Innocence Project seeking pardon in 2008 death case

After almost a decade into her 20-year sentence, Amanda Brumfield still maintains that the tragic death of her goddaughter during an overnight stay at her Ocoee home was an accident.

The estranged daughter of Hollywood actor Billy Bob Thornton, Brumfield was convicted in 2011 of aggravated manslaughter in the 2008 death of her best friend’s 1-year-old child, Olivia Madison Garcia.

Brumfield, 41, said Olivia fell while trying to climb out of her playpen, but prosecutors argued it was “impossible” for a girl of her age to have done so or that a drop from that height could cause traumatic brain and skull injuries.

The Innocence Project of Florida asked the state Board of Executive Clemency last month to pardon Brumfield or commute her remaining sentence, arguing she was wrongfully convicted of a crime disproven by medical and scientific evidence. Brumfield is one of five cases the nonprofit has recently taken up, a group it’s calling the Florida Five.

“She loved her goddaughter,” said Seth Miller, the organization’s executive director, in an interview with the Orlando Sentinel. “The idea she would hurt her is really beyond the pale.”

Attorney General Ashley Moody’s Office said information regarding Brumfield’s case was sent Aug. 6 to the Florida Commission on Offender Review.

“The Commission will institute a review process for this case,” spokeswoman Kylie Mason said.

Olivia’s mother, Heather Murphy, and Brumfield had taken their children to get Chick-Fil-A and ice cream Oct. 3, 2008, just hours before the girl’s death, the

ORLANDO SENTINEL FILE PHOTO Amanda Brumfield, center, estranged daughter of actor Billy Bob Thornton, looks at her family Oct. 6, 2011, after being sentenced to 20 years in prison for her aggravated manslaughter conviction in the 2008 death of a child in her care.