Torris Butterfield
Adjunct Professor
tbutterfield@johnmarshall.eduEducation
B.A., Fort Valley State College
J.D., Walter F. George School of Law, Mercer University
Courses Taught
Criminal Pretrial Advocacy, Criminal Trial Advocacy
Career Highlights
Mr. Torris Jerrel Butterfield was born in Miami, Florida. He graduated from Miami Northwestern Senior High School in 1989, and Fort Valley State College in 1993 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English. In 1997 he graduated from Mercer University Walter F. George School of Law.
While at Fort Valley State College he earned a distinguished record in the academic community. He made the Dean’s List every quarter from 1989 to 1993; was named to the Honor’s Convocation from 1989 to 1993; named Greek with the Highest Grade Point Average in 1993; received the Ralph P. Malone Scholarship in 1990; was listed in the book “Who’s Who in America’s Colleges and Universities” in 1992; received the Blue Tip All-American Scholar Award in 1992. He was also selected to the Alpha Kappa Mu National Honor Society, and he is a lifetime member of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated. In 1993, Torris graduated at top of his class as the Summa Cum Laude. While at the Mercer University School of Law, Attorney Butterfield was named by his classmates as “The Best Person to Represent You in a Criminal Case.”
Attorney Butterfield is an experienced and highly successful litigator with nearly twenty eight (28) years of successful trial and appellate work. He has litigated Fifty (50) felony jury trials since 1997. 24 of his clients were charged with Murder and he stood next to 10 individuals as the jury said, “Not Guilty” and they went home. He has handled hundreds of bench trials in Georgia State, Juvenile, and Municipal Courts.
Several of his cases have been reported annals of the Supreme Court of Georgia and the Court of Appeals of Georgia. Of note is the case of In the Matter of Butterfield, where a court held Attorney Butterfield in direct criminal contempt during a 3 week murder trial for failing to reorganize his cross-examination of the State’s key witness and for failing to complete his crossexamination of the witness within a specified time limit. The judge was reversed on appeal and the client was found Not Guilty of Murder. See In Re: Butterfield, A03A1919, Court of Appeals of Georgia (Decided 02-20-2004). Other published appeals by Attorney Butterfield include Fowler v. State, 267 Ga. App. 699 (2004); Reynolds v. State, S02A0727, 569 S.E.2d 847 (2002); In the Interest of M.G., a child, A99A0966, Court of Appeals of Georgia (Decided 09-02-1999). In 2015, Attorney Butterfield tried the case of Somerville v. White wherein the trial court awarded his client $15,500.00 in damages after she sued her ex-boyfriend for hacking her email and forwarding nude and sexually explicit photographs of her to over 300 of her email contacts. The case was then appealed as Somerville v. White, 379 Ga. App. 414, 787 S.E.2d 350 (2016), and this was Georgia’s first “Revenge Porn” trial and appeal based on the new law passed in 2014.
Since June 2004, he has been the owner, president and CEO of The Law Offices of Torris J. Butterfield & Associates, P.C., which is a full service law firm specializing in Criminal Defense, Personal Injury, and Divorce cases throughout the state of Georgia. Attorney Butterfield has secured millions of dollars on behalf of citizens injured in auto wrecks due to the negligence others. Prior to going into private practice, Torris worked as a Senior Trial attorney for the Fulton County Public Defender’s Office, where he was engaged in the practice of Criminal Law. He was responsible as lead counsel for major felonies, multiple defendant and complex cases before the Fulton County Superior Court and the various appellate courts of Georgia.
Attorney Butterfield holds membership in State Bar of Georgia, Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (GACDL), American Bar Association, Gerry Spence Trial Lawyers College (TLC), Georgia Supreme Court, Court of Appeals for the State of Georgia, Georgia Superior and State Court, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of GA, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of GA, and U.S. District Court for the Southern District of GA, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, American Bar Association, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., and The Barristers Society.
He married the beautiful Kimley Predell Butterfield 28 years ago, and they have been a couple for 34 years after having met in college when they were both 17 years old. They have two children, Nadia, age 26 and Jared, age 22. When he is not saving the world or spending time with his family and friends, Torris enjoys reading, fishing, running, riding his motorcycle, cooking, and traveling the world. To learn more, please visit butterfieldlawfirm.com.