Teen Gets 30 Years for Killing Foster Father

A Camden County Superior Court judge on Thursday handed down a lengthy prison sentence to a teen who admitted in December to killing his former foster father inside the man's Blackwood home in July.

Demetrius Minor, 16, pleaded guilty to first-degree aggravated manslaughter on Dec. 2 in admitting he had stabbed his former foster father, 69-year-old Theotis Butts, to death while burglarizing the victim's Timber Cove subdivision home on July 11.

On Thursday, Superior Court Judge Samuel Natal sentenced Minor to 30 years in state prison in connection with the retired railroad worker's slaying. The 30-year prison sentence followed the plea deal negotiated by Camden County Assistant Prosecutor Tim Chatten in December.

Minor stabbed Butts 24 times after breaking into his former foster father's Hemlock Drive home to steal cash, according to the Camden County Prosecutor's Office. It would be the last of several burglaries authorities believe Minor committed against his former foster parents after he ran away about nine months earlier.

As was the case at the Dec. 2 plea hearing, Butts' family and friends filled the galley. Chatten estimated 40 to 50 people were present to support Butts' widow, Wanda Broach-Butts.

Broach-Butts, who was married to "Ted" for 16 years, was among a handful of people to speak during Thursday's sentencing. She not only condemned Minor for "taking my husband from me in a manner that is too brutal to mention," but praised her husband for the life he had lived.

"Ted embraced all that came into his circle, including family, friends, people that he would meet on the streets, and his church parishioners,” Broach-Butts said. “Ted had a tremendous gift to teach and mentor children and young men that have experienced unfortunate child-rearing and environmental influences."

The Buttses had adopted six other children through the foster care system over the years, Broach-Butts told Gloucester Township Patch in December.

Natal denied Minor's last-minute request to have the plea deal pulled.

Minor must serve at least 85 percent of the 30-year sentence, or 25 years and six months, before becoming eligible for parole.

The teen entered the guilty plea about an hour after he had waived his right to challenge the Camden County Prosecutor's Office motion to try him as an adult on Dec. 2.

Natal initially scheduled sentencing for Feb. 17, but the hearing was postponed until Thursday morning.

Minor, who was already wanted in connection with a May 29 carjacking in Blackwood's Lakeview Apartments when he broke into the Hemlock Drive home and stabbed Butts to death, was arrested in Bronx, NY, on July 12.

Natal on Thursday sentenced Minor to 10 years in state prison on the carjacking charge. Those 10 years will run concurrent to the 30-year sentence under the plea deal.

Minor was represented by public defenders Dee Stroupe at the juvenile level and Brad Wertheimer in criminal court.