SCOTTIE SUTHERLAND - 5 Months (1996) - Stanley (NW of Charlotte) NC

Police and the N.C. medical examiner's office said Friday they
still believe the 1996 death of a Gaston County infant was homicide and
will keep investigating, even after District Attorney Locke Bell
dismissed charges Thursday against the baby's mother.
Bell said newly discovered evidence showed Patricia Payne is innocent and could not have killed the baby.
Payne, 37, confessed earlier this year to suffocating 5-month-old
Scottie Sutherland, and then recanted. For almost 14 years until her
confession, the state labeled Scottie's death natural - a case of sudden
infant death syndrome.
Town police in Stanley who interviewed Payne and videotaped her confession said they'll continue to investigate.
Stanley police Det. James Abernethy said police were "stunned" when the district attorney dismissed the charge against Payne.
The N.C. medical examiner's office is also standing by its revised ruling in the cause of death, from SIDS to homicide.
"As long as law enforcement is keeping an open homicide
investigation, we'll keep it homicide," Lisa Mayhew, the state's lead
child death investigator, said Friday.
Payne, who has described herself as bipolar and addicted to pain
medication, had been in the Gaston County Jail since June 15, charged
with murder.
Then an old police file was discovered at the Gaston County
Police Department this week, containing interviews with the family and
other witnesses on the day Scottie died.
Although Stanley police say they sought that information earlier
from Gaston County police, it came to light only after
a routine records request on Tuesday.
Among statements in the file was one from Payne's former
sister-in-law, Carolyn Morrow, who reportedly said she saw Scottie
moving and patted him on the back around 4 a.m. That was about six hours
after the time when Payne later said she suffocated the baby.
Morrow claims that's not what she told police
in 1996. She says she walked by the playpen around 5:30 a.m. after
returning from her third-shift job. She says she looked in, but would
not have known whether Scottie was alive or dead.
Payne, happy Thursday evening to be released from jail, said
Friday she had slept little and received a phone call from someone
calling her a murderer.
She also talked about hearing a woman's comments about losing her
baby in an unexpected natural death, yet feeling guilty and
responsible. "That was like me," she said.
Morrow also said she didn't sleep Thursday after Payne's release:
"I feel like the DA's office dropped the ball... I feel like he should
have pursued this. We want justice for Scottie."
District attorney Bell did not return calls Friday seeking
further comment. On Thursday, he said of the new evidence: "I was
relieved we found the truth."
2 confessions, detective says
Stanley Det. Abernethy said Friday that Payne actually confessed twice to killing her baby.
The first time, he says, was on June 11, 2009, during an
unrelated break-in investigation. The second time, on March 18, was
during an interview about Scottie's death.
In the March interview, through two hours of questioning, Payne
explained how she took Scottie to her in-laws' house so that Richard and
Karen Sutherland, her husband Mike's parents, could babysit while she
worked the night shift, according to police.
It was about 10 p.m. May 24, 1996, and she was struggling to get the crying baby to sleep so she could leave.
"I held his head into the pillow for about 5 minutes against my
chest to make him go to sleep," she said in the confession, police say.
"I was frustrated. I held his face into the pillow until he stopped
breathing."
Payne said in recent interviews from jail that she
had taken big doses of prescription drugs, including narcotics, and
didn't remember that interview. She denied killing Scottie.
Abernethy said Friday that the newly discovered Gaston County police report didn't dispel anything.
He said he interviewed Morrow, the baby's aunt, on Thursday. Her
account is "consistent" with statements from other witnesses, Abernethy
said.
Stanley police said they also learned Payne had a history of
suspected child abuse. Payne has acknowledged involvement with social
workers but said the allegations were false.
"This is not a circumstantial case," Abernethy said. "She (Payne) has admitted twice. I don't know how much more you need."
Videotape still seen as key
The state medical examiner's office is still relying on Payne's videotaped confession as important evidence.
Soon after the March 18 confession, Stanley police notified the
N.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner that they had new information
in Scottie Sutherland's death. That kind of notification is routine,
said Lisa Mayhew, the lead child death investigator at the medical
examiner's office.
Mayhew said she and pathologist Dr. Deborah Radisch, now N.C.
chief medical examiner, talked with Stanley police about the new
evidence and watched the videotape of Payne's confession. Then they
decided to change the cause of death from SIDS to homicide by asphyxia.
Mayhew said the videotape wasn't the sole evidence that made up
their minds, but "that's a big part of it. ... We had numerous
conversations with law enforcement. We got what we needed and what we
were looking for."
Mayhew says her office's job is different from police and the district attorney.
"Our responsibility is to the cause and manner of death," she
said. "The information that was provided to us via the mother's
confession provides us a clear-cut cause and manner. The recanting
doesn't matter."
Payne's confession is "the heaviest evidence we have right now."
Confessions and validity
A great deal of research questions the validity of confessions,
said Professor Vivian Lord, chair of the Criminal Justice and
Criminology Department at UNC Charlotte. Of particular concern in this
case is Payne's fragile mental state, she said Friday.
Lord said the confession contained a lot of specific details. But
she said people are wrong if they believe an innocent person won't
confess to something they haven't done.
"They will. Especially vulnerable people, people with low
self-esteem, mental illness, and emotional instability," said Lord, who
wrote the book "Interviewing in Criminal Justice: Victims, Witnesses,
Clients, and Suspects."
Lord says some people, who may feel bad about a loss, may
convince themselves they're responsible. They confess as penance or to
clear their minds of guilt. In SIDS cases, she said, parents often
suffer guilt and feel they should have done something.
Lord also credited Gaston County police for coming forward with
the missing file. But she said more of an effort should have been made
to uncover it.
"You're talking about someone accused of murder," she said. "That should be worth a little bit of extra effort."
Questions remain
It was unclear Friday exactly why it took so long to find the original Gaston County police report that was filed on a shelf.
Abernethy said his department asked county police for the report
at least six months ago. He said he provided the names of Payne and her
son, the date of incident and address.
Gaston County Police Capt. Joe Ramey said he was working to figure out what had gone wrong.
Abernethy noted county police use a different computer system now than in 1996.
He also speculated that a minor mistake such as a misspelled name
or misspelled street name could have caused authorities to overlook the
report.