Mother describes killer’s tough youth

Thursday, Jan. 4, 2001 | 10:33 a.m.

The mother of convicted murderer John Butler told a jury Wednesday that when she was pregnant in 1971, her husband told her to put the first child up for adoption and abort the second one.

Instead, on Christmas Day 1971, Cynthia Glosson gave birth to Butler, bringing him into a world that included:

Defense attorney Brett Whipple presented Butler's troubled childhood through the eyes of Glosson and his uncle Scott Fahrney to try to persuade the jury weighing the death penalty to spare Butler's life.

Butler also could receive a life sentence with or without parole. Testimony was to resume today.

Butler was convicted last week of the racially motivated 1998 murders of Daniel Shertsy, 21, and Lin "Spit" Newborn, 24, two anti-racist skinheads.

Jurors, for the most part dry-eyed, took notes as Glosson wept through more than an hour of telling her life story. Butler, who had urged his defense team not to bring up the sexual abuse incident, sat with his eyes lowered.

"I love him (Butler)," Glosson said through a cascade of tears. "As I have always told all of my boys, he is one-third of my heart."

Glosson said she tried to provide her children with as normal an environment as she could afford doing housekeeping and similar jobs. At age 10, Butler played Little League baseball and in the seventh grade he made honor roll, she testified.

But at Las Vegas High School, Butler stayed out late, and met a man who had ulterior motives.

"Richard Bridges (said he) was a master electrician (and) he would train Jackie as an apprentice electrician," Glosson testified. "He (Butler) was not going to school (so I thought it was good) he could learn a trade.

"I found out later -- my son doesn't want this brought out -- it was a scam. He (Bridges) was a convicted pedophile."

Butler put a tissue to his eyes as his mother told of how Bridges got her son addicted to cocaine to "take advantage of him." Glosson said Butler was the only one of 11 alleged victims willing to testify to put Bridges back in prison.

Glosson said she could not afford counseling for Butler, but that her son got off drugs at Elko Boys School, a juvenile detention center, and worked on the facility's fire crew.

He also graduated from boot camp, where he earned a GED, she said, noting that upon returning to Las Vegas, Butler got back on drugs and later fathered a child.

During cross examination, Deputy District Attorney William Kephart said the criminal charge to which Bridges pleaded guilty was attempted statutory sexual seduction, and questioned whether Glosson had told the jury everything she knew about the case.

"He raped my son -- is that enough for a mother to know?" Glosson said.

Fahrney testified that Butler was "a totally different person" when he was on drugs, and that his nephew -- only five years his junior -- was not racist and that he dealt fairly with people of all colors.

"Jackie was a great kid, open and friendly ... charismatic and witty," Fahrney said.