He had only been seven years old at the time, but was faced with the devastating task of testifying against his own mother in court over the death of his sister.
AJ Hutto witnessed his mother hold his seven-year-old sister, Adrianna, down under the water in the family's swimming pool until she had drowned. As a result, he was asked to speak in court about what he had seen as part of the prosecution's case.
The child sat in the witness stand and drew a picture, explaining in heartbreaking tones what he was showing them.
“That’s my momma. Killing my sister," he told the prosecution.
He continued, explaining that 35-year-old Amanda Lewis had covered Adrianna's face as she had drowned her.
The prosecutor asked why Lewis would have done that, and the seven-year-old's reply is haunting: "She [Adrianna] done some stuff that she ain't suppose so my mama got mad, so she throwed her in the pool."
When he saw his mother in court and realized that she was on trial, he couldn't help but burst into devastated tears.
The case was picked up as a murder instead of an accidental drowning when AJ told his grandparents that he had seen his mother hold Adrianna down in the pool.
In February 2008, Lewis was given a life sentence for the murder of her own daughter. But 10 years down the line, she still maintains her innocence, claiming her daughter's death was nothing more than a tragic accident.
“We had went outside. The kids were playing. Adrianna was playing in the pool. I looked out the back door and that's when I can barely see her floating in the pool. It was like part of me was gone. It was part I'd never be able to get back. To me my kids they made my world. They made me a stronger person. They made me feel like I was everything I was supposed to be.”
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