The boy who testified in court that his mother killed his sister when he was just seven years old has spoken publicly about the heartbreaking case for the first time in 17 years.
On August 8, 2007, seven-year-old Adrianna Hutto was discovered lying face-down in her family’s swimming pool in Esto, Florida.
What initially appeared to be a tragic accident took a shocking turn when her young half-brother, AJ Hutto, told the court that he had witnessed their mother, Amanda Lewis, drown Adrianna as punishment.
AJ was only seven years old when he took the stand in 2008. His testimony included deeply disturbing details of what he said he had witnessed, ultimately contributing to his mother’s conviction.
AJ Hutto’s Testimony
During his emotional testimony, AJ explained that his mother, Amanda, had become angry with Adrianna because she had misbehaved.
“Mama dunked my sister. She done some stuff that she ain’t suppose so my mama got mad, so she throwed her in the pool,” he said during a videotaped police interview.
AJ also described drawing pictures of stick figures around the swimming pool during his testimony. Pointing to one of the figures, he told the prosecutor: “That’s my mama. Killing my sister.”
His account included a disturbing description of his mother placing her hand over Adrianna’s face while she was in the swimming pool. It was an experience that remained deeply embedded in his memory.
AJ’s testimony and detailed drawings played an important role in securing Amanda Lewis’s conviction.
She was sentenced to life imprisonment for first-degree murder, along with an additional 30 years for aggravated child abuse.
Lewis Continues to Maintain Her Innocence
Despite being convicted, Amanda Lewis has continued to deny killing her daughter.
She has repeatedly described Adrianna’s death as a tragic accident and claimed that AJ was coerced into providing false testimony.
“I couldn’t believe they were doing this… I love him no matter what, I will always love him,” she said during a 2016 interview, according to The Independent. “He is in no way to blame for what happened.”
However, AJ has continued to stand by his original account.
In a recent interview, he said: “I don’t believe I was, what they’ve called, coached or anything like that. I just told them exactly what I saw word for word,” according to the Daily Mail.
He also reflected on the emotional difficulty of testifying against his own mother.
“It was heartbreaking. You know, she’s my mother,” he said. “But there was also some relief that what we were going through at the time was finally coming to an end.”
AJ’s Life After the Trial
Now 24, AJ has chosen not to reconnect with his mother. A court order prohibits contact between them, and he has decided to maintain that separation.
“I’ve wanted to keep it that way, just so nothing’s getting brought back up. All the feelings and emotions and the traumas getting brought into light,” he explained.
Since the trial, AJ has found a more peaceful life with his adoptive family, describing their home as a “much happier household.”
He also opened up about the abuse he and Adrianna experienced while growing up, describing their childhood environment as filled with “darkness, trauma.”
“A lot of abuse. Physically abused, both Adrianna and I were hit,” he recalled. “The difference between the two families was night and day.”
Reflecting on how difficult it was to revisit those memories after so many years, he continued:
“It’s been a long time since I’ve had to talk about it, so I kind of remember some things about my previous life. And for the most part, I remember the abuse. Sometimes we wouldn’t even see it coming. It was literally sometimes we were blindsided.”
