MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. — Shalanda Burt was among the first in Florida to be granted clemency as part of a national movement in the early 90s to take a closer look at cases where abuse victims kill their abusers.
But her prison sentence from more than 30 years ago continues to haunt Burt, as she has fought for custody of her granddaughter.
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The ABC Action News I-Team met Burt at G.T. Bray Park in Bradenton, a place she said "brings back a lot of memories" with one of her granddaughters.
Burt worries time with that granddaughter will be just that — memories.
“She’s amazing. She is," Burt said, flipping through photos with her granddaughter.
For two and a half years, Burt cared for her granddaughter in Manatee County as her daughter, the child's mother, was struggling.
“I got a job, I helped my husband, and we took care of her," Burt said.
Then, Burt said a caseworker from the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) told her she had to go.
"They just told me I had to go drop her off, had me drop her off, so it was like I left her," Burt said.
Burt had been caring for her granddaughter despite her past. A court document Burt shared with the I-Team from 2021 when Burt was a part of the case involving her granddaughter, said, "Statutory disqualifiers for placement with the maternal grandmother are overruled."
But it wasn't enough.
“They said it’s the law. So I would never get past the adoption point," Burt said of DCF.
The disqualifier was a second-degree murder charge from more than three decades ago.
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Burt met the father of her two oldest children when she was 16 years old.
"He seemed like just a nice guy," Burt said. “He supported me. And then, when I got pregnant is when the abuse started.”
Burt said she fought back at first.
"But then when he seen that I fought back, he hit harder," Burt said. "He wouldn't let me leave."
Burt said he would put guns to her head.
“I have a lot of police reports. I had no problem calling 911 whenever I could. But they would come out to no avail," Burt told the I-Team.
Court records confirmed one of many incidents over the years, a time as police handcuffed her abuser, "he told Shalanda he was going to definitely kill her."
"Even though it’s like 30 years old, it’s like yesterday," Burt said of the day that changed everything.
“I was pregnant, and he had beaten me, like, the night before, and I was bleeding lightly. So I told him I needed to go to the hospital," Burt said.
She was walking to her aunt's house when he caught up with her. They got into an argument, she said, when she wouldn't tell him where their oldest daughter was.
"He started kicking me with steel-toed boots. And I just, like, kind of blacked out; I never remembered like going to the house. But I did. I went to the house and got the gun," Burt said. “I pulled the trigger, it didn’t go off. He said, 'Shoot me,' and he’s walking up on me. So I pulled the trigger again, and it went off."
Burt told the I-Team she's not a violent person, saying, "That's not who I am."
She was 19 years old when it happened. Burt was sentenced to 17 years in prison.
Burt requested clemency due to "Battered Woman Syndrome" after meeting the first woman granted clemency in Florida for the same reason.
"She put me on the road, and I didn’t look back," Burt said.
In January 1993, Burt was featured in a TIME Magazine article. The front page posed the question, "Do women who turn against their abusers deserve a special kind of forgiveness?"
Nine months after the issue was published, Burt was granted clemency. The I-Team obtained clemency records that said Burt "describes the severity of the abuse she suffered, not as an excuse but rather as an explanation for her reaction of years of abuse which resulted in her crime."
“They reduced my sentence to seven years," Burt said.
But Burt said that with the removal of her granddaughter, now five years old, she is still being punished.
“She was just put up and sent to a family member that she didn’t know. You know, it’s been almost three years, and she still cries when we leave," Burt said.
Burt said it's been tough.
“It’s supposed to be what’s best for the child," she said. "No one is looking at her saying, 'I want to come home with you, when am I coming to my room?'"
Burt said they had unsupervised visits up until September.
"They didn’t even tell me that was the last time; the only thing they would say is, well, that this paper has been signed," Burt said of DCF.
She fears she won't be able to visit with her granddaughter again.
In an email, DCF told the I-Team, "Records related to child welfare and adoptions are confidential."
“I just want her to know that I did not drop her off and leave her. And that I love her. I love her so much. And I just want her to be happy, and hopefully we’ll reunite," Burt said. “Once a person has paid the penalty that is given to them by the judge or whomever, they should be allowed to try and start their life over."
If you or someone you know is a victim of abuse, call the Florida Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-500-1119.
