The case of 18-year-old Jesse Mack Butler has ignited anger and accusations of systemic failure after a “sweetheart plea deal” allowed a younger man going through what might have been almost 80 years behind bars to keep away from critical jail time.
In early 2024, Butler, then 17 and a pupil at Stillwater Public Faculties, was charged with 11 counts, together with rape, tried rape, rape by instrumentation, sexual battery, forcible oral sodomy, strangulation, and home assault/battery by strangulation, KJRH reported.
The allegations spanned two high-school girlfriends, and courtroom paperwork say one sufferer was left close to demise after being choked; one other sufferer alleges she was strangled unconscious and that Butler even bragged he needed to movie the act, in accordance with
Initially charged as an grownup, the potential sentence at trial reportedly approached 78 years, in accordance with KOCO News.
In a flip that has provoked outrage, Butler’s case was reclassified underneath Oklahoma’s “youthful offender” statute, successfully treating offenses dedicated as a minor with a lot lighter penalties.
He pleaded “no contest,” that means he neither admitted guilt nor disputed the costs, underneath the deal.
Whereas initially going through grownup costs, that standing change eliminated the potential for a full jail sentence. The consequence: just one yr of rehabilitation and neighborhood service in lieu of many years behind bars, the New York Post reported.
The O’Colly reported:
Butler’s standing was modified to youthful offender after a listening to July 24. A youthful offender standing normally grants rehabilitation and fewer extreme punishment than an grownup would obtain. On Aug. 25, Butler pleaded no contest to the ten counts and an extra eleventh rely he acquired for violating a protecting order.
The Workplace of Juvenile Affairs created a rehabilitation plan and offered it to the choose Monday. The plan included greater than 100 hours of neighborhood service, a curfew, no social media, every day check-ins and weekly counseling till his nineteenth birthday. It was permitted.
The courtroom sentenced Butler to 78 years Aug. 25, however so long as he complies together with his rehabilitation plan, he is not going to serve any jail time.
Dad and mom of the victims name it a slap within the face.
“It’s a whole injustice to those ladies and to future victims, as a result of sadly, statistically, it received’t finish,” said one mother. “Not solely are you giving a slap within the face to those survivors, you might be doubtlessly placing different girls in danger by not holding him accountable.”
The mother of the second sufferer known as the deal a “joke.”
“It’s not equal to what he did to them,” she stated. “I informed the DA, I don’t need him to get away with this, as a result of I can not know that one other mom goes to should undergo what I went by means of,” she continued.
State Consultant J. J. Humphrey (R-Choctaw) blasted the case in a press release to Fox News: “If that don’t set you on hearth, your wooden’s moist. what I imply? You’ve received a foul deal. That units me on hearth.”
“Does it completely smack of political favor that you simply’re going to erase rapes and sexual crimes so that you can provide this man a slap on the wrist?” Humphrey added. “Oklahoma, higher listen. Get up.”
Humphrey stated he intends to file a petition calling for a grand jury investigation into the Payne County District Legal professional’s dealing with of the case.
WATCH:
Report: Oklahoma teenager Jesse Mack Butler who is eighteen years outdated has prevented what might have been almost 80 years in jail after being convicted of r*ping and assaulting his two highschool girlfriends. Butler acquired what many individuals are calling a “sweetheart plea deal” pic.twitter.com/yyBqSCbQxr
— The Calvin Coolidge Venture (@TheCalvinCooli1) October 26, 2025
