The image of a trembling seven-year-old testifying against his own mother gripped the nation in 2008. Now that boy – A.J. Hutto – is a 24-year-old firefighter breaking his silence about the day his testimony sent his mother to prison for killing his sister.
A.J. vividly recalls the terror of that courtroom where, as a child, he explained how his mother “throwed” his sister Adrianna in their pool during a fit of anger. His crude drawing showing stick figures with the words “she did” and “too bad” became key evidence in the trial. While he didn’t understand the gravity at the time, A.J. says he simply told the truth about what he witnessed.
Now saving lives instead of reliving his sister’s loss, A.J. credits his adoptive family with helping him heal from years of abuse. He hasn’t seen his mother since the trial and prefers to keep it that way, though he admits feeling both heartbreak and relief when she was convicted.
