Outrage has erupted in Oklahoma after a judge ruled that the 18-year-old son of the former OSU football director will not face jail time for raping and assaulting two teenage girls.
Jesse Mack Butler walked out of court this week “with no prison time despite admissions in a case involving the rape and violent assault of two teenage girls,” per Times Now Digital.
“Arrested in March at his family home, Butler initially faced 10 felony counts, including first-degree rape, attempted rape, sexual battery, domestic assault by strangulation and a protection-order violation tied to two underage victims,” noted the outlet. “Prosecutors said the attacks spanned several months in early 2024 while Butler was about 17 and dating the girls, both Stillwater High School students.”
One victim told investigators that Butler repeatedly raped and strangled her to the point of nearly dying. She was 16 years old at the time of the assault. Medical staff corroborated her neck trauma, which required surgery, and genital injuries. Another victim also told investigators that Butler choked her until she lost consciousness, which video evidence confirmed. She was also 16 at the time of the assault.
The families of both girls pursued lengthy prison terms for Butler, which the judge denied.
According to the New York Post, Butler was charged as an adult at age 17 and “slapped with 10 felony counts, including rape, attempted rape, sexual battery and assault.”
The baseball player pleaded not guilty to all charges but later struck a deal with the district attorney’s office to change his status from adult to youthful offender
Butler, who is the son of a prominent local sports coach, switched his plea to no contest after a judge signed off on the deal.
Under local laws, the youth plea deal meant Butler was sentenced last week to just one year of rehabilitation and community service — despite facing roughly 78 years in the slammer.
The victims and their families have called the sentencing a slap on the wrist.
“It’s appalling,” one victim’s mother told the Daily Mail. “I received similar punishments for breaking curfew when I was a teenager.”
“It’s a complete injustice to these girls and to future victims, because unfortunately, statistically, it won’t end. Not only are you giving a slap in the face to these survivors, you are potentially putting other women at risk by not holding him accountable,” she added.
Another mom called the sentencing a “joke.”
“It’s not equivalent to what he did to them,” she said. “I told the DA, I don’t want him to get away with this, because I cannot know that another mother is going to have to go through what I went through. By giving him youthful offender status, all the prison time went away.”
Republican Oklahoma state Rep. Justin JJ Humphrey told News Nation that the whole process was “corrupt.”
“How in the world did this judge get to this,” he said. “If that doesn’t fire you up, there’s something wrong. The laws are there, but what do you do when they don’t follow them? Does this sound like justice?”
Protesters and reporters confronted Butler as he left the courthouse.
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