A young witness, whose hands were too small to cover his tearful eyes, mustered the courage to testify against his mother, saying that when “mama got mad,” his 7-year-old sister was “dunked” in the pool. After 17 years of silence, A.J. Hutto, now 24, is coming out about his court appearances as a child. He maintains that Amanda Lewis, his mother, is “100% guilty.”
In 2008, a small boy’s voice broke the stillness of a Florida courtroom when he spoke out and spoke an unthinkable truth.
A.J. Hutto, whose new identity is kept private, did not fully comprehend the legal implications of what he was doing. He was merely trying to make sense of what he shouldn’t have had to witness and stating the truth.
The 7-year-old described in terrible detail how he witnessed his sister, Adrianna Hutto, pass away in his family’s backyard pool while sporting light-colored pants, a black knit jacket, and a white button-up shirt.
Until A.J. informed the authorities that his mother, Amanda Lewis, had murdered his sister, the incident was initially believed to be an accidental drowning. This was much scarier.
Lewis’ version
On August 8, 2007, Lewis, a nurse’s assistant who works night shifts at a nearby nursing home, returned home and had a quick nap as the kids watched cartoons.
The idea was simple, according to Lewis, who was 27 at the time: they would go “to shop for back-to-school supplies” after getting some rest.
However, according to an ABC piece from 2010, the children begged to cool themselves in the 4-foot-deep above-ground pool when the sun rose higher and the temperature surpassed 100 degrees. The mother argued that the pool was entirely off-limits without an adult present.
I told them we couldn’t go into the pool today since we were preparing to go. Children wanted to play outside for a little while while I set everything up,” she said.
According to Lewis, her 6-year-old son, A.J., came back inside the house shortly after and told his mother, “Mama, Adrianna is in the pool.”
“At first, I thought he was talking about the potential that she was by the pool, so I said, ‘All right, then, tell her to come in.'”
When she looked out the back door, Lewis saw A.J. “raking in the water with his hand, like he was trying to grab [Adrianna]”.
“I ran out, ran out of the house,” Lewis said. When I got to the pool, she was lying face down.She was truly purple and blue.
The little girl died after being taken to the hospital.
When a doctor told her Adrianna was dead, Lewis said what she did: “I hugged her, I kissed her.” “I got in touch with her. because I knew that would be the last time I saw her. It dawned on me then that my baby was gone.
Authorities initially believed the girl’s drowning to be an accident.
A.J.’s performance
Six months later, 7-year-old A.J. entered a courtroom full of strangers, unaware that his mother’s fate rested in his tiny hands.
Mama dipped my sister in the water. “My mother got upset because she did something she wasn’t supposed to do, so she threw her in the pool,” the little boy said in an earlier police interview.
In court, A.J. sketched a picture of himself standing a few feet away from a tree, a stick figure standing over the pool, and a person standing next to the pool.
When the prosecution asked him about his actions, he claimed that he was “playing” in a tree.
Then the pool asked him about the figures.
“Mama,” he said in the court footage.
He said, “Killing my sister,” in response to an inquiry concerning his mother’s actions in his artwork.
“What is she doing?” They questioned A.J.
The child informed the court, “She put her hand over her face,” in a matter-of-fact voice that touched people’s emotions.
On the left side of the sketch, A.J. had also written “She did” and “too bad,” which he clarified meant that his sister “died” and that it was “scary.”
The jury found Lewis guilty of first-degree murder and severe child abuse. She was given a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
“Word for word”
Following the trial, A.J. began a new chapter away from the spotlight.
After being adopted by a loving couple and given a new name, he discreetly disappeared from the public view.
Since that sad catastrophe, he has never publicly recounted the events that changed his life forever.
Thus far.
The 24-year-old, who is currently a firefighter, told the Daily Mail that he was not “coached or anything like that” for the trial and that he only learned “later on in my teenage years” that his evidence had determined his mother’s fate.
According to A.J., he was “really, really nervous…” as a kid and just told them, word for word, what he observed.being the center of attention and everything. But all I could feel was relief that it was over.
Darkness
“Just darkness, trauma” is how A.J. characterized his early years spent with his sister and Lewis. Extremely harsh treatment. Both Adrianna and I were physically assaulted and beaten.
He added that life with his new family was full of love and happiness—a “360 difference”—and that “I kind of remember some things about my previous life because it’s been a long time since I’ve had to talk about it.”
And I remember most of the abuse. Sometimes we wouldn’t even expect it. He said, “It was literally at times we were blindsided,” referring to himself and Adrianna, his “best friend.”
“We are not allowed to see each other due to a court order, and I have wanted to maintain it that way, just to ensure that nothing is brought up again.” A.J. hasn’t seen his mother since his testimony.He said, “Every emotion and feeling, along with the traumas, are being rediscovered.”
“It was devastating,” he added. You know, she’s my mom. But there was also some relief in knowing that everything we were going through at the moment was finally coming to an end.
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