State Defends High School Rapist in Shocking Court Docs

Another big update for you in the Jesse. [music] Butler rape case out in. Stillwater, Oklahoma. The now. 18-year-old, as we know, pled no contest. to multiple [music] rape and domestic. assault charges after two of his. ex-girlfriends came forward with. shocking accusations. But when the court. unexpectedly agreed to [music] give. Butler youthful offender status, basically wiping away all prison time, the victims and their [music] families. cried foul. But now we are hearing what. the state and Butler's attorneys have to. say about the allegations that the. court's decision [music] violated the.

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to get 10 free meals. Plus, by the way, a free zilling knife on your third box. You know what that is? A $144 value. Offer is valid while supplies last. Free. meals are applied as a discount on the. first box for new subscribers only. That. is hellofresh.com/ssidebar10fm. Jesse Butler just can't escape the. spotlight. The high school baseball. player's name is photos that went viral. when it was discovered that he had. gotten practically no punishment for. crimes like rape and strangulation of.

girls that he was dating. And this time, what we're about to talk about a big. update regarding whether or not he's. going to be back in a courtroom and. whether or not his future could change. Because as I get into it, there has been. a push for him to be punished or his. case to be re-examined. And now the. state and his attorneys have responded. Lot to get into, but remember this is. all because, and we reported this, how. originally it was ordered Butler would. not serve any jail time after entering a. no contest plea. Something that the. families of his victims say they never.

would have agreed to. They weren't. properly consulted. So now they're. challenging the court's decision to. grant what's known as youthful offender. status. And just to let you know about. the case, two of Butler's. ex-girlfriends, they came forward in. 2024 alleging horrifying abuse. You had. one teen identified as LS who claimed. that after getting ice cream, Butler. drove her to a parking lot and tried to. rape her in his car. According to an. affidavit filed with the court, LS. reported she yelled and told him no. repeatedly and tried to push him off of. her, but was unable to overpower him. LS. reported Butler told her he was sorry.

for what he was about to do, but he had. to do it. And then when ostensibly. taking her back to her own car, he. allegedly warned, "You're not going. until I'm finished." The other girl. identified as KS claims that Butler. assaulted her, too. In the affidavit. related to her case, an investigator. detailed what she claimed happened when. she was housesitting for a family. friend. Quote, "Butler expressed a. desire to have sexual intercourse with. her at the house. Chaos reported she did. not want to do anything at the house. Butler became angry, came up behind her,

put his arm around her neck, and. strangled her to unconsciousness. She. could not breathe, scratched at his. arms, and tried to get away, but could. not free herself. Chaos woke up on the. floor of the living room after losing. consciousness. Chaos reported there were. red marks across her neck after Butler. strangled her. Approximately 15 minutes. after strangling her, Butler initiated. sexual intercourse with her. And Chaos. also claimed that Butler had recorded. himself choking her. And police claimed. that they later found those images on.

his phone. Now, both girls reported him. to their school in September of 2024. One got an emergency protective order, but she and her family claimed that. Butler violated it. he would end up. facing a violation of protection order. charge along with very very serious. felony charges. There were arrest. warrants that were issued in January and. February of 2025. They weren't executed, by the way, for weeks. He wasn't. officially arrested until March 4th. And. by the way, we've shown this before, but. I'll play it again. We got the body cam. footage from that day, which shows the. moment when investigators arrived at his. home. >> Okay.

>> Okay. All right. Let me know. Thank you. Hello. >> Hello. Are you Jackie? Yes, I am. >> Hi, Jackie. I'm Detective Bruce with the. So Police 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. >> like 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. >> Candy Baker. I'm sure y'all know Andy. She's the 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 long is that? Um, it just like we can only hold him. for 6 hours. >> Oh, okay. So, if I get it done now,

we're good. He's not going to be moved. No. Okay, perfect. Okay. >> Yeah. He shouldn't be. The only big hold. up is if we have somebody else in the. jail because we can't have them. intermingle. Um, I guess 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. >> Yes. It's 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, can you. tell him what you just told me or? >> Yeah. Um, so we're here. Um, we're. [snorts] 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 where this? >> Yeah. >> I'll get you out. Hear 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 Still Water Jail. And if. you'll just contact her then she she. does this all the time. She knows what. to do. >> I'm sure she knows Still Water Police. Department, not a county. >> Still Water Police Department on Le. And when you say we are. >> still water PD. >> Still water PD. Okay. >> That way they don't think you went like.

awesome experience. patch you down. Spread your feet for me.

Nothing in your socks. >> 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, those potential 78 years vanished. Instead, he received probation, which. includes counseling, community service, a social media ban, a restitution. payment. If he fails, he could face a.

10-year prison sentence. If he completes. it, record sealed. That's it. Back in. December, Rachel Buset, an attorney for. the mother of one of the victims, submitted a filing that called for a. review of the victim's involvement in. decision-making in this case as it. progressed. It's called a verified. motion to enforce victim's. constitutional rights for corrective. hearing and for modification of youthful. offender disposition in compliance with. Marcy's law. Now, Marcy's law is a. nationwide effort to not only protect. victims privacy, but also make sure. they're aware of all the steps in the.

legal process and their rights are. considered. Buset claims that didn't. happen in the Jesse Butler case, and. we're actually going to be speaking with. her about the latest developments in. just a moment, but basically, she's. arguing that her client's rights were. violated because she wasn't properly. consulted or heard before this. controversial deal was struck. And so. according to the motion as well as the. court docket in May of 2025, Butler's. attorney and the district attorney for. Payne County, they appeared before a. judge to set a date for a preliminary. hearing in Butler's criminal case. But. Buset claims Butler's legal team implied.

that youthful offender status had. already been granted even though it. hadn't been. And a few days later, there. was an order that was filed delaying the. preliminary hearing. So according to the. motion, it reads, "Cha and her family. did not agree to a delay of the. preliminary hearing and were not advised. that it would be delayed by agreement. prior to the DA entering this order. The. May 22nd order lacked a signature for. the defendants's council, a signature. for victim's counsel, and had no. certificate of service proving service. on victim's counsel or proof of mailing.

within 3 days. On June 12th, 2025, Butler filed a second motion to certify. as a youthful offender or in the. alternative a juvenile and request for. youthful offender study and. psychological evaluation. Their. certificate of service likewise does not. show the victim's counsel was served. So, they're asserting that this was. basically done behind closed doors, right? There was no input from some of. the people most impacted by what Butler. did. And you continue from the motion. And it says that same day, the court. entered an order authorizing a youthful. offender evaluation, struck the. preliminary hearing set for June 13th,

2025, and rescheduled the hearing for. July 24th, 2025 as a youthful offender. preliminary hearing. Court's order was. not signed by the DEA, defendant's. attorney, or the victim's attorney. There was no certificate of service or. mailing of the judgment attached to the. order. And on the face of the order, it. is unclear who prepared the order. So, it's kind of strange, right, that that. sort of information may be missing here. And then it goes on to say KS was having. surgery for a broken leg on June 12th. and she and her family had no idea such. an order was being entered. On July.

23rd, 2025, KS had a meeting with the. district attorney in preparation for the. July 24th hearing. KS was a minor and. did not have a parent present or her. attorney present. KS was told they. weren't going to practice because there. was a plea deal. The DA told KS not to. tell her mother. Around 12:00 p.m., the. DA called KS's mother and advised her. that she had agreed to a plea deal where. Butler were plead guilty and served time. in a juvenile facility in exchange for a. youthful offender sentence. The family. was not provided any other specifics of. the deal for the YO certification. The.

district attorney did not advise or. confer with KS her parents or the LS. family before entering into plea. negotiations or agreeing to the plea. deal or the YO certification. So, according to Buset, the family's. understanding was that Butler was going. to get some sort of jail time, even if. it was just a juvenile facility. But. that didn't really happen. Says, quote, "On August 22nd, 2025, the DA advised KS. and her family and Ellis family that. there was no guilty plea." The DA. further advised that Butler's attorney. had stated he was never going to advise. his client to plead guilty. This.

directly contradicted what they were. previously told about why the DA agreed. to the WIO certification. Kais and her. parents expressly objected and did not. consent to any plea that did not include. imprisonment. The DA told Ellis's family. that they could start all over at the. beginning. The district attorney stated. she would continue plea negotiations and. follow up with them over the weekend. The DA stated to KS's mother, Yavon. Sweeney, that we're supposed to include. the families in discussions about these. things. Sometimes that is a mistake. KS. and her mother understood this to me and. the state thought including the family.

in the decision was a mistake. Now, KS's. mother gave a victim impact statement in. court, objected to the case's outcome. Butler was able to plead no contest. So, no allocution, no admission of guilt, got no jail time. And even now, there. are issues apparently with the. protective order forbidding Butler from. having contact with at least one of the. victims because according to Busett's. motion, the victim had been informed. that extending the protective order. could be incorporated into the plea. agreement. But this was not done. Victim. and her family had to use the assistance. of other counsel to extend the. protective order. The protective order. remains sealed, making it difficult to.

enforce the protective order because of. its confidentiality. Even though the DA. promised this would be addressed. So. Buset argued that Butler's crimes. amounted to much more than just a simple. childhood mistake. The defendant's. conduct was not a single youthful. indiscretion, but a pattern of. escalating violence over approximately. 11 separate incidents during a 7 to. 8month period. And the motion concludes. by saying, "The victim now moves this. court to enforce Marcy's law and set. aside the plea agreement and reset this. matter as an adult prosecution and move. forward as an adult prosecution. Or.

alternatively, if the court determines. that it should remain a yo to require. the defendant to allocate." Now, with. all that in mind, the state as well as. Butler's attorneys have responded to. Busett's motion. That's what we're going. to talk about. All right. So to talk. about all this, to get reaction to these. developments, I want to welcome back on. Rachel Buset. Uh Rachel actually just. came from court. So thanks for being so. generous uh with your time to come do. this in your car nonetheless. Really. appreciate it. Okay, so it's been a few. weeks uh since we last spoke. Before we.

get into the latest developments, just. how are the families doing at this. point? What can you tell us? >> Um everybody's struggling. It's really. rough to see what uh was said in the. responsive motions, but at the same. time, it wasn't uh uns I wasn't. surprised based upon what I it's it's. what I expected it to be. Um you know. people aren't used to doing this for a. living don't understand how these things. happen and it feels very personal. So. that's rough. >> That's totally understandable. Now the.

local news outlet News9 did offer some. insight into what these filings are. So, according to News9, Butler's defense is. claiming that Marcy's law is being, you. know, misused in this instant instance. that changing the outcome would violate. his due process rights. I mean, Rachel, correct me if I'm wrong, but that seems. to be one of the main arguments. Um, and. is what would be your reaction to that? >> It is not an unexpected argument. I. understand where he's coming from. I. disagree with that and we'll be. addressing it in our response. Our.

position is that this plea was void. And. if the plea is void, it's void. abidonicio, meaning from the beginning. So there would not be a violation of his. rights because it wasn't done properly. from the get-go. >> You know, they News9 reports that as. part of its arguments, the state says. that while Marcy's law does give victims. a voice in the legal process, it doesn't. give them control over the outcome of a. case or sentencing. That it's up to the. prosecution. And the response notes that. the law doesn't give victims the ability.

to overturn or undo lawful sentences. Your reaction to that? The law, Marcy's law alone does not. allow a challenge to what has happened. If there are other irregularities that. violate the law, then it can be. challenged. And so our argument has been. from the beginning that this plea was. improper. It was not done properly and. that is the basis for the challenge. Marcy's law is not the sole or only.

basis for the challenge. >> So would you also be saying that it's. improper for them to suggest that it was. a lawful conclusion that it was a lawful. sentence? Are you saying that the way. this happened was illegal and perhaps. like you said it's invalid? I think you. get into the technicalities of what. constitutes a lawful plea versus and. validity and I don't know that we have. time to parse all of that but basically. my position is is that the procedure was. not properly followed by not following.

step by step the process of the juvenile. youthful offender certification. The. certification is improper. Therefore, the plea and imposition of sentencing is. improper and thus void. and something. that is void abnio is never valid and. can't ripen into a valid plea. >> Where is this going to uh end up? And in. other words, you will file, I imagine, a. response, right, to this. Um, is this. going to be a hearing or witnesses going. to be called? Um, what do you expect.

this is going to morph into? >> Currently, we have a court date set. February 3rd to have a hearing about. having a hearing and defining what all. of that looks like. Jesse, to the best. of my knowledge, this is really an issue. of first impression that I doubt will be. resolved in the courts in Stillwater. I. anticipate this will go to the Oklahoma. Court of Criminal Appeals. And there. might be questions of constitutional law. that actually have to go over to the. Oklahoma Supreme Court about the. interaction between Marcy's law and.

criminal defendants rights and how that. works out. Either way, I see this as a. casemaking law. >> And I want to get your take on something. else that happened, too. But before I do. that, just so our audience is clear, is. there any possibility, any outcome where. uh Jesse Butler could be re-sentenced. and face prison time? >> I believe that it's a possibility. We're. going to see whether the courts agree. with me or not. >> I want to get your take on this civil. lawsuit that was apparently filed by the. family of one of the victims. So, the.

Selvies, this is against multiple. defendants, including the Butlers, the. city, the school district, uh the. principal, the school resource officer. that was assigned to the school. And. this federal lawsuit that was filed uh. in December says that Jesse Butler was. known to be aggressive, violent, claims. that his parents knew about it, didn't. get him any sort of help. The lawsuit. also accuses the school district of. failing to investigate, notify staff. about what was going on, take any action. to protect her once LS reported the. abuse. And the girl's mother filed for. an emergency protective order which was.

reportedly served on Butler while he was. at school. And after that, the family. claims the principal, Walter Howell, called her to request that she report. problems directly to him instead of. going to the police. And the filing. claims that Howell said he chose not to. enter the emergency protective order. into the school's database because he. quote did not want to interfere with. Butler's opportunity to receive an. education. Rachel, what's your reaction. to that? uh we'll be filing a similar lawsuit. with similar allegations on behalf of KS.

and her family just as soon as the tort. claim process expires and we move. forward. >> Yeah, we checked the uh federal docket. for this case. It shows that the. defendants have all received a summon, so it requires them to answer the. lawsuit within weeks of receiving it. Um. we haven't seen any answers have been. filed. Um, is there anything that you. can shed light on about this case or um. what you think uh the conclusion might. be here? >> I anticipate the defendants will file a. motion to dismiss. That will be briefed.

Uh based upon the way our court system. is moving in Oklahoma, it could be. anywhere from four months to several. years before that is decided. So there's. not going to be any expeditious. resolution of this issue in federal. court. Whether there's separate. resolution, I can't say. But we will be. pursuing a similar lawsuit. Whether. they're consolidated or not, I don't. know that. I would expect they would be. at least in discovery. >> Now, Rachel, you've been getting. attention, the family's been getting. attention, uh, as a result of this these. challenges. Have you been receiving um,

what's been the response that you've. been getting? I mean, support. Uh, there. those been, you know, saying you. shouldn't be doing this. There are those. who supporting you doing it. Um, anything you could tell us, uh, since we. last spoke? >> Sure. By and large, the the community. and individuals within the legal. community and the greater community have. been very supportive. Nobody likes what. has happened here. I understand the. district attorney has discretion and a. defense attorney has a job to do, but. part of our job as attorneys is to make. sure from beginning to end that the.

process is followed appropriately and. lawfully. And I don't believe that that. happened. And I think a lot of people. question about whether or not that. happened. And my goal is to make sure. that we determine whether that did or. did not happen. And I think there's a. lot of support for that. And that's what. we've seen. There's always. [clears throat] going to be people who. are going to allege that this was. consensual as suggested by the district. attorney, which is absolutely not true. And there's always going to be people. that support the defendant, but by and. large, the community as a whole support.

these victims and what we're doing. >> Rachel Buset, thank you so much for. taking the time. Appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> And that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Everybody, please. subscribe on Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcast. You can also check us out on Peacock. We're on there as well. If you want to. follow me, you can check me out on X. [music] Instagram. Also, I got my. NewsNation show, Jesse Weber Live. Until. next time, I'm Jesse Weber.