Burton Abbott
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Burton Wilbur Abbott (February 8, 1928 – March 15, 1957) was an American man who was convicted of the
rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...
and
murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...
of 14-year-old Stephanie Bryan in Berkeley,
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
. Abbott's wife discovered the evidence in their home's basement and Stephanie's body was found buried near the Abbott family's cabin. On January 25, 1956, he was sentenced to
death Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...
in California's
gas chamber A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. Poisonous agents used include hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide. History Donatie ...
. In March 15, 1957, a (second) one-hour
stay of execution A stay of execution ( Law Latin: ''cesset executio'', "let execution cease") is a court order to temporarily suspend the execution of a court judgment or other court order. The word "execution" refers to the imposition of whatever judgment is bei ...
from the governor of California was communicated to the prison moments too late to halt his execution. The case is sometimes cited when discussing the appropriateness of condemning a person based on
circumstantial evidence Circumstantial evidence is evidence that relies on an inference to connect it to a conclusion of fact, such as a fingerprint at the scene of a crime. By contrast, direct evidence supports the truth of an assertion directly, i.e., without need ...
alone. However, "most criminal convictions are based on circumstantial evidence, although it must be adequate to meet established standards of proof."


Background

Burton Abbott, called Bud by his family, was the younger of two sons to Harold Mark Abbott Sr. (1893–1952) and Elsie Belle Moore (1903–2004). Abbott served in the
U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...
for 14 months until he was honorably discharged after contracting
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...
and having half of a lung surgically removed. At the time of the crime, Abbott was an accountant student at
University of California at Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...
since 1953.


Murder


Disappearance

On April 28, 1955, Stephanie Bryan and Mary Anne Stewart walked home together from Willard Middle School. On Ashby Avenue, after visiting a donut shop and a pet store, Stewart parted ways with Bryan to attend tennis lessons. Bryan was last seen walking in direction of the parking lot of the Claremont Hotel to take a five-minute shortcut through a wooden path in the
Berkeley Hills The Berkeley Hills are a range of the Pacific Coast Ranges, and overlook the northeast side of the valley that encompasses San Francisco Bay. They were previously called the "Contra Costa Range/Hills" (from the original Spanish ''Sierra de la Co ...
. She was reported missing shortly after 4:15 pm by her father, who had been alerted by his wife.


Investigation

A large-scale search organized the same day failed to find her. On May 1, one of Bryan's textbooks was found on Franklin Canyon Road near Martinez. In mid-July, Georgia Abbott, Burton Abbott's wife, reported that she found a purse and ID card belonging to Stephanie Bryan in the basement of the Abbotts' home in Alameda. She had found the personal effects by chance while looking through boxes of clothing for a costume to wear at a party. The home in Alameda was shared with her husband, their four-year-old son Christopher, and Burton's mother, Elsie Abbott. The twenty acre mining claim property in Trinity County belonged to Georgia Abbott's father since 1941. The property was initially co-owned by a miner named Lloyd Snyder, but his share was shifted to Georgia's brother after Snyder was convicted for fatally shooting and dismembering a man during an argument in the cabin in 1950. As Snyder released on parole on two months before Bryan's disappearance, he was briefly sought as a possible suspect, but eventually ruled out. In interviewing the Abbotts, the police learned that Elsie Abbott had found the purse earlier, but said she did not connect it with the case. She would profess her son's innocence until she died and that he had been framed by her brother Wilbur Moore, a truck driver from
San Leandro San Leandro (Spanish for " St. Leander") is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is located in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area; between Oakland to the northwest, and Ashland, Castro Valley, and Hayward to the south ...
. Police subsequently recovered Stephanie's glasses, a brassiere, and other evidence in the basement. No one in the family could account for how the victim's personal effects came to be there. Burton Abbott told multiple, contradictory stories including that he had been at the family's cabin 285 miles away near Wildwood, Trinity County, California, when Stephanie disappeared. The owner of the inn where Abbott insisted he had been at the time of Bryan's disappearance said he was certain Abbott was not present and the babysitter who watched Abbott's house during his absence stated that Abbott had called her the same day and explicitly instructed her that his family could not join him at the cabin. A resident of Wildwood confirmed that Abbott was in town the day after Bryan's disappearance. Although the resident and Abbott were friends, he noted that Abbott behaved strangely and unlike the two prior days, he was refused entry to the cabin. On July 20, 1955, the victim's body was found by ''
San Francisco Examiner The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and has been published since 1863. Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst and the flagship of the He ...
'' reporter Ed Montgomery and photographer Bob Bryant in a shallow grave a few hundred feet from the cabin, after they used the pet bloodhounds of a local to scour the area. She had died by blunt head trauma and had her underwear tied around her neck, with deep strangulation marks visible. Abbott's demeanor, previously calm and collected, reportedly shifted to anxious. While crying, he told a reporter for ''The Examiner'', "I don’t know how the body got there, I don’t know anything about it. I’m still staying with my story." Abbott's charges were updated to rape and murder.


Trial

The trial began in November 1955 and was one of the most highly publicized in California history, receiving nearly daily coverage from newspapers across the state Abbott's defense was headed by Stanley D. Whitney. Under
Alameda County Alameda County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,682,353, making it the 7th-most populous county in the state and 21st most populous nationally. The county seat is Oakland. A ...
District Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...
J. Frank Coakley, the prosecution hypothesis was that Abbott had attempted to rape the victim and killed her when she resisted. 16 state witnesses placed Abbott at different locations near Bryan's usual school route between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. Two of them, married couple Jackie and Allen Hill, also claimed that the day of Bryan's disappearance, shortly after 4 p.m., they had seen a car that had seemingly skidded off the road around the same area and seen the driver engaged in a physical struggle with a young girl, who wore clothing similar to Bryan. None of the witnesses could certainly identify Abbott as the man they had seen. Abbott pleaded not guilty. He explained that in May, the basement of the house had been used as a polling site with many people having access. Although the prosecution charged Abbott with rape, the
pathologist Pathology is the study of disease. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in the context of modern medical treatme ...
testified that the body was too decomposed to evaluate it for evidence of
sexual assault Sexual assault is an act of sexual abuse in which one intentionally Physical intimacy, sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or Coercion, coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their w ...
. Abbott's attorney claimed that his client, who weighed 134 pounds and had several ribs removed due to tuberculosis, was too physically weak to have committed the murder and carried the victim's body to its burial site. The physician who performed surgery on Abbott for his TB, Elmer Shabert, contested that Abbott's recovery went well and that his patient had abruptly resumed visitations just after the Bryan disappearance to receive further treatment. In December, Abbott took the stand and testified for four days. He spoke in a soft voice and was steadfast in his denials of any knowledge of the crime. He said it was all a "monstrous
frame-up In the United States criminal law, a frame-up (frameup) or setup is the act of falsely implicating (framing) someone in a crime by providing fabricated evidence or testimony. In British usage, to frame, stitch up, or fit-up, is to maliciously ...
". The jury was out seven days before it returned a
verdict In law, a verdict is the formal finding of fact made by a jury on matters or questions submitted to the jury by a judge. In a bench trial, the judge's decision near the end of the trial is simply referred to as a finding. In England and Wales ...
of guilty of
first degree murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...
. The judge imposed the
death sentence Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...
. As provided by
California law The law of California consists of several levels, including Constitutional law, constitutional, Statutory law, statutory, and regulatory law, as well as case law. The California Codes form the general statutory law, and most state agency regulat ...
, there was an automatic appeal to the
Supreme Court of California The Supreme Court of California is the Supreme court, highest and final court of appeals in the judiciary of California, courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly ...
. In a detailed opinion describing the facts of the case and reciting the evidence that had been presented at trial, the court affirmed the conviction and the sentence of death.


Execution

Abbott was incarcerated at
San Quentin San Quentin Rehabilitation Center (SQ), formerly known as San Quentin State Prison, is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated place of San Quentin in ...
to await execution. His lawyers tried to appeal for over a year. Before his execution, Abbott spoke to the doctor at San Quentin. The doctor said that when he asked Abbott about the crime, he said "I can't admit it, doc. Think of what it would do to my mother; she couldn't take it." On March 15, 1957, the day of the execution which was scheduled for 10:00 am, Abbott's attorney George T. Davis appealed to the United States Court of Appeals and was denied. He then tried to contact the governor of California, Goodwin J. Knight, but the governor was on a naval ship, out at sea, and out of reach of the telephone. The attorney arranged with a TV station to broadcast a plea to the governor. At 9:02 Governor Knight, now reachable by telephone, granted a one-hour stay. Within six minutes a
writ In common law, a writ is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court. Warrant (legal), Warrants, prerogative writs, subpoenas, and ''certiorari'' are commo ...
of ''
habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a legal procedure invoking the jurisdiction of a court to review the unlawful detention or imprisonment of an individual, and request the individual's custodian (usually a prison official) to ...
'' was presented to the
Supreme Court of California The Supreme Court of California is the Supreme court, highest and final court of appeals in the judiciary of California, courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly ...
, but at 10:42 am the petition was denied. The attorney tried again with an appeal to the
U.S. District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...
, but that court refused a further postponement at 10:50 am. At 11:12 am Governor Knight was reached again and agreed to another stay. At 11:14 am Abbott was led to the
gas chamber A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. Poisonous agents used include hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide. History Donatie ...
and strapped into the chair while the governor's clemency secretary Joseph Babich was contacting the warden by telephone. The
executioner An executioner, also known as a hangman or headsman, is an official who effects a sentence of capital punishment on a condemned person. Scope and job The executioner was usually presented with a warrant authorizing or ordering him to ...
pulled the lever three minutes later and 16 pellets of
sodium cyanide Sodium cyanide is a compound with the formula Na C N and the structure . It is a white, water-soluble solid. Cyanide has a high affinity for metals, which leads to the high toxicity of this salt. Its main application, in gold mining, also expl ...
dropped into a vat of
sulfuric acid Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen, ...
as Knight reached prison warden Harold O. Teets to stay the execution. Teets told him it was too late, and Abbott died as the governor hung up the telephone.


References


External links


Execution 1957Historical Dictionary of the 1950s
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abbott, Burton 1928 births 1957 deaths 20th-century executions by California 20th-century American murderers 20th-century executions of American people American male criminals American murderers of children American people executed for murder American people convicted of kidnapping Executed people from Oregon American rapists Executed students People convicted of murder by California People executed by California by gas chamber