A recent legal decision in Oklahoma has stirred significant controversy after an 18-year-old man accused of raping and assaulting two high school girlfriends managed to avoid a prison sentence. This outcome has left the victims’ families deeply frustrated and angered.

Jesse Mack Butler, hailing from Stillwater, entered a no contest plea last week to several felony charges, as reported by the New York Post. This plea was part of an agreement with the district attorney’s office, allowing him to benefit from a legal provision that altered his status from an adult to a youthful offender. This shift was approved by Special Judge Susan Worthington back in July.

The charges against Butler, which were filed when he was 17, included a litany of serious felonies such as attempted rape, rape by instrumentation, sexual battery, forcible oral sodomy, and various forms of domestic assault and battery, including strangulation.

Instead of serving time in prison, Butler will be placed under the supervision of the Oklahoma Office of Juvenile Affairs. His rehabilitation plan mandates that he adhere to several conditions: daily check-ins, a strict curfew, completion of community service, abstaining from social media, and attending weekly counseling sessions.

Butler, under the Oklahoma Office of Juvenile Affairs, will undergo a rehabilitation plan that includes daily check-ins, a curfew, community service, no social media, and weekly counseling sessions.

If he complies with the plan, his criminal record will disappear, and he will not have to register as a sex offender, NewsNation reports.

According to an affidavit, Butler is accused of repeatedly raping his 16-year-old girlfriend in 2024. During one incident, he strangled her when she refused to have sex with him, police said.

The strangulation caused damage to the victim’s neck, which subsequently required surgery. A doctor later told her she’s lucky to have survived the ordeal.

“We were completely against the youthful offender status from the beginning,” the victim’s mother said.

In another affidavit, Butler is accused of being violent toward another girlfriend, also 16, in 2024. She said she sometimes went along with what he wanted so that he would not hurt her.

In one instance, Butler strangled her until she passed out, while recording the incident. Police later found the recording on his phone.

Both girls, along with Butler, were students at Stillwater High School.

“I was sobbing, I was begging her not to do this deal,” the other victim’s mother said.

“I told the DA, I don’t want him to get away with this, because I cannot know that another mother is going to have to go through what I went through,” she told DailyMail.

“By giving him youthful offender status, all the prison time went away.”

The mothers told Oklahoma Watch that both victims were willing to testify in the case, despite a statement from the district attorney’s office, stating that the case resolution spared them from testimony.

“The ultimate resolution of the case, reached without either victim having to testify or face cross-examination in a contested proceeding, included the accused agreeing not to challenge any of the allegations,” Payne County District Attorney Laura Thomas said in a statement.

Butler’s father, Mack Butler, served as the Director of Football Operations at Oklahoma State University from 2001 to 2004.

Butler has a court hearing scheduled for December, to ensure he is following the rehabilitation requirements.

If you or someone anyone has been sexually assaulted, resources are available at the National Sexual Assault Hotline website or by phone at 1-800-656-4673.

[Feature Photo: Pixabay]