High School Rapist Faces New Legal Battle After Avoiding Prison

We have a major update on a story out of. Oklahoma that has shocked the nation. We're talking about now 18-year-old. Jesse M. Butler, who, as we know, pled. no contest to nearly a dozen charges. like rape and attempted rape. And thanks. to a sudden assignment of youthful. offender status, he got probation, not. [music] prison time. But now, one of the. teen girls that he subjected to horrific. abuse is filing a lawsuit. [music] And. it's not just her ex she's going after. For those of you who are wondering. whether or not he got [music]. preferential treatment and why the new.

allegations in this new lawsuit may tell. a new piece of the story. [music]. Welcome to Sidebar presented by Law on. Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Now, as we're covering this as quickly. as possible, trying to get you these. clips as quickly as possible. If you're. in the content creation game, if you're. putting things out on social media, if. you're wondering how we're able to do. that, how we're able to share so many of. these clips from these rapidly. developing stories so quickly, we use. something called Opus Clip. This is an.

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opus.pro/sidebar. to create your videos today. >> So, we're here [snorts] um we're. obviously going to place you under. arrest. There's a warrant for your. arrest. We're going to take you to the. jail. Um, I told your mom that she can. contact a bondsman. >> Yep. You might have remembered that. Still Water, Oklahoma High School. student Jesse M. Butler tearing up as he. was arrested at his parents' home back. in March. Two of his ex-girlfriends were. accusing him of serious abuse during. their relationships. Everything from. rape to strangulation. It was a shocking. case to say the least. And I'll tell you.

what, according to an affidavit that was. filed in this court case, Butler. actually recorded himself on his phone. choking one of the girls until she. passed out. And his brutal behavior. reportedly led to one of the victims. being admitted to a hospital that she. would end up having surgery to repair. damage to her neck. That's according to. her mother. Now, here's the thing. This. is what we want to talk about. One of. the victim's family members has now. filed a federal lawsuit claiming that.

school officials not only refused to. protect this victim, but that they tried. to intimidate her into dropping the. claims against Butler. Now, we're going. to do a deep dive into this lawsuit. We're going to get really into these new. harrowing allegations, but also if all. of this is true, this tells a whole. other piece of this story. Okay, so. first to make sense of it, to put it all. into context, you need to know the. bigger picture. And honestly, there is. really no better place to start than. taking a look at Butler's reaction and.

his mom's as Stillwater police slapped. on the cuffs. >> Okay. >> Okay. All right. Let me know. Thank you. Hello. >> Hello. Are you Jackie? Hi, Jackie. I'm. Detective Bruce with the So Department. Um, we're here because we have a warrant. for Jesse's arrest. I assume you know. that already. Okay. Is he here? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> I told him not to answer the door till I. got home. He's scared. So, >> so here's here's what's going to happen. Like, we're going to take him into. custody there. His bond is 25,000.

>> Once he gets to the jail and we get him. booked in, well, I guess on the way to. the jail, I guess you could contact a. bondsman. >> Yeah. >> And or I mean, if you have 25 grand. lying around, you can do that. But um if. you contact a bondsman then they can. post his bond and he can get right out. today. >> Okay. >> So um and. >> what kind of time frame does that look. like? Just out of curiosity like. midnight tonight or. >> like you can contact a bondsman and it. might be like an hour and a half or. something. >> Andy Baker. I'm sure yall know Andy. So.

>> she's one that told me. >> it's a pretty quick process. We just. like have to get him booked in and then. once he's booked in. >> um and just so you know he is a juvenile. so he won't be like with any adults like. where. >> he can't be housed with any adults. >> Okay. >> Um so there is a chance that he may be. moved over to Payne County but for right. now depending on how long it takes you. to get um get with her and get bond. right back. So. >> then um then he'll probably just be at. our facility at the city of Still Water. and she can come over.

>> How is that? Um it just like we can only. hold him for six hours. >> Oh, okay. So, if I get it done now, we're good. [snorts] He's not going to. be moved. >> No. Okay, perfect. Okay. >> Yeah, he shouldn't be. The the only big. hold up is if we have somebody else in. the jail because we can't have them. intermingle. Um like if they're booking. somebody in that can hold us up like. maybe 15, 20 minutes, something like. that. But it's not going to be a long. >> Okay. >> thing generally. We're ready to obviously tell our story,

too. >> Yeah. >> This is mom. Open the door. Give me your um wallet and phone and. stuff. So, okay. >> Your what? >> Well, okay. It's fine. It's not locked. or anything, is it? Okay. So, [snorts]. can you tell him what you just told me. or? >> Yeah. Um, so we're here. Um, we're. obviously going to place you under. arrest. There's a warrant for your. arrest. We're going to take you to the. jail. Um I told your mom that she can. contact a bondsman and um you shouldn't.

be very there very long. Um but there. just is a process for paperwork and. stuff. Um but right now you do have to. come with us and I do have to put you in. handcuffs. So turn around for me. Do you know this? It's okay. >> Yeah. >> I'll get you out for me. All right. Stay.

silent. Rick knows about this. Candy's. on this. Dad's on his way. We're coming. to get you. Okay. Stay strong. Okay. Say. your prayers. >> Okay. So, we will he's going to go right. to the city of Stillwater Jail. And if. you'll just contact her then she she she. does this all the time. She knows what. to do. >> Yeah. Make sure she knows Still Water. Police Department, not a county. >> Still Water Police Department on Lewis. >> Let know that we're the ones that.

>> And when you say we are. >> Still Water PD, >> Still Water PD. Okay. >> That way they don't think you went like. awesome experience. I'm going to patch you down. Spread your.

feet for me. >> What about his phone? So, um, that's going to remain at the. police department as evidence. Um, so. we'll hang on to it through the duration. of whatever happens with the. >> generally once the case is adjudicated, then we'll be able to release it, but we. can't until it's it's over with.

>> Well, normally, >> his phone cannot be released anyways. Yeah. Because of the. >> stuff that's on it. >> You have an ID or anything? >> Yeah. And I actually have a copy of the. warrant, so I'll get that to you. I'll just take his ID with me and I'll. give it to. a little shaky. >> 24 central.

>> 10:15. >> So my attorney told the police Oh, my. bad. >> that we would bring them in. Did you not. get that message? >> I did and I called back and I never got. a call back from him. >> When did you call him? Cuz he's called. you several times, too. He said. >> I've only had one voicemail from him and. I called him back after that. Um, sorry. I'm trying to get you a copy of this. warrant. Um, and I haven't received. anything from him. So, other than that.

one phone call. >> And that was several months ago. Probably like. >> telling you were doing this today. >> Probably his the attorney. >> Yeah. No, no, there would be no reason. for me to tell him. Um, >> but he left you several messages about. Jesse. >> Um, he left me one message and I. returned his call and he didn't call me. back. So, that I took that generally. that's I don't want my client to talk to. you. So, when I return the message and. then it's not he doesn't make any effort.

to call me back, that's kind of what I. have to go with. Okay. Oh, this is just. a copy, but you can have that. So, it. has the charges listed and the bond and. the case on there. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. >> Okay. You're welcome. >> So, Butler was charged as an adult with. 11 felonies. He faced up to 78 years in. prison. But over the summer, after a no. contest plea, the court granted him. youthful offender status. So just like.

that, the potential 78 years vanished. and instead he got probation, counseling, community service, no social. media, a restitution payment, and if he. fails, he could be reclassified as an. adult and face a 10-year sentence. If he. completes it, his record's sealed. Now, this is what we got to talk about. because we are learning new details. about what one of the victims identified. only as LS in court paperwork. What she. went through both during her short.

relationship with Butler and after the. federal lawsuit. Okay, this new federal. lawsuit was filed in US District Court. for the Western District of Oklahoma on. behalf of Ellis and her parents Amber. and Tyler Selvi. And it names quite a. few defendants, by the way, not just. Jesse M. Butler. So we have Independent. School District number 16 of Payne. County State of Oklahoma aka Stillwater. Public School District, the city of. Stillwater, Jesse Butler, his mom Jackie. Butler, his dad Mack Butler, school.

resource officer Paul Blankenship, and. principal Walter Howell. So let's. remember those names because they come. up a lot during the course of this. filing. So, in this filing, we learn. actually a few more details about LS, who's going to turn 18 uh in January of. 2026. It says, quote, "LS is a deaf. heart of hearing individual and has an. individualized education plan to. accommodate her disability." Now, the. lawsuit also notes that on top of being. Jesse Butler's father, quote, "At all. relevant times, M. Butler was employed.

by Defendant School District as the. assistant athletic director for. Stillwater Public Schools. And by the. way, Matt Butler also apparently has. strong ties to Oklahoma State. University's football program. So, he. used to apparently be the director of. operations for that program. That's. according to USA Today. Why does all. that matter? Well, first of all, OSU is. a huge presence in Stillwater. And there. have been accusations that have been. made online and in the community that. the Butler family's perceived. connections could have something to do.

with Jesse's arguably lenient. punishment. Now, there's nothing to say. that for sure, but people have been. making that connection nonetheless. So, here's how the lawsuit kind of sum. things up as we go through it. It says, quote, "Upon information and belief, Jesse Butler has a demonstrable pattern. of disturbing, violent, aggressive. behavior. One example of this disturbing. behavior is that he would repeatedly. slam his head against the wall in the. baseball clubhouse when angry or. frustrated. Upon information and belief,

Mack and Jackie Butler were aware of. Butler's disturbing behavior and did not. seek help for their son or take any. other corrective action. This is how you. get to liability, right? They had a duty. and they failed that duty when it came. to their son and what he did to others. Now, according to LS, she and Butler. were only in a relationship for about 6. weeks. So, January 2024 to March 2024. So, this would have been when she just. turned 16. And according to her, this. series of sexual assaults started in.

February of that year. And it didn't. stop there. Quote, "On one occasion in a. Walmart parking lot, Jesse Butler forced. himself onto LS, put his hands around. her throat, and strangled her. A doctor. later informed LS that she nearly died. when Butler strangled her. LS required. surgery to repair the damage that Butler. caused to her throat. And the lawsuit. also provides us with a better timeline. of how and why LS came forward. So, for. example, it says, quote, "Honor about.

September 11th, 2024, Ellis became aware. that another girl was a victim of. Butler. While discussing Butler's abuse. at church with the other victim, a youth. worker overheard the girls and informed. them that unless the girls reported. Butler within 24 hours, the youth worker. would be forced to report Butler. On. September 12th, 2024, LS reported to. assistant principal Tommy Grant that. Butler had sexually assaulted, strangled, harassed, stalked, and abused. her. Grant called SRO Blankenship to the. office. So again, that's the school. resource officer who quote interviewed.

LS. SRO Blankenship stated LS would have. to get her story straight with Butler's. other victim and that she would have to. go to the Civil Center for Child. Advocacy to make sure she was telling. the truth. So straight away there is. this allegation that there was some. hesitancy to believe what LS was. alleging. And the lawsuit claims that it. only got worse. Quote, "Defendant school. district did not perform an. investigation into Butler's conduct. after LS's report. Defendant school.

district took no action to protect LS. from Butler. Defendant school district. did not notify staff and employees about. LS's report. So if that is true, that is. pretty alarming and damning behavior if. that can be proved on the part of the. district, right? Especially considering. that there was ultimately an. investigation and later court case. involving Butler's actions." Now, according to LS, the day after she made. that report, Butler started what the. lawsuit calls a quotecoordinated. campaign of harassment. Quote, "Upon.

information and belief, Butler called LS. and had other students call her on his. behalf to pressure LS not to talk to the. police about him." The filing also. states Mack and Jackie Butler were aware. that Jesse was stalking, harassing, and. intimidating LS, but they took no action. in response. So, the Selvi family hoped. that filing a protective order would. give LS, you know, some kind of peace at. school, but their lawsuit claims that. the district refused to enforce it. Quote, on September 26, 2024, Amber.

Selvi filed for an emergency protective. order against Butler on behalf of LS. The EPO was served on Butler while he. was at school. After Butler was served. with the EPO, Walter Howell called Amber. and informed her that M. Butler was. crying and taking it really hard when. the EPO was served on Jesse at school. During that phone call, Howell requested. that Amber report any problems with. Jesse directly to him instead of the. Stillwater Police Department. Upon. information and belief in response to. Butler being served with the EPO on. campus, Defendant School District.

instituted a new policy that EPOS are. not authorized to be served on students. while they were on the school campus. Now, according to the suit, it had. previously been the district's policy. that any EPOS would go into a database. So, you know, teachers and staff at the. school would know about it. But the. Selvies claim that wasn't done here. From there, the lawsuit states that they. started to get reports on how much LS. was struggling at school. Quote, on. December 9th, 2025, LS's deaf heart of.

hearing specialist called Amber because. LS was uncharacteristically struggling. with her school assignments. When Amber. informed the specialist about Butler and. the EPO, the specialist had no idea what. Amber was talking about. Okay, so now. you're talking about a potentially. important witness at a trial. Amber. complained to assistant principal Grant. about the staff not being informed of. LS's situation. Grant responded by. emailing LS's teachers to give grace on. missing work because LS was having a.

quote rough go of it. On January 14th, 2025, Walter Howell, that's the school. principal, called Amber Selvi regarding. Amber's complaints with how the school. was handling LS's situation. Howell. informed Amber that he chose not to. enter the EPO into the school's database. because he did not want to interfere. with Butler's opportunity to receive an. education at defendant school district. Wow. horrifying if true and also very. important for a legal context because as.

we'll talk about later with the causes. of action if you can show that two. students were treated differently if you. can show preferential treatment or if. you can show disperate treatment right. of a student that's key. So the lawsuit. claims that the situation just continued. to devolve with the school's resource. officer that SRO deciding to get. personally involved. Quote, "On January. 22nd, 2025, SRO Blankenship pulled LS. out of class for a private meeting,

which is again school policy. At the. meeting, SRO Blankenship informed LS. that he was aware of Butler's habit of. stalking LS in the school parking lot. SRO Blankenship informed LS that as long. as Butler did not speak to her, SRO. Blankenship would not do anything about. Butler's conduct." Upon information and. belief, SRO Blankenship deliberately. pulled LS out of class and then escorted. her back to class to embarrass her. According to the court filing, a safety.

plan meeting was held in January of 2025. regarding LS. Now, the thing about that. is the allegation is only members of the. safety team were supposed to be there, but the lawsuit claims that Principal. Howell came in anyway, leaving the door. open so that people outside the room. could hear what was going on. Meanwhile, Blankenship, the SRO, the school. resource officer, was required to be. there as part of his job, but the. complaint says he never showed up. So, the safety plan that ended up being put. together then allegedly wasn't shared.

with teachers and staff. So, the Selvies. tried to go over the SRO's head to no. effect. They claim, quote, "On January. 30th, 2025, Tyler and Amber Selvi. complained about SRO Blankenship's. conduct to his supervisor, Lieutenant. Cluck, at the Stillwater Police. Department. After listening to the. Selvy's complaints, Lieutenant Cluck. told the Selvies that SRO Blankenship is. friends with the Butlers, so they should. not hold SRO Blankenship's conduct. against him." Then from there, LS and.

her family claimed that Butler violated. the EPO. how during an alleged incident. in February, the complaint states, quote, "Student athletes were on the. basketball court for a school sponsored. event, senior signing day. SRO. Blankenship was in attendance, as were. multiple members of the administration. and staff were present. At senior. signing day, in full view of staff and. administrators, Butler came within 5 ft. of LS to stare at, harass, and. intimidate her. Not one school employee.

intervened on LS's behalf in response to. Butler's violation of the EPO. It was. only when one of LS's cheer teammates. informed a cheer coach about Butler's. conduct that anyone intervened. The. cheer coach removed LS, not Butler, from. the court. So, look, Butler was. arrested. He was released on bond in. March of 2025. We know that. But. according to the lawsuit, it wasn't. until August 4th, 2025 that quote. defendant school district finally.

informed LS that Butler would not be. allowed on campus for any reason. But. according to this complaint, the alleged. harassment campaign reportedly. continued. Quote, "During this fall. semester of 2025, Walter Howell. continues to attend football games where. LS is cheering and he repeatedly stares. at and harasses LS and her family." Now. again, as we went all through that and. I'm going to go through the causes of. action. These are allegations, right? This is part of a complaint. These are. allegations. A lot of this is based upon.

information and belief. So the idea is. look, this is what we think we know. right now based on what we see. It will. obviously have to be more fully fleshed. out and corroborated through the. discovery process, through leading up to. trial to testimony. But now we got to. get into the causes of action. Okay. As. part of the lawsuit, the Selvies have. listed nine claims for relief. I want to. go through them. So, the first accuses. the school district of violating Title. 9. Title 9 states in part that quote,

"No person shall on the basis of sex be. excluded from participation in, be. denied the benefit of, or be subjected. to discrimination under any education. program or activity receiving federal. financial assistance." And the lawsuit. states the abuse, harassment, and. discrimination suffered by LS was so. severe, pervasive, and objectively. offensive that it deprived her access to. the educational benefits and. opportunities provided by the school. So, you're alleging here a pattern,

right, that the school district had. knowledge of Butler's harassment and. abuse and that she was retaliated. against. There was an allegation here. that they failed to investigate Butler, that they didn't stop him from harassing. and intimidating, that they didn't. enforce the EPO, that they banned LS. from attending baseball games so Butler. could still play, really suggesting. desperate treatment. Like I mentioned. before, the second claim for relief is. also against the district, violation of. equal protection under 42 USC section.

1983. quote after LS reported Butler's. sexual assault and harassment defended. school district acted with deliberate. indifference to her rights. So the idea. here protecting Butler at Ellis's. expense. How the school district. allegedly allowed a pattern of. harassment and intimidation. The third. claim is filed on behalf of LS against. Jesse Butler, M. Butler, Walter Howell, and Paul Blankenship, the SRO, for.

intentional infliction of emotional. distress. Quote, "Defendants actions in. the setting in which they occurred were. so extreme and outrageous as to go. beyond all possible bounds of decency. and would be considered atrocious and. utterly intolerable in a civilized. society." This is a very broad claim. We're talking about intentionally or. recklessly causing severe severe. emotional distress. The fourth claim is. what's called respondant superior, which. holds an employer liable for the actions.

of its employees. Quote, defendants M. Butler, Walter Howell, and Paul. Blankenship were acting within the scope. of their employment when they. intentionally inflicted emotional. distress on LS defendants school. district and city are directly liable. for the actions of their employees while. in the scope of their employment. So, you really have to show that what the. individual players did, what they. allegedly did was while they were. working or they were carrying out their. official duties and they weren't doing. something, you know, independent while.

off duty. Fifth, so this is against the. school district and the city of. Stillwater, you have negligent hiring, supervision, and retention and gross. negligence. When you talk about. negligence, duty, breach of duty, a harm. suffered, and that that breach caused. the harm that was suffered. Now, gross. negligence is an extreme deviation from. the standard of care that was owed here. You really, really disregarding the. risks, the consequences of a certain. course of action. So, here it says,

quote, defendants negligently breach. their duties to LS by hiring, failing to. supervise, and or retaining M. Butler, Walter Howell, and SRO Blankenship by. allowing defendants to harass, embarrass, and intimidate LS in the. course of performing their work. The. sixth claim accuses Mack and Jackie. Butler of negligence. Quote, upon. information and belief, Mack and Jackie. Butler were aware of Butler sexually. assaulting LS and could have prevented. it. So, namely, they knew their son. sexually assaulted LS. They didn't. intervene. You really have to show that.

they knew or had reason to know of what. was going on. That's how you can. potentially hold parents liable for the. actions of their child. And the seventh. and eighth claims are for battery and. assault. there on behalf of LS against. Jesse Butler. So for battery, you have. Butler quote acted with the intent to. make harmful contact when he sexually. assaulted LS and strangled her. For. assault, quote, plaintiff LS was placed. in apprehension of immediate harmful. contact as a result of Butler's conduct. and suffered fright and terror. So.

that's about alleged stalking, intimidation, harassment. Now, I believe. in Oklahoma, no contest, please can't be. used as admissions of guilt in a civil. case. So LS's lawyers can't say, "Look, Butler admitted to doing all this. Clearly, he should be found liable for. assault and battery." But obviously that. investigation, that evidence that can. overlap and come in in a civil case and. potentially would be strong in proving. claims like this. But the final claim is. on behalf of Ellis's parents against all.

the defendants for negligence. quote, "As a direct and approximate result of. the foregoing, plaintiffs Amber and. Tyler Selvi were deprived of the. comfort, enjoyment, and society of LS.". So, in certain cases, a family member. can be hurt by the injuries that are. suffered by a victim. What did they. lose? Now, I should say that the family. has not named a dollar amount of what. they're seeking in the lawsuit, but the. Selveies do claim that they're owed at. least $75,000 in damages. That's how you. get to the federal case threshold as.

well. This legal fight, by the way, I. should tell you, doesn't end here. because you also have something else. going on. You have a victim's rights. attorney who has also filed a motion. with the state court claiming that her. client's rights were violated under. Marcy's law. We talked about this in a. previous sidebar because the claim is. she wasn't properly consulted or heard. before that controversial plea was. struck with Jesse Butler. In fact, I. spoke with attorney Rachel Busett on. December 15th. So Marcy's Law is a crime.

victim's bill of rights and it was. passed into the Oklahoma Constitution in. 2018 supplemented by statutory. definitions and processes that are. supposed to be given to victims. Along. the way, if you read through the. statement of facts and procedural. history in the case, you'll see that. there were a number of times where my. clients weren't given proper notice. they didn't follow simple procedural. aspects of what we're supposed to do as. lawyers. There were other times where.

they were given partial information or. no information at all or the information. that they were given was given in such a. way that they didn't have a meaningful. time to process it, work through it and. understand it. So there are different. things that happened at different times. And is the goal for Jesse Butler to. ultimately be re-sentenced, for the. youthful offender status, to be stripped. away, for him to be sentenced as an. adult, for him to get prison time? Is. that something or is it at the very. least for your client, her family to be.

heard, to just be heard in a courtroom? Um what is the the outcome that you're. looking for? Um at this point, >> we're looking for an outcome that holds. him accountable. And I know there are. going to people be people that say, "Well, this does hold him accountable as. a youthful offender." But the biggest. thing is he hasn't admitted what he's. done. For the Youthful Offender Act to. work the way that it's supposed to act, there has to be a taking of. responsibility. And he hasn't taken any.

responsibility here. So, we need some sort of admission of of. responsibility at a minimum. Now, so. far, the Butler family, the school. district, the city of Stillwater, they. have not responded to the federal. lawsuit, but we'll definitely keep a. careful eye on this and see what happens. next. It's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so. much for joining us, and as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should. get your podcast. You can follow me on X. or Instagram. I'm [music] Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time.