Mother charged with murder seeks new lawyer

Tamara Butler with daughter Bethany

(CNS): The woman accused of killing her 6-year-old daughter appeared in Grand Court Friday seeking to change her legal representation. Tamara Butler, who has not yet formally answered the murder charge against her, is currently remanded to Fairbanks prison but is understood to be suffering from serious mental health issues. Butler is accused of stabbing her daughter, Bethany Butler, multiple times during what appeared to be a psychotic episode last October and the court has been waiting on psychiatric assessments.

Butler, whose husband is a serving police officer, made a request to the court Friday to swap her lawyer from Delroy Murray to Ben Tonner. However, Murray failed to appear and Tonner, from Samson and McGrath, asked for an adjournment to deal with the transition. Butler was remanded in custody until 13 February but it is not clear if she will be entering a plea to the murder charge on that date or whether Butler is too ill to plead.