Editor’s Note: This story contains discussions of rape or sexual assault that may be disturbing. Reader discretion is advised. If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, you can find help and discreet resources on the National Sexual Assault Hotline website or by calling 1-800-656-4673.
(NewsNation) — Despite being sentenced to nearly 80 years in prison after admitting to a string of sex crimes against teenage girls, an Oklahoma 18-year-old avoided time behind bars, triggering outrage in the college town of Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Jesse Mack Butler, 18, from Stillwater, about an hour north of Oklahoma City, escaped prison time after pleading no contest to multiple rape and assault charges.
Why Jesse Butler isn’t going to prison
In March, when Butler was 17, he was charged, as an adult, with 10 felony counts related to sex crimes against two girls, both fellow students at Stillwater High School. One of the girls was choked unconscious and almost died, according to her doctor.
Butler’s charges included two attempted rapes, three charges of “rape by instrumentation,” one count of sexual battery, one count of forcible oral sodomy, two counts of “domestic assault and battery by strangulation” and one count of domestic assault and battery.
Butler pleaded not guilty to all charges, and the district attorney’s office struck a deal with Butler’s lawyers to change his status from adult to youthful offender. The victims’ families begged the D.A. not to do that, but in July, a judge signed off on the accord. In August, Butler changed his plea from not guilty to no contest.
He was ultimately sentenced to 78 years in prison, but as a “youthful offender,” he was also entitled to a rehabilitation plan drawn up by the Oklahoma Office of Juvenile Affairs and presented to the court last week, meaning he can avoid prison.
The plan calls for daily check-ins, weekly counseling, a curfew, no social media and 150 hours of community service. It will stay in effect until Butler turns 19, less than a year from now.
If Butler complies with his court-ordered rehab for a year and doesn’t break any more laws, his record will be wiped clean, meaning an avoidance of prison or an appearance on any sex offender registry.
The crimes Jesse Butler admitted to
A police affidavit says a girl identified only as “L.S.” dated Butler for about three months starting in January 2024, when she was 16. During that time, the victim said Butler repeatedly raped and attempted to rape her and would strangle her if she refused.
The teenage girl needed surgery to repair the damage done to her neck by the strangulation, and her doctor said she would have died had the strangulation lasted another 30 seconds. The girl alleges she gave in to Butler because he threatened to kill her and her family if she didn’t.
A separate affidavit says that in March of 2024, Butler dated another 16-year-old identified only as “K.S.” for six months. This teenager alleged that Butler was aggressive and violent with her, and says she went along with unwanted sex to avoid being hurt.
The victim also said that one time, when she refused, Butler strangled her and recorded himself strangling her until she passed out. Police later found that video on Butler’s phone.
In the same month, another count was added against Butler, taking the tally to 11 following a violation of a protective order.