The mother and father of an Oklahoma teenager who accused her former boyfriend of sexual assault and strangulation say they have been misled about how his case can be resolved — and that the ultimate final result permitting him to bypass jail with out admitting any guilt was far too lenient.
The sufferer, recognized in court docket paperwork as Okay.S., was in a relationship with Jesse Mack Butler that she says led to abuse. Her mother and father now plan to file a civil lawsuit towards Butler and his household, their lawyer, Rachel Bussett, instructed NBC Information.
Bussett mentioned her purchasers agreed to Butler receiving youthful offender standing, however mentioned they have been led to consider by the district lawyer’s workplace, based on court docket papers, that Butler would plead responsible and obtain remedy at a juvenile facility. As a substitute, Butler pleaded no contest and accomplished a rehabilitation plan at dwelling.
A choose formally dismissed the case towards Butler on Monday — sooner or later earlier than his nineteenth birthday — ruling that he had complied with the plan.
“My purchasers all the time understood that there can be a responsible plea and a few form of inpatient-type remedy required, not that it was going to be no contest and residential confinement,” Bussett instructed NBC Information in a cellphone name.
NBC Information reached out to Butler’s lawyer, Derek Likelihood, and his mother and father concerning the small print of the agreed upon plan however not one of the components instantly reply to requests for remark. Likelihood instructed The Oklahoman he plans to file a movement to have Butler’s document expunged.
“This was only a actually, actually tough case,” he mentioned, including that at Monday’s listening to, the protection “maintained our innocence and defined that we entered a plea to basically have interaction in threat administration within the case. However once more, that was not effectively acquired by the district lawyer.”
The allegations
Butler was arrested in March 2025 after two ladies he had beforehand dated accused him of sexual and bodily abuse. He was charged with 10 felony counts — together with tried first-degree rape, rape by instrumentation, sexual battery, forcible oral sodomy and home assault and battery by strangulation — together with a misdemeanor depend of home assault and battery, based on court docket paperwork obtained by NBC Information. He pleaded not responsible to all prices
The fees have been later amended to incorporate a protective-order violation after Butler was accused of positioning himself inside 6 ft of one of many victims at a faculty perform, court docket data state.
The victims, recognized in court docket paperwork as L.S. and Okay.S., mentioned the abuse occurred over a number of months in 2024. They reported it to a college useful resource officer in September of that yr, who alerted police within the city of Stillwater.
In keeping with an arrest warrant affidavit, L.S. instructed a detective that she and Butler dated from January to March 2024, and that he often bodily and sexually assaulted her throughout that point.
On Feb. 2, 2024, L.S. mentioned, Butler tried to rape her in a car however was interrupted when a girl approached the automotive, the affidavit states. L.S. mentioned she believed the lady had heard her yelling, crying and saying “no.” Butler then allegedly drove to his dwelling, the place L.S.’s automotive was parked, and tried to rape her once more earlier than she managed to flee, based on the affidavit.
L.S. mentioned Butler warned her if she went to the police, “they might each be in hassle.”
She additionally instructed the detective that Butler strangled her to the purpose of unconsciousness on Feb. 29, 2024, after she refused to have interaction in sexual acts with him — and that when she wakened, he was laughing at her. Butler was 17 on the time, based on court docket paperwork.
An lawyer for L.S. didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
After his relationship with L.S. ended, Butler dated Okay.S. from March 2024 to September 2024, based on the arrest affidavit. Okay.S. instructed the detective that in April 2024, at a drive-in restaurant, Butler tried to the touch her with out consent; when she refused, he threw her to the bottom, scratching her arm, and laughed about it afterward, based on the doc.
Okay.S. mentioned she engaged in sexual actions with Butler all through their relationship “to forestall bodily aggression from him,” the affidavit alleges, telling the detective she had discovered “what to do and to not do” to maintain from being harm.
She additionally described two strangulation incidents she mentioned occurred in the summertime of 2024. Within the first, whereas she was house-sitting for a buddy, she mentioned Butler strangled her till she misplaced consciousness, leaving pink marks on her neck. Days later, she mentioned, he strangled her once more — this time filming it on his cellphone. Investigators later obtained a search warrant for Butler’s cellphone and recovered a video, dated Aug. 1, 2024, that appeared to indicate him strangling her till she handed out, the submitting says.
In a separate incident described within the affidavit, Butler allegedly dragged Okay.S. “by the neck and hair from her dwelling to a car in her driveway.”
The plea deal
Butler initially pleaded not responsible to all prices. In Might 2025, his lawyer filed a movement searching for youthful offender certification, which was granted that August.
Ed Blau, an Oklahoma protection lawyer and former prosecutor not related to the case, instructed NBC Information that youthful offender standing might be granted to juveniles accused of great crimes. If the offender completes a court-ordered remedy plan, the case is dealt with as a juvenile matter and finally dismissed. In the event that they fail to conform, it reverts to grownup proceedings — in Butler’s case, one which carried a possible 78-year jail sentence, based on court docket data.
“It actually places the accountability and impetus on the offender to do all the things that they’re alleged to do,” Blau mentioned, including that he noticed nothing uncommon in how Butler’s case was dealt with.
However court docket paperwork filed by Bussett in December allege that each victims and their households have been instructed by the district lawyer’s workplace that Butler would plead responsible and serve time at a juvenile facility in change for a youthful offender standing. Nonetheless, simply earlier than an August 2025 listening to, the submitting states, the households discovered Butler wouldn’t comply with plead responsible or to incarceration at a juvenile facility in any case. Bussett’s submitting doesn’t title the district lawyer. NBC Information reached out to the previous district lawyer for Payne and Logan counties, Laura Austin Thomas, who retired in April.
At that listening to, Okay.S.’s mom urged the court docket to reject the plea, Bussett mentioned.
“What has occurred right here with regard to how the victims have been handled on this course of is among the predominant the explanation why victims of intercourse crimes are reluctant to come back ahead,” Bussett mentioned. “We perceive and respect the court docket’s ruling that it made … however regardless, we don’t consider that these victims have been handled civilly and respect by the method.”
Jeremiah Gregory, the newly elected district lawyer of Payne and Logan counties, mentioned in a assertion he plans to refer the case to federal prosecutors for assessment.
“I can’t undo what has already been achieved, however I can — and can — proceed to face as a powerful voice for all victims of violent crime,” he mentioned.
If you happen to or somebody you already know has been sexually assaulted, name the Nationwide Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673. The hotline, run by the Rape, Abuse & Incest Nationwide Community (RAINN), can put you involved together with your native rape disaster middle. You can too entry RAINN’s on-line chat service at https://www.rainn.org/get-help.
