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Drop Dead Serious With Ashleigh Banfield
Oklahoma OUTRAGE: Sickening Teen Predator Gets a Free Pass? | Jesse Mack Butler Stillwater Oklahoma
00:19:35
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- [00:00]
A
Foreign. Hey, everybody, I'm Ashley Banfield, and this is Drop Dead Serious. I have got to tell you about a man named Jesse Mac Butler. Remember that name, Jesse Mac Butler, because you're going to hear it a lot. He is 18 years old, and he is from Stillwater, Oklahoma. That is a college town. It's home to Oklahoma State University, which is about an hour north of Oak City, if you're driving. Back in March, when Jesse Mac Butler was just 17 years old, he was charged as an adult with a string of sadistic sex crimes against two girls, fellow students at Stillwater High School. One of those girls was choked unconscious and almost died, according to her doctor. Jessie Butler was charged with 10 felony counts in all. And it is important to hear what those counts are, to hear the list of charges that he faced because they were so serious. Two attempted rapes, three charges of rape by instrumentation, which I will leave you to think that through. There's an instrument, there's a rape. That's the charge. One count of sexual battery, one count of forcible oral sodomy. That's a tough one because most people think of that as something from behind. You can think through that charge as something that happened with the mouth. Two counts of domestic assault and battery by strangulation, and one count of domestic assault and battery. And let me be real clear, there were bigger, more widespread charges that the state could have thrown at this person, like attempted murder. The two alleged victims and their families had every reason to believe that the wheels of justice were hard at work for them. Right, for them, but also for Jesse Mac Butler. He deserved justice. Everybody does in this country. But before I tell you what actually ended up happening, let me tell you why Jesse Mack Butler faced those 10 charges, what he actually did to those girls. You should know that what I'm about to talk about is extremely graphic in detail. Okay? The descriptions are despicable, but they're critical to the story, especially when you find out how the judge in this story, Judge Susan Worthington, came down on this case. A police affidavit says a girl identified as L.S. because she's a minor, dated Jesse Butler for about three months, starting in January of last year. She was 16 years old at the time. And during that time, this victim said that Jesse Butler repeatedly raped her and attempted to rape her and would strangle her if she refused. The teenage girl actually needed surgery to repair damage that was done to her neck by the strangulation. And her doctor told her that she would have died had that strangulation lasted another 30 seconds. The girl says she gave in to Jessie Mack Butler because he repeatedly threatened to kill her and kill her family if she didn't. A separate affidavit says that in March of that year last year, Butler took up with another 16 year old girl identified as only KFC tests. That relationship lasted six months. But this teenager said she too was assaulted by Butler, that he was aggressive and violent with her, and says she went along with unwanted sex to avoid being hurt. This victim also said that one time when she did refuse, Butler strangled her and recorded himself doing it. Recorded himself strangling her on his phone. Strangling her until she passed out. And if you think that this is he said, she said. Police later found that actual video on Jesse Mac Butler's phone. So think that through for a sec. He not only strangled someone until she passed out, he thought it would be fun to videotape it. And he did. And they found it. That's called evidence. Jesse Mac Butler pleaded not guilty to everything that he was charged with. And that is his right. But in the coming months, for reasons that I will not pretend to understand, the DA's office struck a deal with Jesse Butler's lawyers to change his status from adult offender to youthful offender. You know where I'm going, right? Needless to say, the families of these two girls, these victims, begged the district attorney not to do that. Begged him, please do not downgrade the charges against this guy. The way he'd be treated as an offender. But no matter. In July, a judge signed off. Judge Susan Worthington. Judge Susan Worthington. Remember that name, too. She decided, all good. I'll sign off on this. And in August, Jesse Mac Butler changed his plea from not guilty to no contest. And if you watch my podcasts regularly, you know how I feel about the no contest plea, right? It's basically just saying, okay, you got me, whatever. I'm not pleading to anything, but okay, you got me. That's what no contest means. It also means you have a conviction, right? You still get the conviction. But for whatever reason, the authorities in this story decided he doesn't even need to say he did it. He can just say no contest. What no contest means is that he knew there was ample evidence to convict him and that a conviction would be the result of his no contest plea. By the way, I mentioned there were 10 counts before. Yeah, that was then. But by August, there was one more and the grand tally took him to 11. If you can believe it, the new charge was for violating a protective order during all of this right? A kid is facing 10 felony charges that are sex related and there's a protective order against him. And what does he do? He violates it. Because why not, right? Why the hell not? All I can say is that this violation should have been such a motherfucking red flag for somebody, but it wasn't. Because guess what? The very same day that he violated that protective order, he was actually being sentenced to 78 years in prison. Same day, 78 years. Which, you know, sounds like a fitting punishment for someone who nearly kills two different girls and rapes them both repeatedly. Right? And cops to it all. But as a youthful offender, which was his new status, Jesse Mac Butler was entitled to special treatment. And just you wait until you hear how special that treatment was. And I'm going to just advise you right now, pour yourself a big stiff drink. A rehabilitation plan. Yeah, that's what they called it, a rehabilitation plan. So 78 years on one side of the ledger as an adult and a rehabilitation plan on the other side of the ledger. That plan was drawn up by the Oklahoma Office of Juvenile affairs and it was presented to the court just last week. Today it is October 18th as I'm recording this, this new punishment plan. You ready for this? It's a doozy. It calls for daily check ins, weekly counseling. No a curfew. Say it ain't so. No social media. When will it end? And are you ready? Here's the big one. 150 hours of community service. You notice what I didn't say there? No jail time. Nothing. 78 years of jail. 150 hours of community service. That's what this was knocked down to. And no social media. No a curfew. Unless you think that this extraordinary restriction on his life was going to last, you know, forever and ever. Amen. No. No. This new plan was going to stay in effect until Butler turns 19, which is less than a year from now. Here's another kick in the teeth. If you're anybody other than Jesse Mac Butler or his family, if he complies with this court ordered rehab for a year and doesn't break any more laws, his record is going to be wiped clean. Squeaky clean. Jesse Mac Butler will not spend a day in prison. His name will not appear on any sex offender registry. Nobody in any other town or city or state or school or university or business is going to have a clue as to who Jesse Mac Butler really is or what his proclivities have been. If you run a background check on him, like let's say you Meet him on a dating site or again, you're thinking of hiring him. None of this will show up. None of it. He nearly kills two girls according to their accusations. Right. And according to what he pled to strangled them until they choked. And the doctor said 30 more seconds you'd be dead. You'll know nothing about that. I have not been able to breathe properly since I learned about this story. I thought we were so far past this that women could be treated this way and have someone walk like this, let alone girls. These are 16 year olds, two girls. And by the way, their fat patterns are almost identical. It's not he said, she said. He copped to it. Right. Earlier on my News Nation show, Banfield, which is weeknights at 10pm on News Nation, I talked with Justin Shepard. He's a digital journalist who has got an online handle just in the nick of crime. And he has been on this case like glue from the beginning. Here's our conversation and let me tell you, Justin, you have done some unbelievable digging. Not just on the case itself, but the justice system and the players. Not only the judge, but the judge's father and those invol. It sounds to me, and this is just a very sweeping comment, Justin, but it sounds to me like this is like the low country Murdochs and how they used to run justice in their neck of the woods. Am I off here?
- [11:54]
B
No, you're not. In fact, it's funny you said Murdoch. I was talking about somebody else about this today earlier and I said this is just like the Murdoch situation with how deep this goes. And yeah, normally when I get a story that comes across my desk and I'm like, okay, I'm going to talk about this one. And I'm like you, when I first, when I first saw this one, I was absolutely livid. I still am. And the next thing I knew, I had so many people reaching out to me about the way Stillwater, Oklahoma's judicial system handles things, the type of punishment that sex offenders get or lack thereof. And it goes much deeper than I would have even begun to have imagined.
- [12:31]
A
So let me ask you this. Why no attempted murder charge? The doctor who treated the first victim, who has the surgery scar from the welt and the intense swelling that continued after the strangulation, he said that if she was strangled 30 more seconds, she was going to die. Why was there not an attempted murder charge in this case?
- [12:50]
B
That's a great question and your guess is as good as mine. I mean, maybe perhaps at the beginning they felt they didn't need it with the other litany of charges that they had that they ended up, you know, pleading down to 150 hours of community service. But it seems to me when you've strangled somebody twice to the point that one of them needs surgery, why that wasn't an attempted murder charge, it's beyond me.
- [13:12]
A
Is this kid in school with these girls? He's walking free. He is out there. Is he allowed to go to school with these girls?
- [13:20]
B
So that's a great question. Right now, he's virtual school. So he is still enrolled at Stillwater High School. He is enrolled virtually, so he can't be seen with these girls or he can't go see them. However, it is my understanding from people close to the case, people close to some of the students at the school that he is still texting, trying to hook up, asking if they're single, things like that. So it's like none of this meant anything to him. Like, it's basically, hey, I got a slap on the wrist. This is a get out of jail free card. So I'm just gonna continue to live my life with these minor inconveniences.
- [13:50]
A
So during all of this, he allegedly is still trying to hook up with other girls at the school, presumably who know all about what happened to these two fellow classmates?
- [14:04]
B
That's my understanding, yes.
- [14:08]
A
Wow. I mean, I guess I should be surprised if he was violating a restraining order during all of this adjudication, during the fact that he was facing 78 years in prison, he still decides to violate a restraining order.
- [14:23]
B
Yeah, I think. And I think we would be remiss if we didn't talk about a big elephant in the room here, which is who Jesse Mac Butler really is. So his father is a man by the name of Mac Butler, and if you Google him, he will show up as a former athletic director for or director of football for Oklahoma State University for osu, which is a pretty big job. He worked at one point for lsu. He's been with several universities throughout bowl games. And then he was hired on at Stillwater High School as an athletic director. And if you look at at the news article from when he was hired, the whole town knows who this guy is. Like, you know, a name that you know well around town is now coming to Stillwater High School. So this is a family that is very well connected to the Stillwater area. For a college town, a football town, you know, you can't get much higher than somebody who is involved in the athletics, which his father is.
- [15:11]
A
Let me ask you this Justin, how about this? The judge in this case, Judge Susan Worthington, I read your substack about all of the figures in the justice system and it did not sound good. They are extraordinary leaders. Lenient. Their track record looks as though it's like sexual deviance. Oh, wow, whatever. A lot of the sentences, a lot of the bail has let sexual offenders run rampant in this community. First, I think this judge. Second, her father ahead of her. Tell me if I've got that wrong, but did Judge Susan Worthington here on your screen, was she also connected to the offender's dad at OSU or through any of the athletics programs?
- [15:53]
B
So this is all unconfirmed speculation or rumors I could say, based on what I've heard, is that she and her dad, whose name was Don Worthington, and the two of them, I think it's worth noting, have kind of ran the bench in Stillwater, the Judiciary, for about 50 years. So the two of them have kind of been over everything. And it's my understanding that both of them, the father and now the daughter, Judge Susan Worthington, are very much involved with OSU athletics, whether it's as donors, whether it's as supporters. That's just kind of what I've been told.
- [16:26]
A
What's the recourse here? I got about 20 seconds left. There's got to be something that these families can do.
- [16:32]
B
The only thing that you really have as far as reopening the case is if the DA decides to do that. I believe that's Laura Thomas. And based on what I've started to learn about her, that's highly unlikely. The only other thing that these families could do is probably sue the Butler family. Legally, given the fact that Jesse was under 18 at the time, that would possibly make the parents liable. But that's kind of the most you're gonna be able to do other than make sure that his face is everywhere. Because once, like you said, he turns 19 years old, this is wiped clean. So all we're gonna have is a Google search.
- [17:03]
A
It's just unfathomable. We just had the list of charges up on the screen again, Justin. It's just again, 11 charges, 10 of them extraordinarily violent. He pled to them. This is not allegations. This isn't he said, she said. These things happened to, to those girls. And 150 hours of community service and a couple of check ins and no social media is all he's gonna get. It just doesn't seem like this is America. If that's the kind of justice that these Families are gonna get stay on this. There are bad decisions and then there are incomprehensible decisions. And this, what happened in Stillwater, feels like the latter. A 17 year old boy commits a violent predatory act over and over and over again and cops to it and walks away with community service and therapy and a curfew. And oh yeah, no Facebook or Instagram or Snap. If that doesn't shake your faith in the system, I don't know what will. But we're going to keep digging on this one and we're not letting it go. Somebody needs to explain how this happened and who decided that this was actually justice being delivered. Maybe, just maybe, things will turn around in this case. Doesn't look like it. But maybe, just maybe, if enough of us put our foot down, you know, hit the road and hold up a sign, show up at those protests, talk to your lawmakers, talk to your leaders in your communities and say, no, this is 2025, almost 2026. Is this really who we are? Is this really what we're going to do to 16 year old girls and say, no Facebook? We have the power, we have the vote. We have a voice. And again, it's why I thank you for being in this community with me. Otherwise I'd just be shouting to a camera by myself. Thank you for letting me tell you this story. Thank you for listening to this story all the way through to the end. My name is Ashley Banfield. This is drop dead serious. And remember, I end every podcast and today, maybe the most serious way, the truth isn't just serious, it's drop dead serious.