Jesse Mack Butler, 18, was able to avoid the 78-year jail sentence he faced after making a deal with prosecutors to change his status and his plea, according to the New York Post.
Butler, the son of a prominent baseball coach in Stillwater, was 17 when he was arrested and charged with two violent rapes of girls, both aged 16. He was charged as an adult with ten felony counts and initially pleaded not guilty. However, in a deal with prosecutors, he agreed to change his plea to “no contest” as well as change his status from “adult” to “youthful offender.”
The plea deal, approved by a judge, allowed Butler to avoid jail time and instead sentenced him to one year of rehabilitation and community service.
According to prosecutors, Butler raped the two girls repeatedly while they were in relationships with him. He also habitually choked them into unconsciousness during the sexual attacks. And one of the girls had to have surgery on her neck after suffering a rape, with doctors saying she would have died if the strangulation had lasted 30 more seconds.
The deal allowing Butler to walk out of jail a free man left many in shock and outrage.
“It’s appalling,” the mother of one of the victims exclaimed. “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,” the aggrieved mother added.
The mother of the second victim was also outraged over the “joke” of a sentence, and said, “It’s not equivalent to what he did to them.”
She also worried that there would be more women abused by this offender in the future, thanks to the lenient sentence.
Republican Oklahoma state Rep. Justin JJ Humphrey was disgusted by the turn of events.
“How in the world did this judge get to this?” he said, adding, “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?” the lawmaker concluded.
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