bouldin also refuted Jason Butts' claim that he spoke to him over the speaker phone, saying, "That was a lie," and that he has "never spoken to Mr. Butts." Bouldin also testified that Justin Butts telling Bouldin and Stephens to wait outside did not happen, and said, "That was a lie." Bouldin said that Justin Butts told them they could "come on in; I'm sorry my room is so messy."
Recorded conversations between Bouldin and Patterson, as well as Stephens and Patterson were played for the jurors. In his conversation with Patterson, Bouldin said that he wanted to try to meet Justin Butts at the house before the parents returned home and wanted to verify the caliber of the gun. He went on to say that he wanted to try to resolve the situation in a way that would allow Justin Butts to participate in his class' graduation. He also told Patterson that he thought Stephens was good enough friends with the Butts family that they could resolve the situation without any police or resource officers.
In the taped discussion that Stephens had with Patterson, Stephens stated that he felt comfortable enough with the family to meet Justin Butts at the house without his parents being present. During a phone call with Julee Butts later after entering the house, Stephens said, "Julee was uncomfortable with us being in the house and told me to wait there for her to get home." Julee Butts challenged that statement in her testimony yesterday when she said, "I told him I was uncomfortable with him being there, and that they had no business being there." She went on to say that Stephens and Bouldin had "crossed the line and needed to leave".
In the end, the 12 members of the jury were unable to come to a consensus after hearing all of the testimony and never got closer than a 9-3 margin of agreement. The case will be tried again with a new jury at a later date that is yet to be determined.
Background:
Bouldin was found guilty of third-degree trespassing on Oct. 13, 2016 in a bench trial presided over by Cullman County Circuit Judge Martha Williams and appealed that verdict on Oct. 25, 2016, requesting a trial by jury. Jury selection was Monday morning, and Monday afternoon testimony began. The jury trial was presided over by former Jefferson County Circuit Judge Scott Vowell. It was originally assigned to Cullman County Circuit Judge Greg Nicholas, who quickly recused himself following the assignment.
Bouldin was again facing third-degree trespassing charges stemming from an incident in April 2016 when he and Cullman High School Assistant Principal Mark Stephens went to the home of a student, Justin Butts. The two educators entered the home- Bouldin says they were invited in; Butts says they were not.
The student's mother, Julee Butts, later swore out a warrant against Bouldin and Stephens, who subsequently turned themselves in and were released the same day.
Following the guilty verdict in his bench trial, Bouldin was sentenced to 10 days of labor and a $200 fine; however, Williams suspended his sentence and instead placed Bouldin on unsupervised probation for six months. On a second charge, failure to report an incident of school violence, Williams found Bouldin not guilty. He had two weeks to appeal the ruling.
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