November 11, 2025 • 46 mins
Jesse Mack Butler, star baseball player for the Stillwater High School Pioneers, has been receiving offers at NCAA colleges.
Jesse’s family is deeply tied to Stillwater and Oklahoma State University. The father, Mack Butler, served as the Cowboy’s football director for 16 years, and now his wife and daughter also work for OK State’s football program.
Butler appears to be a typical All-American teenager, but his ex-girlfriends allege he’s extremely violent.
The star teenage athlete, serial rapist, who strangles his girlfriends for a laugh, got a slap on his hand by serving NO jail time on 11 charges, securing a sweetheart deal classifying him as a "youthful offender."
The now 18-year-old’s "treatment plan" is sealed, but he will attend counseling, complete community service, and abide by strict curfews. Should he fail any aspect of the plan, Jesse Butler will serve the 10-year sentence he would have received as an adult behind bars.
One of his victims is choked so badly she is taken to the ER. Girls were bleeding from their private areas and sustained injuries during the assaults.
The perp was facing a potential 78 years in prison, but instead the judge decided for the perp's violent behavior. He would receive a slap on the wrist after attacking multiple women, even sending one to the hospital.
And another time, just before Butler can put his penis inside another victim, a woman approaches Butler’s car and says she’s calling police. Butler drives "LS" back to her own car.
Joining Nancy Grace today:
- Randy Kessler - Atlanta Trial Lawyer, Emory Law School Professor, Past Chair ABA Family Law Section, Author: "Divorce, Protect Yourself, Your Kids and Your Future;" Instagram: @rkessler23, X: @GADivorce
- Dr. Cheryl Arutt -Licensed Clinical and Forensic Psychologist Specializing in Trauma Recovery, PTSD and EMDR; website: CreativeEMDR.com, IG: @askdrcheryl
- Shannon Henry - President & Founder of SASS Go (Surviving Assault Standing Strong: a nonprofit on a mission to eradicate abuse, trafficking and violence against women and girls globally) Case Consultant, and Adjunct Professor at the University of South Carolina in the Department of Education; @sassgoglobal on FB, Instagram, X, and TikTok
- Rachel Countryman - Forensic Nurse Expert and founder Countryman Consulting (provides expert testimony, case consultation in sexual assault, strangulation, intimate partner violence cases; educates professionals and empowers survivors through forensic medical evidence); X: @GodoyForensics
- Bill Hernandez - Napa PD (California) Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Detective
- Paige Taylor - Reporter at Fox25 News; FB & Instagram: PaigeTaylorKOKH
- Sydney Sumner - Investigative Reporter, ‘Crime Stories’
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A high school baseball star
brutally brutally attacks multiple high school girls, leaving them bleeding,
and he walks free with counseling. He was looking at
(00:24):
seventy eight years behind bars over seven decades, and he
gets counseling and community service. I call that sketchy as hell.
I'mancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. I want to thank
you for being with us.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Jesse Butler, a promisey baseball star from Oklahoma with a
supportive family, faces a grim future after his girlfriend accuses
him of the unthinkable.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Okay, right there, I don't like that. I don't like
that because it says his girlfriend accused. B s technical
legal term. It's not his girlfriend accused to Page Taylor,
joining US investigator reporter Fox twenty five News, page, let
me correct that he pled. He pled guilty, of course,
(01:18):
it justge Let him do a nolo contendery. I don't
say you're right or you're wrong, but that's the equivalent
of a guilty plea a no lo. He played guilty.
It's not that girlfriend accuses. It's way past that he
has pled and been sentenced.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Right, yes, he has, and he did initially plead not guilty,
and then he was offered this plea deal by the
DA to his attorney, and that is when he pled
no contest. And then he was given youth bull offender status.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Okay to Randy Casseler joining us, a veteran trial lawyer
out of Atlanta and we law school professor, former chair
of the American Bar Association Family Laws section all of divorce,
Protect yourself, your kids, in your future. I could go
on and on and on about Kessler, but let me
just say when I would see Kessler coming down the
(02:10):
hall at the courthouse at me with a file in
his hand, I would say, no, don't even start, and
somehow he would talk all the prosecutors into sweetheart deals. Kessler,
just take off your defense hat for one moment, just
one moment. Isn't it true that in no loo contendery,
I do not contest in the law and the eyes
(02:34):
of the law is a guilty plea.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
Okay, But it's not exactly guilty plean Nancy, or else
you wouldn't have a difference, You wouldn't have the option
of a NOLA contender. He can say for the rest
of his life he did not contest the facts. That's
a better statement for his future than to say I
pled guilty. There's a reason we allow them to do that.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
There is a difference, Grandy Kessler the eyes of the law.
You're right, what just try to spit it out good.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
You always win, Nancy, and you know you're going to
win this one because it's a rhetorical question.
Speaker 5 (03:09):
Yes, Nola contendrius and consequences.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
But he still can say to future employer's family friends,
he played nolo contenderary, look at.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Him, baseball star. How much did his father's involvement in
baseball and his own affect the judge's decision? Isn't a
true page Taylor that he and his family are deeply
tied to still Water and Oklahoma State University. The father,
(03:39):
Matt Butler, was the Cowboys football director for sixteen years.
Isn't that tally sixteen years the Cowboys football director? Yes,
that is correct. So now we've managed to remember Kessler.
I'm just a JD. I'm not a dds a dentist.
I don't know how to pull teeth, but I can
(04:01):
get a set of pliers and try if I have to. So, Kessler,
could you ever imagine ever imagine a cold day in
hel that I would allow two young girl high school
sex assault victims sit there and let me and hear
(04:25):
me agree to a plea where this guy, after multiple attacks, bloody,
bloody sex attacks, let that sink in. Let them hear
me accept the plea where he gets no jail time
and he gets counseling and walks free on a no
(04:45):
lo over my cold dead body. Kessler, not in.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
A million years would you allow that he would have
been lucky to get away with eighty seven years in
jail if you were the prosecutor.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
I mean, Kessler, think about it. Think about your own children.
And I know in closing arguments, we prosecutors and defense
lawyers as well are not allowed to accid jury, to
put themselves in the shoes of the victim or the defendant. Right,
but we're not look around, we're not in court. You
have children. If your child came home and said he
(05:20):
sex attacked me, I was bleeding, I begged him to stop,
and he said no. You don't think these parents shouldn't
be laying on the courthouse steps screaming.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
You know there'd be a different trial, right, I'd be
the one on trial in that case, right, Nancy. We
all know what would happen if that was a situation,
but we don't know all the facts, and there's got
to be some reason. I'm just searching my brain for
why would they have allowed this kind of video, Why
would they let them stay as a juvenile unless they
didn't think they had an absolute, rock solid case there
would guarantee a victory. There has to be some loophole
(05:53):
or some technicality, some deficiency in their case.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Because I agree, it has to be that you haven't
found it, have you.
Speaker 5 (06:00):
Well I haven't, and I don't.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
I'm not pretty found I haven't either. You guys, when
you say an air tight case, a lock on the case,
is there ever a lock on a case? I mean,
look at top mom Casey Anthony should have been a lot, right,
not guilty. Look at a J. Simpson should have been
a lot double murder, not guilty. It happens the time.
(06:24):
There's never a lock on a case. Ever. I don't
care how strong the prosecutor thinks the evidence is. There's
never a lot. Randy, No, but.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
This is probably the first time you've ever agreed with
me and taking my side in some way that you're
right there's not a guaranteed lock.
Speaker 5 (06:38):
So what is the deficiency in this case? You know those.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
Folks they got a complete acquittal that you definitely don't
want to risk a complete acquittal. And if you're worried
as a prosecutor that you might not win, you take
what you can get. But you know, I know you're
not agreeing with you, but you're tell me that there
is a possibility.
Speaker 5 (06:53):
We don't know what the possibility was, because.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
We're telling you, Randy, that there is never a lock,
and you have to have the backbone to roll the dice,
get ready and go to trial even if you think
you might lose. I mean, look at Coburger. For Pete's sake,
that case should have gone to trial and there should
be a DP. It's being scheduled right now. Brian Coberger
(07:16):
should be on death row, where he would sit for
the next twenty five years and probably get some kind
of weird reversal. But it's the point of doing the
right thing, and this is the you know what, this
is the wrong thing. Let's just start it at the beginning.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
Listen, Well, why don't we have you why don't we
not just prosecute everybody as an adult. There's got to
be some basis for decision making. Right, this child was
a child when he did this, and he's got a
right to be tried as a juvenile, and that's what
they've decided to do.
Speaker 5 (07:46):
Otherwise, it was seventeen right, Okay, Well, if.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
The law says seventeen year olds get tried as an adult,
he should have been tried as an adult.
Speaker 5 (07:52):
That is that what the law says.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
No, if the law gives a discretion and they chose
the discretion to say, we're going to follow the law
and try it as a.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Juvenile, Randy, let's discuss the actual law, not the law
in Randyland. The law is that there in most jurisdiction
are seven deadly sins for which a juvenile will have
a bind over hearing and most likely get treated as
(08:19):
an adult. That said, rape is a seven deadly which
means there's a very very rubber stamped hearing. There is
a hearing, but after the hearing the case will be
sent to superior court. Are you telling me you never
had a case with a seventeen year old that was
(08:41):
tried as an adult.
Speaker 5 (08:44):
Certainly there are.
Speaker 4 (08:45):
Cases, but again, this is a different case. This is
a victim knew that the defendant. This is a you
know's an allegation that there was a relationship. Oh no,
I'm not true.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
I'm so glad you said that. Wait wait wait, wait,
hold on, hold on, wait wait wait wait you think
I'm going to pretend that didn't just come out of
your mouth. Shannon Henry joining me, President founder of SAS
SASS Surviving Assault Standing Strong. It is a non profit
on a mission to help women victims of sex attacks.
Did you just hear what Kesser said and believe you me?
(09:16):
It might work in front of a jury. He said, uh,
she was his girlfriend. Okay, number one, there's not just one.
There's two victims that we know of who say startlingly
similar stories about being sex assaulted and beaten strangled to
one had to have surgery on her neck and her
(09:37):
face drooped after the strangulation. And not only that, he
videoed the attack and the police found the video. The
state has the video of the girl unconscious being strangled
and then sex assaulted. Shannon, did you hear that? Randy
Kester says, oh, well, it was his girlfriend, like means
(10:00):
it didn't happen.
Speaker 6 (10:01):
Shannon, yep, So now, Evidently, according to Randy, we're going
to start excusing relationship violence and relationship with sexual assaults,
and that would include the ones like this one, when
clearly her body was shutting down. She urinated on herself
as he strangled her. That is the body shutting down
(10:21):
because it can't do everything it needs to do.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
I want to say, Kessler, as you're describing that, pick
it up right there, please, Shannon.
Speaker 6 (10:29):
She urinated on herself, and so that tells us that
the body is shutting down.
Speaker 7 (10:34):
So this isn't you know?
Speaker 1 (10:35):
This is the perfect case.
Speaker 6 (10:37):
We have the I know there's no perfect case, but
we have video evidence. Typically, as he said, she said,
this is not We have the evidence physically, psychologically, we've
got the medical evidence. We know that this was attempted murder.
This was kidnapping, it was rape, it was sodomy. It
was everything it could be. And it does not matter
if she was in a relationship with him or he
(10:58):
was a stranger. He is at fall.
Speaker 7 (11:00):
He should be sentenced accordingly.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
You know, Shannon, I know you must feel this sometimes,
do you. Shannon is the president and founder of Surviving
Assault Standing Strong. I was just thinking about my little daughter,
Lucy she's about this big. She's just beautiful on the
inside and the outside. And sometimes I just feel like
(11:24):
going in lane on the railroad track and wait for
a train to come in. I mean, there is a
video the little high school girl with her pants. She
went unconscious. At one point she was bleeding from her genitals,
and there's a video. The guy sets up a video
(11:48):
he wants to replay watching himself strangling her out. The
one victim and there's two that we know of, had
to have surgery on her throat. Her face was drooping
on one side after because the strangulation was so severe.
(12:10):
Page Taylor joining US investigative reporter Fox twenty five. Tell
me about the surgery the one little girl had to have.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Well, yeah, so after she was strangled, she had a
lot of pain in her neck, there was swelling and
so you know, she did have to undergo surgery.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
And now she has a scar.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
So not only you know, does she have mental scars,
but now she has a physical one.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Rachel Countryman also joining us. You know her well, forensic
nurse expert, founder of Countrymen Consulting. She provides expert testimony
in case consultation all across the country. On sex assault, strangulation,
partner violence at Countrymen Consulting Services dot Com. And there's
(12:58):
a reason she has her own consulting business. She has
been on the front lines as a rape nurse, Rachel.
When you hear the victim was totally unconscious and urinated
in her clothes, urinated during the attack. She had no
control over her bodily functions at all. We know that
(13:23):
in at least one instance there was gentle bleeding. How
can a judge judge what's her name, Susan Worthington, right page, correct,
that's correct, Judge, Susan Worthington. I don't understand, Rachel. How yeah,
(13:43):
there you go.
Speaker 8 (13:45):
How could she turn the other way and give this
guy community service and counseling. And there's not just one victim, Rachel,
What would you be looking for? And what do you
think of the as we know them? I'm getting them straight.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Out of the arrest. Warn't Epidavid, nobody's making any of
this up.
Speaker 5 (14:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 9 (14:07):
So the symptoms are, you know, quite astounding. A lot
of times when we have patients present, we don't see
any symptoms.
Speaker 7 (14:16):
And so the.
Speaker 9 (14:16):
Fact that you know she urinated on herself, loss of consciousness.
As you know, even Susan mentioned this is the body
shutting down. The body is not getting oxygen, the tissues
in the body are getting oxygen, and she is very
close to losing her life.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
What happened and why did the judge agree to this?
And even more interesting, why did the prosecutor even put
it up?
Speaker 10 (14:42):
Listen, a serial rapist who strangles his girlfriends for a laugh,
serving no jail time on eleven charges, securing a sweetheart
deal classifying him as a youthful offender, the now eighteen
year old's treatment plan, counseling, community service, and curfews.
Speaker 11 (15:00):
Testing Judge Susan Worthington and demanding her immediate resignation. We
are protesting the Payne County District Attorney's office and demanding
the immediate resignation of the eighty a's who made this deal.
Speaker 12 (15:13):
If they don't set you on fire, you would we
You know what I mean? You got a bad you
know that sets me on fire. That looks like favoritism
all day long for me, That from.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Our friends at kfo R. And that was Representative J. J. Humphrey.
I couldn't agree with him more. Many people are asking
why Judge Susan Worthington, and don't worry, I'm going to
get about three inches of the prosecutor's tailpipe as well.
Why she would go along with this plea? How could
(15:46):
she even look at herself in the mirror? Well, we
have an idea. Listen.
Speaker 13 (15:51):
Jesse mac Butler, a star baseball player for the Stillwater
High Pioneers, already getting offers to play at NCAA colleges.
Jesse's fan deeply tied to Stillwater and Oklahoma State University.
Father Mac Butler served as the Cowboys football director for
sixteen years, and now his wife and daughter also work
for Oklahoma State's football program.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Still Water outraged by Butler's like sentence, many speculating Mac
Butler's deep connection to OSU is the reason behind his
son's ridiculous sentence. Protesters calling for District Attorney Laura Thomas
is firing.
Speaker 14 (16:24):
I'm not slowing down, and you know, I have a
fifteen year old and he said that you need to
do something. So they have a position that came open
at still Water schools, and I said.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
I don't want to be the head guy. I don't
want any of that.
Speaker 14 (16:39):
You know, if I can help.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
I want to help straight back out to page tailor
investigator Reporter Fox twenty five at news Page. I want
to hear about the father's deep involvement in the community
and the sports programs.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
Yes, so that family does have deep to still water
to OSU. Like you mentioned, he did work for OSU
for many years with the football program, and I think
it's important to know. You know, football is so important
in those college towns and really harries a lot of
weight and meaning. You know, he's also worked at some
(17:17):
other universities and high schools around the state of Oklahoma.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Guys, it seemingly gets so much worse. But to Randy
Kessler joining US Atlanta trial lawyer, allegedly lawyer to the celebs, Randy,
it matters. It shouldn't matter. But I've seen it happen
(17:43):
in court where an influential family comes into court, typically
with their son. Occasionally their daughter has a felony, but
usually the sun and they all have on their Sunday
best and they all stand up behind the podium and
they cry and they write letters, and they get really
influential people like mayors and the heads of football programs
(18:04):
at colleges to write on behalf of the defendant, and
I don't like it, but it matters not to me.
To me, that makes it worse. That means that that
defendant had every opportunity, every advantage given the world on
a silver platter on top of the Christmas tree, and
(18:27):
still committed a felony, as opposed to some people who
everybody in their family's gone to jail. They've all committed felonies.
It's a way of life. They don't understand, Hey, this
is wrong. This guy had it all and it makes
a difference, I guess, to the judge and the prosecutor
in this case, what matters to me or what these
two little girls say.
Speaker 5 (18:48):
I agree with you, Nis, and I want to make
it clear to you and all you guess. I think
this convict was despicable, and I'm not defending the conduct.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
I'm trying to find reasons because I wasn't there as
to why they might have cut this deal or why
they might have not charged him. That's all I'm trying
to do is to splaind it And I think you might
be right. I don't know this judge, I don't know
this prosecutor, but we're all searching for either the facts
weren't there or the evidence wasn't there, and it sounds
like it was there, So what else is there?
Speaker 5 (19:11):
And I think you're looking in the right direction. Maybe
there was something on toward going on, And I agree
with you.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
I don't have damous people write letters thinking that's going
to impress the judge. If I was a judge, I'd say, oh,
you think your hot stuff and you're going to pull
your cloud and affect me. I think most judges, most
good judges, would see it exactly the way you suggest
that they should see it, which is it doesn't matter.
In fact, it makes it worse if you think that's
going to help. What matters is the conduct. What matters
is the evidence, and what matters to the prosecution is
(19:37):
can they prove and can they win their case? If
they can proven win their case, then they should push
it as far as they can. If they're not sure,
then they compromise. And I've not been in the room,
and I wasn't there, and I'm hearing more and more
even on the show, and it's still making me a question.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Why, Randy Casser, You're not worried, are you that somebody's
going to go on X or Facebook and go, oh,
I'm mad at Randy Casseler because he took up for
the defendant. You actually care what somebody says about you?
Crime stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 5 (20:15):
I care what people say.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Business. If you do so what I'm in, I've got
fixed in the wrong business. If you care what everybody
else says, it doesn't matter what they say. It matters
that you do the right thing. And as a defense attorney,
it's your job, as much as I don't like it,
to find holes in every case and exploit them. We
(20:38):
have the adversarial system. We're adversaries. We collide in court
and we fight it out, and we test each other's
evidence through cross examination and the rules of evidence. You
know how many defense attorneys I've made mad because I
would fight their exhibits, fight their witnesses any way I could,
(20:59):
because I want it speaks the truth. Your job to
try to stop.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
Me, and that's what I do, mich You know what,
and try doing divorce once in a while too. When
we do some of that, then you've got people that
are really angry at each other.
Speaker 5 (21:12):
It's not just the state, it's an individual.
Speaker 4 (21:14):
So certainly we do our job and certainly there's times
when we have to say, you know what, it's just
an all out of fight. But if we can find
a way to solve the problem without having a trial,
criminal or civil, that's what we always try to do.
Why risk the extreme punishment, Why risk the eighty seven years?
Why risk the worst thing in judges jury can do
if you can find it, And that's what I got to.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Do something, Randy. I don't think you ever saw me
like this, because I would usually go and get in
my car when I would be so upset at how
a case was turning out. But this case is so wrong.
I know of two high school girl victims separated in
time and space, that give the same story about this guy.
(21:55):
It's on video. He videoed it. The girl had to
have surgery. He strangled her so badly, and he walked free.
With counseling doctor Cheryl Eric joining us out of Beverly
Hills clinical forensics psychologists specializing in trauma recovery. You can
(22:16):
find her at askdoctor Cheryl dot com. Cheryl, I'm having flashbacks.
I guess is PTSD from the Seawan Combs verdict where
Cassie Ventura was beaten horribly brutally like these girls were
beaten and strangled till they urinated on themselves on video
(22:41):
and the jury excused it. And it's just like the
same thing all over again with a baseball high school star.
Speaker 15 (22:53):
That's right, there's evidence, there's video evidence. We can see it,
and we can see when somebody is powerful or influential,
we can see courts making a decision that the young
man's life is more important than the lives of the
two young women that he is destroying. And the thing
(23:14):
is that this isn't just about favor this is also
these are very very dangerous crimes, and they are crimes
with very very high risk of reoffending. He doesn't show remorse.
He the family doesn't show a sense of consequences about this.
They're saying to him, Oh, don't worry, we're going to
(23:36):
get you out soon, you know, when he gets arrested.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
And as we've.
Speaker 15 (23:40):
Talked about, strangulation puts the victim at risk of seven
hundred and fifty percent more likely to be murdered by
the person who strangled her during an attack. We don't
see remorse, We see sadism, We see him being proud
of what he's doing. And recording, and he sort of does, oh,
I'm sorry for one of them, about to do with
(24:02):
one of the victims, but doesn't not hurt her. He
is not moved by this pain. And the real risk
here is that these types of crimes run a very
very high risk of not only reoffending, but of murder,
of murdering future victims, and whatever favor has happened here,
(24:23):
if a future victim is murdered, I really think that
the blood is on the hands of the judge in
this case.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
Talking about flashbacks from the Shanghams trial, Remember.
Speaker 13 (24:33):
This Butler appears to be a typical all American teenager,
but his ex girlfriends say he's extremely violent.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
Just a few weeks into the fall semester, two Stillwater
High students seek out their school resource officers, scared of
their shared ex boyfriend, alleging he attacks them numerous tis
throughout back to back relationships. The victims are still attending
class with their attacker, now eighteen year old Jesse Butler.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
It gets so much worse when you read the affidavits,
the sworn testimony about what these victims said. I want
you to hear it.
Speaker 10 (25:17):
Butler tries to rape ls for the first time outside
of a marble slab. On what was supposed to be
an ice cream date. Butler pins Ls down in his car,
removes her clothes, then touches her breast and vagina while
she tells him to stop through tears. Butler says he's
sorry for what he's about to do, but he has
to do it. Before the rape, a woman approaches Butler's
(25:39):
car and says she's calling police. Butler drives Ls back
to her own car, but gets in with her, still
trying to initiate intercourse until Ls finally convinces him to
get out.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
Well, needless to say, it didn't end there. But back
to you, Kessler, an ice cream date, don't you have daughters?
Speaker 5 (26:01):
Yeah, it's irrelevant. I mean it's not right, right, What
do you want to say to that?
Speaker 1 (26:04):
It's relevant? So I'll take that as a yes. Uh,
an ice cream date? You know? The other night, Lucy
and her little friend boy went out for frozen yogurt.
That sounds pretty innocent, doesn't it. A woman in the
parking lot had to come over and get him off
(26:27):
of her and threatened to call police. Think about it.
If he will do that in a public park in
front of marble slab cream andy. For Pete's sake, what
will he do on an isolated road or when he
has the girl in private, if he will be that bold,
that horrible chin parking lot.
Speaker 5 (26:50):
So chromin. What do you want me to say to that, Nancy? Stupid?
Speaker 4 (26:55):
Any thank goodness you did it like that, so that
he got caught in that he got and there was
a witness, and there's someone that came out there right,
thank goodness, because they are smarter criminals that are worse.
Speaker 5 (27:04):
Right, this is not this is not a nice guy.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Okay, I like that. I like that. I like that
when you argue there are people worse? Okay, what am
I supposed to do with that? There are people worse
than him, worse as.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
Far as intelligence, Nancy, not as far as what he did.
The people there are people to do worse things, are
people to do less worse things. You can't classify that,
you can't rape that. This is down there, right, This
is something nobody wants to be a part of, nobody wants.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
I don't have a problem ranking it. I would say
it's not as bad as murdering her, but it's a
whole lot worse and shoplifting, right, Yeah, I can totally
rank it. That's why we call it one of the
seven deadly sins for which you will be tried as
an adult. Okay, not convinced yet, Casler listen to this.
Speaker 13 (27:51):
Butler tries to rape Ls again, this time at his
home while his mother is there. Ls cries and says no,
while Butler straddles are on the couch but is removing
his own underwear when his mom knocks on the door
and asks if everything's okay. Butler then drives Ls home,
but park streets away, refusing to drop her off until
she does what he wants. Butler gropes Ls and moves
(28:12):
her hand over his groin. This goes on for hours.
Ls afraid to try to leave, Butler only gives up
when his sister texts he needs to come home.
Speaker 16 (28:22):
To Jesse's parents. I don't know what you knew. I
don't know if you heard me crying through the walls
or noticed how your son treated me when no one
was looking. But I hope you hear me now. Your
son hurt me in ways that cannot be undone, and
I need you to understand that your silence, your protection
of him or even your denial would hurt too, because
(28:45):
someone should have stopped this, Someone should have seen the
bruises in the fear.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Did the parents know apparently, yes, you heard that. The
mother comes to the door and goes everything okay, in there,
it's her home, her home where this is happening. How
could she not know? Well, let's take a look at mommy,
come arrest.
Speaker 7 (29:07):
We're going to obviously tell our story too. Yeah, yes,
it's mom. Open the door, it's me. And if you'll
just have him step out and give me your wallet
(29:28):
and phone and stuff.
Speaker 17 (29:29):
So you're what, well, okay, it's not long tering thing
as in, okay, so can you tell him what you
just fell me?
Speaker 1 (29:38):
Or yeah, so we're here.
Speaker 18 (29:41):
We're obviously going to place you under arrest. There's a
for your arrest. We're going to take you to the jail.
I told your mom that she can contact a bondsman
and you shouldn't be.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Very there very long.
Speaker 18 (29:53):
But there just is a process for paperwork and stuff.
But right now you do have to come with us,
and I do have to put you in a handcuffs,
So turn around for metransport something.
Speaker 7 (30:08):
I'll get you out right, all right, Stay silent, Ruthe
knows about this. Can you dance on his way? We're
coming to Okay, stay strong, Okay, say your prayers still.
Speaker 5 (30:22):
Want Okay that way? They don't think you went tell me.
Speaker 7 (30:30):
So horrible, awful experience.
Speaker 5 (30:32):
For the child?
Speaker 1 (30:36):
Did I just hear mommy say this is an awful
experience for a child? Is she talking about that hulk
walking along in handcuffs? And did you notice doctor Cheryl Erritt,
Mommy wasn't surprised at all. Crime stories with Nancy Grace,
(31:05):
I mean, you know, it reminds me of doctor Cheryl.
Have you ever seen cops okay where they're playing bad boy,
Bad Boy and they run through a house to make
an arrest, and there's a guy sitting there drinking a
beer in a lazy and a lazy boy watching TV.
He just cop watches the cops run through like it's
just another day at home, not surprised at all that
(31:28):
the swat team is running across his living room. He
just keeps watching TV. The mom shows no emotion at all.
She's not surprised her son is charged with brutal attacks
on two high school girls. For Pete's sake, that's right.
Speaker 15 (31:48):
There is no level of shock that you're seeing register
for her about the gravity of the things that he
is charged with. She immediately goes into babying him and
trying to make sure that he knows that they're going
to pull all the strings they can and he's gonna
be okay. And her empathy and her compassion seems to
be about rescuing him from the consequences of the crimes
(32:11):
he's just been accused of, and with evidence with these
young girls, these high school girls who they know. Stillwater
is not a big community. I mean, these girls were
one of them we know was in her home and
she was worried enough that something didn't sound right to
knock on the door. But there is a sort of
(32:32):
an act of not knowing, a denial that is not
just a river in Egypt that we see in households
where there is a violence, where people kind of take
the convenient way out sometimes and pretend that they don't
see the glaring red flags that they need to see.
And this is one of the reasons I'm so concerned
(32:53):
about this young man reoffending.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
To Rachel Countryman joining US forensic nurse expert at Countrymen Consulting.
She is an expert witness an advisor on sex assault
strangulation cases all across the country. Rachel. Earlier, you said
that sometimes in rape victims you don't see a physical manifestation.
(33:17):
In this case, you've got a high school girl bleeding
from her genitals and you have a strangulation so severe
that she has to have throat surgery and is left
with permanent scars. Her face is drooping on one side.
Wouldn't that qualify as proof forensic physical evidence that the
(33:40):
sex attacks occurred?
Speaker 9 (33:43):
Yeah, I mean for sure, that definitely that physical evidence
that we don't always see. And you know, I further
think about the brain injury that these girls maybe have
occurred from the lack of oxygen during these strangulation attempts
multiple and multiple times. And you know, as we know,
traumatic brain injuries, they're lifelong. You know, those things are
(34:06):
something that you know, they're not just emotions that we
can deal with and pass on or you know, there's
something that these girls and their very young lives are
gonna have to deal with into their adults.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Let's take a look at that arrest again. I'm really
surprised that they didn't offer him some cookies and milk
when they arrested him, they practically apologized for putting him
in coast. For Pete's sake, this is a two time
sex attacker. There's no question of guilt or innocence. Why
(34:38):
are they treating him this way. I don't expect them
to throw him face down on the asphalt and drag
him to the car. But for Pete's sake, I mean again,
milk and cookies, listen, ready.
Speaker 7 (34:50):
To obviously tell our story too. Yeah, yes, it's mom
opened the door. It's made. And if you'll just have
him step out and.
Speaker 5 (35:07):
Give me your.
Speaker 7 (35:09):
Wallet and phone and stuff, so.
Speaker 17 (35:12):
You're one, Okay, it's not a long during things like okay,
so can you tell him what you just call me?
Speaker 1 (35:20):
Or yeah, so we're here.
Speaker 18 (35:23):
We're obviously going to place you under arrest. There's a
for your arrest. We're going to take you to the jail.
I told your mom that she can contact a bondsman
and you shouldn't be very there very long. But there
just is a process for paperwork and stuff. But right
now you do have to come with us, and I
do have to put you in handcasts so turn around
for me.
Speaker 5 (35:42):
I don't have to put your Yeah, I transports something.
Speaker 7 (35:50):
I'll get you out for me, all right, Silent knows
about this. Can you dance on this way?
Speaker 17 (35:59):
We're coming, Okay, stay strong, Okay, so your prayers still
are pay all.
Speaker 5 (36:05):
Past that where they don't think you went for one
full of.
Speaker 7 (36:08):
Vitelli, A confluent experience for the time.
Speaker 16 (36:19):
I will never forget the night you strangled me unconscious
because I said no. That moment changed my life. A
medical professional leader told me that I was just thirty
seconds away from dying. Thirty seconds. If you had kept
your hands on my neck just a little longer, I
wouldn't be standing here today. That wasn't just as scare.
(36:40):
It was a near death experience.
Speaker 10 (36:43):
It didn't just hurt me.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
You nearly killed me. That strangulation victim l s one
of the two little high school girls she ends up.
That's the girl that had to have the surgery on
her neck with a prominent scar. She had facial drooping
me because of it. But I mentioned a second victim.
We're calling her k S Listen.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
Later that same week, Butler tells KS he wants to
strangle her again, this time on film, because he enjoys
watching her pass out afraid of what would happen if
she refused Chaos and again loses consciousness while Butler's hands
are wrapped around her neck. The officer who takes Kaos's
report discovers the video still saved to Butler's phone, matching
her description and time frame.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
Joining us now Domestic violence sex assault Detective NAPA Bill
Hernandez Bill, thank you for being with us. How many
times have you heard a defense attorney argue there's no
proof that happened? And I remember jervis, what do you
want a video? We've got a video, Bill, But yet
(37:49):
the judge allowed him to walk free with counseling, and
the DA with a straight face, put that up as
the deal. That's terrible.
Speaker 19 (38:01):
I can't imagine what these survivors are going to go
through because of that deal that it was struck. It
is unconscionable and it's really unbelievable that this happened, and
it's really going to encourage more people like Jesse to
do things like this, and it's going to really stop
(38:22):
other survivors from wanting to report because they see that
nothing's going to happen.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
Guys, there is a move afoot to kick out the
prosecutor and.
Speaker 20 (38:32):
The judge, Judge Worthington, previously underfire. A Cushing middle school
teacher pleaded guilty to sexually harassing a thirteen year old student.
Swain asked the girl for sexually explicit photos and to
meet him in private. Swain also caught trying to break
(38:54):
in her bedroom window. Swains and it's to ten years,
but Worthington suspended the majority Wwayne spending just a year
behind bars.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
Sidney Sumner or Crime Stories investigative reporter. You've researched the
judge's history. What can you tell me about a track record?
Speaker 21 (39:08):
So Judge Susan Worthington suspended this middle school teacher's almost
ten year sentence. So he spent just a year behind
bars for sexually harassing a thirteen year old girl trying
to break into her bedroom and Nancy, it gets worse
after his release on that suspended sentence. Swayin raced a
(39:29):
sixteen year old girl. He lured her into his car
at a gas station parking lotch raped her, and then
harassed her for months, trying to keep her quiet about
what happened.
Speaker 22 (39:41):
That charge was dropped.
Speaker 21 (39:44):
The District Attorney's office did not prosecute Swayne for that race,
and now he's charged again. Last year November, he was
charged with sexually contacting a minor third offense.
Speaker 1 (39:58):
Tessler. Look, I can't tell you how seriously I take
every case I put in fun majury, in every guilty
plea one. There's so many nightmares. But one of my
worst possible nightmares is the thought that an innocent person
is behind bars. Not only would the innocent person be
(40:20):
behind bars, but the guilty person would be walking free.
But when I hear that, how could the judge live
with herself or the prosecutor? The prosecutor is just as bad.
They're the one that put up the plea deal and
the judge rubber stamped it. They both had the opportunity
to do the right thing. Did you hear what Sidney
(40:41):
was saying about Swain the middle school teacher breaking in
to a middle school girl's bedroom, cut loose by Worthington
went on to rape another little girl and harass her,
and now he's up on a third count. I mean,
I don't know how they can live with themselves. How
(41:02):
do they sit down at the supper table at night
and think everything's okay? That they're doing just a great job, right.
Speaker 4 (41:10):
Unfortunately or unfortunately, that's what makes judges usually become more
and more conservative. You have one mistake like that and
one backlash, and you say this is never going to
happen again. This is rare, This is a unique situation.
You're asking the right questions. I don't know the answers,
but yeah, it is strange that a judge would not
become over time more and more conservative, more and more
concern that I'm going to make a mistake. I don't
(41:30):
want to happen again.
Speaker 5 (41:31):
It sounds like it could be a mistake. I don't
know all the details. I don't know why.
Speaker 1 (41:35):
But you know what, Randy, there's nothing that can be
done now, is there. Once a plea has been offered
and accepted. Once the state offers a plea, the defense
accepts the plea. That's a deal. You cannot go back
on a deal, no matter what, even if another prosecutor
offered it. Once the deal has been accepted, it's a deal.
(41:56):
But the judge doesn't have to accept it.
Speaker 5 (42:00):
I mean, of course, if you find wrongdoing.
Speaker 4 (42:01):
You see this in politics all the time, right, If
someone's wrongfully convicted because there was an impartial judge who
was on the take. There are ways to go back
at this, and that looks like what you're suggesting, this
judge had some ulterior motive, some reason to help this
community member that was a baseball star and a Rizon
baseball star and connected by family. That's about the only
way you can go about getting a sentence undone is
(42:22):
to say that it wasn't done. Probably the person doing
it was corrupt. Otherwise you can't go back and re
argue the facts or say try again, you're right.
Speaker 5 (42:30):
The sentence is a sentence.
Speaker 1 (42:32):
You know Bill Hernandez who is a domestic violence sex
assault detective in NAPA. Bill, you mentioned the burden that
these victims, the rape victims and their families are going
to have going forward.
Speaker 22 (42:46):
Described well, what's going to happen, what's going to have
to happen for them, is they're going to have to
deal with this trauma for ever, for the rest of
their lives.
Speaker 19 (42:57):
There's also some long term consequences, especially related to the
stringulation that these girls are going to be suffering for
them a long time. And I heard that one of
them had to have surgery because of facial palsy and
also an injury to her neck, and it's just going
to be a long term, long time recovery for them
and the families.
Speaker 16 (43:16):
I've had to carry this weight while going to school,
trying to act like I'm okay. I've woken up from
nightmares that make me feel like I'm being attacked all
over again. I've had to explain bruises, explain silence, Explain
why I started isolating from people who love me. You
didn't just strangle me with your hands. You strangle my voice,
(43:36):
my joy, my ability to feel safe in my own body.
Speaker 1 (43:41):
Two high school girls brutally attacked, and the attacker enters
a NOLA, which is a conviction, and walks free with
counseling to Page tail Or vestigated Reporter Fox twenty five,
what if anything is happening, Well, we know that he.
Speaker 3 (44:02):
Has to follow this plan under the Youth bull of
Under status, which means attending weekly counseling, one hundred and
fifty hours of community service curfew, no social media, and
daily check in. So he will have to follow that
plan until he turns nineteen, which is less than a
year from now.
Speaker 1 (44:20):
That will be next August.
Speaker 3 (44:23):
If he strays from that plan or does not comply
with that plan, then he could go back to that
seventy eight year sentence.
Speaker 1 (44:31):
So then nothing Randy Kessler very quickly. Once a deal
has been struck, even if it's a deal with the devil,
and the judge goes along with it, it's really hard
to change that, to get that.
Speaker 5 (44:46):
Reversed, right, I mean that I was just there, that
that was right.
Speaker 4 (44:51):
All we can do is hope the next time it
doesn't happen again, and do what we can to prevent
it from happening again.
Speaker 5 (44:55):
But yes, the answer to your question briefly is yes.
Speaker 1 (44:58):
He just fanned me a sam and she saying I'm
gonna act like I like it. We are working to
have the plea deal reversed. In the meantime, Judge, get
off the bench and same to you, District Attorney. You're
not worth the salt that goes in my bread be gone.
I don't want to see anything but tailhole and elbows
(45:20):
out of you while you run out of town. If
you know or think you know anything about this case,
please contact Stillwater PD four zero five three seven two
four one seven to one. And if you are someone
you know is an assault victim, please dial eight hundred
sixty five six four six seven three. We remember American
(45:45):
hero Deputy Sheriff Devin Haramio, Miami Dade, just twenty seven,
shot in the line of duty, leaving behind grieving parents.
American hero Deputy Devin Haramo Nancy Grace signing off goodbye friend.
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A high school baseball star
brutally brutally attacks multiple high school girls, leaving them bleeding,
and he walks free with counseling. He was looking at
(00:24):
seventy eight years behind bars over seven decades, and he
gets counseling and community service. I call that sketchy as hell.
I'mancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. I want to thank
you for being with us.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Jesse Butler, a promisey baseball star from Oklahoma with a
supportive family, faces a grim future after his girlfriend accuses
him of the unthinkable.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Okay, right there, I don't like that. I don't like
that because it says his girlfriend accused. B s technical
legal term. It's not his girlfriend accused to Page Taylor,
joining US investigator reporter Fox twenty five News, page, let
me correct that he pled. He pled guilty, of course,
(01:18):
it justge Let him do a nolo contendery. I don't
say you're right or you're wrong, but that's the equivalent
of a guilty plea a no lo. He played guilty.
It's not that girlfriend accuses. It's way past that he
has pled and been sentenced.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Right, yes, he has, and he did initially plead not guilty,
and then he was offered this plea deal by the
DA to his attorney, and that is when he pled
no contest. And then he was given youth bull offender status.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Okay to Randy Casseler joining us, a veteran trial lawyer
out of Atlanta and we law school professor, former chair
of the American Bar Association Family Laws section all of divorce,
Protect yourself, your kids, in your future. I could go
on and on and on about Kessler, but let me
just say when I would see Kessler coming down the
(02:10):
hall at the courthouse at me with a file in
his hand, I would say, no, don't even start, and
somehow he would talk all the prosecutors into sweetheart deals. Kessler,
just take off your defense hat for one moment, just
one moment. Isn't it true that in no loo contendery,
I do not contest in the law and the eyes
(02:34):
of the law is a guilty plea.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
Okay, But it's not exactly guilty plean Nancy, or else
you wouldn't have a difference, You wouldn't have the option
of a NOLA contender. He can say for the rest
of his life he did not contest the facts. That's
a better statement for his future than to say I
pled guilty. There's a reason we allow them to do that.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
There is a difference, Grandy Kessler the eyes of the law.
You're right, what just try to spit it out good.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
You always win, Nancy, and you know you're going to
win this one because it's a rhetorical question.
Speaker 5 (03:09):
Yes, Nola contendrius and consequences.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
But he still can say to future employer's family friends,
he played nolo contenderary, look at.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Him, baseball star. How much did his father's involvement in
baseball and his own affect the judge's decision? Isn't a
true page Taylor that he and his family are deeply
tied to still Water and Oklahoma State University. The father,
(03:39):
Matt Butler, was the Cowboys football director for sixteen years.
Isn't that tally sixteen years the Cowboys football director? Yes,
that is correct. So now we've managed to remember Kessler.
I'm just a JD. I'm not a dds a dentist.
I don't know how to pull teeth, but I can
(04:01):
get a set of pliers and try if I have to. So, Kessler,
could you ever imagine ever imagine a cold day in
hel that I would allow two young girl high school
sex assault victims sit there and let me and hear
(04:25):
me agree to a plea where this guy, after multiple attacks, bloody,
bloody sex attacks, let that sink in. Let them hear
me accept the plea where he gets no jail time
and he gets counseling and walks free on a no
(04:45):
lo over my cold dead body. Kessler, not in.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
A million years would you allow that he would have
been lucky to get away with eighty seven years in
jail if you were the prosecutor.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
I mean, Kessler, think about it. Think about your own children.
And I know in closing arguments, we prosecutors and defense
lawyers as well are not allowed to accid jury, to
put themselves in the shoes of the victim or the defendant. Right,
but we're not look around, we're not in court. You
have children. If your child came home and said he
(05:20):
sex attacked me, I was bleeding, I begged him to stop,
and he said no. You don't think these parents shouldn't
be laying on the courthouse steps screaming.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
You know there'd be a different trial, right, I'd be
the one on trial in that case, right, Nancy. We
all know what would happen if that was a situation,
but we don't know all the facts, and there's got
to be some reason. I'm just searching my brain for
why would they have allowed this kind of video, Why
would they let them stay as a juvenile unless they
didn't think they had an absolute, rock solid case there
would guarantee a victory. There has to be some loophole
(05:53):
or some technicality, some deficiency in their case.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Because I agree, it has to be that you haven't
found it, have you.
Speaker 5 (06:00):
Well I haven't, and I don't.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
I'm not pretty found I haven't either. You guys, when
you say an air tight case, a lock on the case,
is there ever a lock on a case? I mean,
look at top mom Casey Anthony should have been a lot, right,
not guilty. Look at a J. Simpson should have been
a lot double murder, not guilty. It happens the time.
(06:24):
There's never a lock on a case. Ever. I don't
care how strong the prosecutor thinks the evidence is. There's
never a lot. Randy, No, but.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
This is probably the first time you've ever agreed with
me and taking my side in some way that you're
right there's not a guaranteed lock.
Speaker 5 (06:38):
So what is the deficiency in this case? You know those.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
Folks they got a complete acquittal that you definitely don't
want to risk a complete acquittal. And if you're worried
as a prosecutor that you might not win, you take
what you can get. But you know, I know you're
not agreeing with you, but you're tell me that there
is a possibility.
Speaker 5 (06:53):
We don't know what the possibility was, because.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
We're telling you, Randy, that there is never a lock,
and you have to have the backbone to roll the dice,
get ready and go to trial even if you think
you might lose. I mean, look at Coburger. For Pete's sake,
that case should have gone to trial and there should
be a DP. It's being scheduled right now. Brian Coberger
(07:16):
should be on death row, where he would sit for
the next twenty five years and probably get some kind
of weird reversal. But it's the point of doing the
right thing, and this is the you know what, this
is the wrong thing. Let's just start it at the beginning.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
Listen, Well, why don't we have you why don't we
not just prosecute everybody as an adult. There's got to
be some basis for decision making. Right, this child was
a child when he did this, and he's got a
right to be tried as a juvenile, and that's what
they've decided to do.
Speaker 5 (07:46):
Otherwise, it was seventeen right, Okay, Well, if.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
The law says seventeen year olds get tried as an adult,
he should have been tried as an adult.
Speaker 5 (07:52):
That is that what the law says.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
No, if the law gives a discretion and they chose
the discretion to say, we're going to follow the law
and try it as a.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Juvenile, Randy, let's discuss the actual law, not the law
in Randyland. The law is that there in most jurisdiction
are seven deadly sins for which a juvenile will have
a bind over hearing and most likely get treated as
(08:19):
an adult. That said, rape is a seven deadly which
means there's a very very rubber stamped hearing. There is
a hearing, but after the hearing the case will be
sent to superior court. Are you telling me you never
had a case with a seventeen year old that was
(08:41):
tried as an adult.
Speaker 5 (08:44):
Certainly there are.
Speaker 4 (08:45):
Cases, but again, this is a different case. This is
a victim knew that the defendant. This is a you
know's an allegation that there was a relationship. Oh no,
I'm not true.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
I'm so glad you said that. Wait wait wait, wait,
hold on, hold on, wait wait wait wait you think
I'm going to pretend that didn't just come out of
your mouth. Shannon Henry joining me, President founder of SAS
SASS Surviving Assault Standing Strong. It is a non profit
on a mission to help women victims of sex attacks.
Did you just hear what Kesser said and believe you me?
(09:16):
It might work in front of a jury. He said, uh,
she was his girlfriend. Okay, number one, there's not just one.
There's two victims that we know of who say startlingly
similar stories about being sex assaulted and beaten strangled to
one had to have surgery on her neck and her
(09:37):
face drooped after the strangulation. And not only that, he
videoed the attack and the police found the video. The
state has the video of the girl unconscious being strangled
and then sex assaulted. Shannon, did you hear that? Randy
Kester says, oh, well, it was his girlfriend, like means
(10:00):
it didn't happen.
Speaker 6 (10:01):
Shannon, yep, So now, Evidently, according to Randy, we're going
to start excusing relationship violence and relationship with sexual assaults,
and that would include the ones like this one, when
clearly her body was shutting down. She urinated on herself
as he strangled her. That is the body shutting down
(10:21):
because it can't do everything it needs to do.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
I want to say, Kessler, as you're describing that, pick
it up right there, please, Shannon.
Speaker 6 (10:29):
She urinated on herself, and so that tells us that
the body is shutting down.
Speaker 7 (10:34):
So this isn't you know?
Speaker 1 (10:35):
This is the perfect case.
Speaker 6 (10:37):
We have the I know there's no perfect case, but
we have video evidence. Typically, as he said, she said,
this is not We have the evidence physically, psychologically, we've
got the medical evidence. We know that this was attempted murder.
This was kidnapping, it was rape, it was sodomy. It
was everything it could be. And it does not matter
if she was in a relationship with him or he
(10:58):
was a stranger. He is at fall.
Speaker 7 (11:00):
He should be sentenced accordingly.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
You know, Shannon, I know you must feel this sometimes,
do you. Shannon is the president and founder of Surviving
Assault Standing Strong. I was just thinking about my little daughter,
Lucy she's about this big. She's just beautiful on the
inside and the outside. And sometimes I just feel like
(11:24):
going in lane on the railroad track and wait for
a train to come in. I mean, there is a
video the little high school girl with her pants. She
went unconscious. At one point she was bleeding from her genitals,
and there's a video. The guy sets up a video
(11:48):
he wants to replay watching himself strangling her out. The
one victim and there's two that we know of, had
to have surgery on her throat. Her face was drooping
on one side after because the strangulation was so severe.
(12:10):
Page Taylor joining US investigative reporter Fox twenty five. Tell
me about the surgery the one little girl had to have.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Well, yeah, so after she was strangled, she had a
lot of pain in her neck, there was swelling and
so you know, she did have to undergo surgery.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
And now she has a scar.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
So not only you know, does she have mental scars,
but now she has a physical one.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Rachel Countryman also joining us. You know her well, forensic
nurse expert, founder of Countrymen Consulting. She provides expert testimony
in case consultation all across the country. On sex assault, strangulation,
partner violence at Countrymen Consulting Services dot Com. And there's
(12:58):
a reason she has her own consulting business. She has
been on the front lines as a rape nurse, Rachel.
When you hear the victim was totally unconscious and urinated
in her clothes, urinated during the attack. She had no
control over her bodily functions at all. We know that
(13:23):
in at least one instance there was gentle bleeding. How
can a judge judge what's her name, Susan Worthington, right page, correct,
that's correct, Judge, Susan Worthington. I don't understand, Rachel. How yeah,
(13:43):
there you go.
Speaker 8 (13:45):
How could she turn the other way and give this
guy community service and counseling. And there's not just one victim, Rachel,
What would you be looking for? And what do you
think of the as we know them? I'm getting them straight.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Out of the arrest. Warn't Epidavid, nobody's making any of
this up.
Speaker 5 (14:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 9 (14:07):
So the symptoms are, you know, quite astounding. A lot
of times when we have patients present, we don't see
any symptoms.
Speaker 7 (14:16):
And so the.
Speaker 9 (14:16):
Fact that you know she urinated on herself, loss of consciousness.
As you know, even Susan mentioned this is the body
shutting down. The body is not getting oxygen, the tissues
in the body are getting oxygen, and she is very
close to losing her life.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
What happened and why did the judge agree to this?
And even more interesting, why did the prosecutor even put
it up?
Speaker 10 (14:42):
Listen, a serial rapist who strangles his girlfriends for a laugh,
serving no jail time on eleven charges, securing a sweetheart
deal classifying him as a youthful offender, the now eighteen
year old's treatment plan, counseling, community service, and curfews.
Speaker 11 (15:00):
Testing Judge Susan Worthington and demanding her immediate resignation. We
are protesting the Payne County District Attorney's office and demanding
the immediate resignation of the eighty a's who made this deal.
Speaker 12 (15:13):
If they don't set you on fire, you would we
You know what I mean? You got a bad you
know that sets me on fire. That looks like favoritism
all day long for me, That from.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Our friends at kfo R. And that was Representative J. J. Humphrey.
I couldn't agree with him more. Many people are asking
why Judge Susan Worthington, and don't worry, I'm going to
get about three inches of the prosecutor's tailpipe as well.
Why she would go along with this plea? How could
(15:46):
she even look at herself in the mirror? Well, we
have an idea. Listen.
Speaker 13 (15:51):
Jesse mac Butler, a star baseball player for the Stillwater
High Pioneers, already getting offers to play at NCAA colleges.
Jesse's fan deeply tied to Stillwater and Oklahoma State University.
Father Mac Butler served as the Cowboys football director for
sixteen years, and now his wife and daughter also work
for Oklahoma State's football program.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Still Water outraged by Butler's like sentence, many speculating Mac
Butler's deep connection to OSU is the reason behind his
son's ridiculous sentence. Protesters calling for District Attorney Laura Thomas
is firing.
Speaker 14 (16:24):
I'm not slowing down, and you know, I have a
fifteen year old and he said that you need to
do something. So they have a position that came open
at still Water schools, and I said.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
I don't want to be the head guy. I don't
want any of that.
Speaker 14 (16:39):
You know, if I can help.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
I want to help straight back out to page tailor
investigator Reporter Fox twenty five at news Page. I want
to hear about the father's deep involvement in the community
and the sports programs.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
Yes, so that family does have deep to still water
to OSU. Like you mentioned, he did work for OSU
for many years with the football program, and I think
it's important to know. You know, football is so important
in those college towns and really harries a lot of
weight and meaning. You know, he's also worked at some
(17:17):
other universities and high schools around the state of Oklahoma.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
Guys, it seemingly gets so much worse. But to Randy
Kessler joining US Atlanta trial lawyer, allegedly lawyer to the celebs, Randy,
it matters. It shouldn't matter. But I've seen it happen
(17:43):
in court where an influential family comes into court, typically
with their son. Occasionally their daughter has a felony, but
usually the sun and they all have on their Sunday
best and they all stand up behind the podium and
they cry and they write letters, and they get really
influential people like mayors and the heads of football programs
(18:04):
at colleges to write on behalf of the defendant, and
I don't like it, but it matters not to me.
To me, that makes it worse. That means that that
defendant had every opportunity, every advantage given the world on
a silver platter on top of the Christmas tree, and
(18:27):
still committed a felony, as opposed to some people who
everybody in their family's gone to jail. They've all committed felonies.
It's a way of life. They don't understand, Hey, this
is wrong. This guy had it all and it makes
a difference, I guess, to the judge and the prosecutor
in this case, what matters to me or what these
two little girls say.
Speaker 5 (18:48):
I agree with you, Nis, and I want to make
it clear to you and all you guess. I think
this convict was despicable, and I'm not defending the conduct.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
I'm trying to find reasons because I wasn't there as
to why they might have cut this deal or why
they might have not charged him. That's all I'm trying
to do is to splaind it And I think you might
be right. I don't know this judge, I don't know
this prosecutor, but we're all searching for either the facts
weren't there or the evidence wasn't there, and it sounds
like it was there, So what else is there?
Speaker 5 (19:11):
And I think you're looking in the right direction. Maybe
there was something on toward going on, And I agree
with you.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
I don't have damous people write letters thinking that's going
to impress the judge. If I was a judge, I'd say, oh,
you think your hot stuff and you're going to pull
your cloud and affect me. I think most judges, most
good judges, would see it exactly the way you suggest
that they should see it, which is it doesn't matter.
In fact, it makes it worse if you think that's
going to help. What matters is the conduct. What matters
is the evidence, and what matters to the prosecution is
(19:37):
can they prove and can they win their case? If
they can proven win their case, then they should push
it as far as they can. If they're not sure,
then they compromise. And I've not been in the room,
and I wasn't there, and I'm hearing more and more
even on the show, and it's still making me a question.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
Why, Randy Casser, You're not worried, are you that somebody's
going to go on X or Facebook and go, oh,
I'm mad at Randy Casseler because he took up for
the defendant. You actually care what somebody says about you?
Crime stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 5 (20:15):
I care what people say.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Business. If you do so what I'm in, I've got
fixed in the wrong business. If you care what everybody
else says, it doesn't matter what they say. It matters
that you do the right thing. And as a defense attorney,
it's your job, as much as I don't like it,
to find holes in every case and exploit them. We
(20:38):
have the adversarial system. We're adversaries. We collide in court
and we fight it out, and we test each other's
evidence through cross examination and the rules of evidence. You
know how many defense attorneys I've made mad because I
would fight their exhibits, fight their witnesses any way I could,
(20:59):
because I want it speaks the truth. Your job to
try to stop.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
Me, and that's what I do, mich You know what,
and try doing divorce once in a while too. When
we do some of that, then you've got people that
are really angry at each other.
Speaker 5 (21:12):
It's not just the state, it's an individual.
Speaker 4 (21:14):
So certainly we do our job and certainly there's times
when we have to say, you know what, it's just
an all out of fight. But if we can find
a way to solve the problem without having a trial,
criminal or civil, that's what we always try to do.
Why risk the extreme punishment, Why risk the eighty seven years?
Why risk the worst thing in judges jury can do
if you can find it, And that's what I got to.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Do something, Randy. I don't think you ever saw me
like this, because I would usually go and get in
my car when I would be so upset at how
a case was turning out. But this case is so wrong.
I know of two high school girl victims separated in
time and space, that give the same story about this guy.
(21:55):
It's on video. He videoed it. The girl had to
have surgery. He strangled her so badly, and he walked free.
With counseling doctor Cheryl Eric joining us out of Beverly
Hills clinical forensics psychologists specializing in trauma recovery. You can
(22:16):
find her at askdoctor Cheryl dot com. Cheryl, I'm having flashbacks.
I guess is PTSD from the Seawan Combs verdict where
Cassie Ventura was beaten horribly brutally like these girls were
beaten and strangled till they urinated on themselves on video
(22:41):
and the jury excused it. And it's just like the
same thing all over again with a baseball high school star.
Speaker 15 (22:53):
That's right, there's evidence, there's video evidence. We can see it,
and we can see when somebody is powerful or influential,
we can see courts making a decision that the young
man's life is more important than the lives of the
two young women that he is destroying. And the thing
(23:14):
is that this isn't just about favor this is also
these are very very dangerous crimes, and they are crimes
with very very high risk of reoffending. He doesn't show remorse.
He the family doesn't show a sense of consequences about this.
They're saying to him, Oh, don't worry, we're going to
(23:36):
get you out soon, you know, when he gets arrested.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
And as we've.
Speaker 15 (23:40):
Talked about, strangulation puts the victim at risk of seven
hundred and fifty percent more likely to be murdered by
the person who strangled her during an attack. We don't
see remorse, We see sadism, We see him being proud
of what he's doing. And recording, and he sort of does, oh,
I'm sorry for one of them, about to do with
(24:02):
one of the victims, but doesn't not hurt her. He
is not moved by this pain. And the real risk
here is that these types of crimes run a very
very high risk of not only reoffending, but of murder,
of murdering future victims, and whatever favor has happened here,
(24:23):
if a future victim is murdered, I really think that
the blood is on the hands of the judge in
this case.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
Talking about flashbacks from the Shanghams trial, Remember.
Speaker 13 (24:33):
This Butler appears to be a typical all American teenager,
but his ex girlfriends say he's extremely violent.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
Just a few weeks into the fall semester, two Stillwater
High students seek out their school resource officers, scared of
their shared ex boyfriend, alleging he attacks them numerous tis
throughout back to back relationships. The victims are still attending
class with their attacker, now eighteen year old Jesse Butler.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
It gets so much worse when you read the affidavits,
the sworn testimony about what these victims said. I want
you to hear it.
Speaker 10 (25:17):
Butler tries to rape ls for the first time outside
of a marble slab. On what was supposed to be
an ice cream date. Butler pins Ls down in his car,
removes her clothes, then touches her breast and vagina while
she tells him to stop through tears. Butler says he's
sorry for what he's about to do, but he has
to do it. Before the rape, a woman approaches Butler's
(25:39):
car and says she's calling police. Butler drives Ls back
to her own car, but gets in with her, still
trying to initiate intercourse until Ls finally convinces him to
get out.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
Well, needless to say, it didn't end there. But back
to you, Kessler, an ice cream date, don't you have daughters?
Speaker 5 (26:01):
Yeah, it's irrelevant. I mean it's not right, right, What
do you want to say to that?
Speaker 1 (26:04):
It's relevant? So I'll take that as a yes. Uh,
an ice cream date? You know? The other night, Lucy
and her little friend boy went out for frozen yogurt.
That sounds pretty innocent, doesn't it. A woman in the
parking lot had to come over and get him off
(26:27):
of her and threatened to call police. Think about it.
If he will do that in a public park in
front of marble slab cream andy. For Pete's sake, what
will he do on an isolated road or when he
has the girl in private, if he will be that bold,
that horrible chin parking lot.
Speaker 5 (26:50):
So chromin. What do you want me to say to that, Nancy? Stupid?
Speaker 4 (26:55):
Any thank goodness you did it like that, so that
he got caught in that he got and there was
a witness, and there's someone that came out there right,
thank goodness, because they are smarter criminals that are worse.
Speaker 5 (27:04):
Right, this is not this is not a nice guy.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Okay, I like that. I like that. I like that
when you argue there are people worse? Okay, what am
I supposed to do with that? There are people worse
than him, worse as.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
Far as intelligence, Nancy, not as far as what he did.
The people there are people to do worse things, are
people to do less worse things. You can't classify that,
you can't rape that. This is down there, right, This
is something nobody wants to be a part of, nobody wants.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
I don't have a problem ranking it. I would say
it's not as bad as murdering her, but it's a
whole lot worse and shoplifting, right, Yeah, I can totally
rank it. That's why we call it one of the
seven deadly sins for which you will be tried as
an adult. Okay, not convinced yet, Casler listen to this.
Speaker 13 (27:51):
Butler tries to rape Ls again, this time at his
home while his mother is there. Ls cries and says no,
while Butler straddles are on the couch but is removing
his own underwear when his mom knocks on the door
and asks if everything's okay. Butler then drives Ls home,
but park streets away, refusing to drop her off until
she does what he wants. Butler gropes Ls and moves
(28:12):
her hand over his groin. This goes on for hours.
Ls afraid to try to leave, Butler only gives up
when his sister texts he needs to come home.
Speaker 16 (28:22):
To Jesse's parents. I don't know what you knew. I
don't know if you heard me crying through the walls
or noticed how your son treated me when no one
was looking. But I hope you hear me now. Your
son hurt me in ways that cannot be undone, and
I need you to understand that your silence, your protection
of him or even your denial would hurt too, because
(28:45):
someone should have stopped this, Someone should have seen the
bruises in the fear.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Did the parents know apparently, yes, you heard that. The
mother comes to the door and goes everything okay, in there,
it's her home, her home where this is happening. How
could she not know? Well, let's take a look at mommy,
come arrest.
Speaker 7 (29:07):
We're going to obviously tell our story too. Yeah, yes,
it's mom. Open the door, it's me. And if you'll
just have him step out and give me your wallet
(29:28):
and phone and stuff.
Speaker 17 (29:29):
So you're what, well, okay, it's not long tering thing
as in, okay, so can you tell him what you
just fell me?
Speaker 1 (29:38):
Or yeah, so we're here.
Speaker 18 (29:41):
We're obviously going to place you under arrest. There's a
for your arrest. We're going to take you to the jail.
I told your mom that she can contact a bondsman
and you shouldn't be.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Very there very long.
Speaker 18 (29:53):
But there just is a process for paperwork and stuff.
But right now you do have to come with us,
and I do have to put you in a handcuffs,
So turn around for metransport something.
Speaker 7 (30:08):
I'll get you out right, all right, Stay silent, Ruthe
knows about this. Can you dance on his way? We're
coming to Okay, stay strong, Okay, say your prayers still.
Speaker 5 (30:22):
Want Okay that way? They don't think you went tell me.
Speaker 7 (30:30):
So horrible, awful experience.
Speaker 5 (30:32):
For the child?
Speaker 1 (30:36):
Did I just hear mommy say this is an awful
experience for a child? Is she talking about that hulk
walking along in handcuffs? And did you notice doctor Cheryl Erritt,
Mommy wasn't surprised at all. Crime stories with Nancy Grace,
(31:05):
I mean, you know, it reminds me of doctor Cheryl.
Have you ever seen cops okay where they're playing bad boy,
Bad Boy and they run through a house to make
an arrest, and there's a guy sitting there drinking a
beer in a lazy and a lazy boy watching TV.
He just cop watches the cops run through like it's
just another day at home, not surprised at all that
(31:28):
the swat team is running across his living room. He
just keeps watching TV. The mom shows no emotion at all.
She's not surprised her son is charged with brutal attacks
on two high school girls. For Pete's sake, that's right.
Speaker 15 (31:48):
There is no level of shock that you're seeing register
for her about the gravity of the things that he
is charged with. She immediately goes into babying him and
trying to make sure that he knows that they're going
to pull all the strings they can and he's gonna
be okay. And her empathy and her compassion seems to
be about rescuing him from the consequences of the crimes
(32:11):
he's just been accused of, and with evidence with these
young girls, these high school girls who they know. Stillwater
is not a big community. I mean, these girls were
one of them we know was in her home and
she was worried enough that something didn't sound right to
knock on the door. But there is a sort of
(32:32):
an act of not knowing, a denial that is not
just a river in Egypt that we see in households
where there is a violence, where people kind of take
the convenient way out sometimes and pretend that they don't
see the glaring red flags that they need to see.
And this is one of the reasons I'm so concerned
(32:53):
about this young man reoffending.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
To Rachel Countryman joining US forensic nurse expert at Countrymen Consulting.
She is an expert witness an advisor on sex assault
strangulation cases all across the country. Rachel. Earlier, you said
that sometimes in rape victims you don't see a physical manifestation.
(33:17):
In this case, you've got a high school girl bleeding
from her genitals and you have a strangulation so severe
that she has to have throat surgery and is left
with permanent scars. Her face is drooping on one side.
Wouldn't that qualify as proof forensic physical evidence that the
(33:40):
sex attacks occurred?
Speaker 9 (33:43):
Yeah, I mean for sure, that definitely that physical evidence
that we don't always see. And you know, I further
think about the brain injury that these girls maybe have
occurred from the lack of oxygen during these strangulation attempts
multiple and multiple times. And you know, as we know,
traumatic brain injuries, they're lifelong. You know, those things are
(34:06):
something that you know, they're not just emotions that we
can deal with and pass on or you know, there's
something that these girls and their very young lives are
gonna have to deal with into their adults.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Let's take a look at that arrest again. I'm really
surprised that they didn't offer him some cookies and milk
when they arrested him, they practically apologized for putting him
in coast. For Pete's sake, this is a two time
sex attacker. There's no question of guilt or innocence. Why
(34:38):
are they treating him this way. I don't expect them
to throw him face down on the asphalt and drag
him to the car. But for Pete's sake, I mean again,
milk and cookies, listen, ready.
Speaker 7 (34:50):
To obviously tell our story too. Yeah, yes, it's mom
opened the door. It's made. And if you'll just have
him step out and.
Speaker 5 (35:07):
Give me your.
Speaker 7 (35:09):
Wallet and phone and stuff, so.
Speaker 17 (35:12):
You're one, Okay, it's not a long during things like okay,
so can you tell him what you just call me?
Speaker 1 (35:20):
Or yeah, so we're here.
Speaker 18 (35:23):
We're obviously going to place you under arrest. There's a
for your arrest. We're going to take you to the jail.
I told your mom that she can contact a bondsman
and you shouldn't be very there very long. But there
just is a process for paperwork and stuff. But right
now you do have to come with us, and I
do have to put you in handcasts so turn around
for me.
Speaker 5 (35:42):
I don't have to put your Yeah, I transports something.
Speaker 7 (35:50):
I'll get you out for me, all right, Silent knows
about this. Can you dance on this way?
Speaker 17 (35:59):
We're coming, Okay, stay strong, Okay, so your prayers still
are pay all.
Speaker 5 (36:05):
Past that where they don't think you went for one
full of.
Speaker 7 (36:08):
Vitelli, A confluent experience for the time.
Speaker 16 (36:19):
I will never forget the night you strangled me unconscious
because I said no. That moment changed my life. A
medical professional leader told me that I was just thirty
seconds away from dying. Thirty seconds. If you had kept
your hands on my neck just a little longer, I
wouldn't be standing here today. That wasn't just as scare.
(36:40):
It was a near death experience.
Speaker 10 (36:43):
It didn't just hurt me.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
You nearly killed me. That strangulation victim l s one
of the two little high school girls she ends up.
That's the girl that had to have the surgery on
her neck with a prominent scar. She had facial drooping
me because of it. But I mentioned a second victim.
We're calling her k S Listen.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
Later that same week, Butler tells KS he wants to
strangle her again, this time on film, because he enjoys
watching her pass out afraid of what would happen if
she refused Chaos and again loses consciousness while Butler's hands
are wrapped around her neck. The officer who takes Kaos's
report discovers the video still saved to Butler's phone, matching
her description and time frame.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
Joining us now Domestic violence sex assault Detective NAPA Bill
Hernandez Bill, thank you for being with us. How many
times have you heard a defense attorney argue there's no
proof that happened? And I remember jervis, what do you
want a video? We've got a video, Bill, But yet
(37:49):
the judge allowed him to walk free with counseling, and
the DA with a straight face, put that up as
the deal. That's terrible.
Speaker 19 (38:01):
I can't imagine what these survivors are going to go
through because of that deal that it was struck. It
is unconscionable and it's really unbelievable that this happened, and
it's really going to encourage more people like Jesse to
do things like this, and it's going to really stop
(38:22):
other survivors from wanting to report because they see that
nothing's going to happen.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
Guys, there is a move afoot to kick out the
prosecutor and.
Speaker 20 (38:32):
The judge, Judge Worthington, previously underfire. A Cushing middle school
teacher pleaded guilty to sexually harassing a thirteen year old student.
Swain asked the girl for sexually explicit photos and to
meet him in private. Swain also caught trying to break
(38:54):
in her bedroom window. Swains and it's to ten years,
but Worthington suspended the majority Wwayne spending just a year
behind bars.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
Sidney Sumner or Crime Stories investigative reporter. You've researched the
judge's history. What can you tell me about a track record?
Speaker 21 (39:08):
So Judge Susan Worthington suspended this middle school teacher's almost
ten year sentence. So he spent just a year behind
bars for sexually harassing a thirteen year old girl trying
to break into her bedroom and Nancy, it gets worse
after his release on that suspended sentence. Swayin raced a
(39:29):
sixteen year old girl. He lured her into his car
at a gas station parking lotch raped her, and then
harassed her for months, trying to keep her quiet about
what happened.
Speaker 22 (39:41):
That charge was dropped.
Speaker 21 (39:44):
The District Attorney's office did not prosecute Swayne for that race,
and now he's charged again. Last year November, he was
charged with sexually contacting a minor third offense.
Speaker 1 (39:58):
Tessler. Look, I can't tell you how seriously I take
every case I put in fun majury, in every guilty
plea one. There's so many nightmares. But one of my
worst possible nightmares is the thought that an innocent person
is behind bars. Not only would the innocent person be
(40:20):
behind bars, but the guilty person would be walking free.
But when I hear that, how could the judge live
with herself or the prosecutor? The prosecutor is just as bad.
They're the one that put up the plea deal and
the judge rubber stamped it. They both had the opportunity
to do the right thing. Did you hear what Sidney
(40:41):
was saying about Swain the middle school teacher breaking in
to a middle school girl's bedroom, cut loose by Worthington
went on to rape another little girl and harass her,
and now he's up on a third count. I mean,
I don't know how they can live with themselves. How
(41:02):
do they sit down at the supper table at night
and think everything's okay? That they're doing just a great job, right.
Speaker 4 (41:10):
Unfortunately or unfortunately, that's what makes judges usually become more
and more conservative. You have one mistake like that and
one backlash, and you say this is never going to
happen again. This is rare, This is a unique situation.
You're asking the right questions. I don't know the answers,
but yeah, it is strange that a judge would not
become over time more and more conservative, more and more
concern that I'm going to make a mistake. I don't
(41:30):
want to happen again.
Speaker 5 (41:31):
It sounds like it could be a mistake. I don't
know all the details. I don't know why.
Speaker 1 (41:35):
But you know what, Randy, there's nothing that can be
done now, is there. Once a plea has been offered
and accepted. Once the state offers a plea, the defense
accepts the plea. That's a deal. You cannot go back
on a deal, no matter what, even if another prosecutor
offered it. Once the deal has been accepted, it's a deal.
(41:56):
But the judge doesn't have to accept it.
Speaker 5 (42:00):
I mean, of course, if you find wrongdoing.
Speaker 4 (42:01):
You see this in politics all the time, right, If
someone's wrongfully convicted because there was an impartial judge who
was on the take. There are ways to go back
at this, and that looks like what you're suggesting, this
judge had some ulterior motive, some reason to help this
community member that was a baseball star and a Rizon
baseball star and connected by family. That's about the only
way you can go about getting a sentence undone is
(42:22):
to say that it wasn't done. Probably the person doing
it was corrupt. Otherwise you can't go back and re
argue the facts or say try again, you're right.
Speaker 5 (42:30):
The sentence is a sentence.
Speaker 1 (42:32):
You know Bill Hernandez who is a domestic violence sex
assault detective in NAPA. Bill, you mentioned the burden that
these victims, the rape victims and their families are going
to have going forward.
Speaker 22 (42:46):
Described well, what's going to happen, what's going to have
to happen for them, is they're going to have to
deal with this trauma for ever, for the rest of
their lives.
Speaker 19 (42:57):
There's also some long term consequences, especially related to the
stringulation that these girls are going to be suffering for
them a long time. And I heard that one of
them had to have surgery because of facial palsy and
also an injury to her neck, and it's just going
to be a long term, long time recovery for them
and the families.
Speaker 16 (43:16):
I've had to carry this weight while going to school,
trying to act like I'm okay. I've woken up from
nightmares that make me feel like I'm being attacked all
over again. I've had to explain bruises, explain silence, Explain
why I started isolating from people who love me. You
didn't just strangle me with your hands. You strangle my voice,
(43:36):
my joy, my ability to feel safe in my own body.
Speaker 1 (43:41):
Two high school girls brutally attacked, and the attacker enters
a NOLA, which is a conviction, and walks free with
counseling to Page tail Or vestigated Reporter Fox twenty five,
what if anything is happening, Well, we know that he.
Speaker 3 (44:02):
Has to follow this plan under the Youth bull of
Under status, which means attending weekly counseling, one hundred and
fifty hours of community service curfew, no social media, and
daily check in. So he will have to follow that
plan until he turns nineteen, which is less than a
year from now.
Speaker 1 (44:20):
That will be next August.
Speaker 3 (44:23):
If he strays from that plan or does not comply
with that plan, then he could go back to that
seventy eight year sentence.
Speaker 1 (44:31):
So then nothing Randy Kessler very quickly. Once a deal
has been struck, even if it's a deal with the devil,
and the judge goes along with it, it's really hard
to change that, to get that.
Speaker 5 (44:46):
Reversed, right, I mean that I was just there, that
that was right.
Speaker 4 (44:51):
All we can do is hope the next time it
doesn't happen again, and do what we can to prevent
it from happening again.
Speaker 5 (44:55):
But yes, the answer to your question briefly is yes.
Speaker 1 (44:58):
He just fanned me a sam and she saying I'm
gonna act like I like it. We are working to
have the plea deal reversed. In the meantime, Judge, get
off the bench and same to you, District Attorney. You're
not worth the salt that goes in my bread be gone.
I don't want to see anything but tailhole and elbows
(45:20):
out of you while you run out of town. If
you know or think you know anything about this case,
please contact Stillwater PD four zero five three seven two
four one seven to one. And if you are someone
you know is an assault victim, please dial eight hundred
sixty five six four six seven three. We remember American
(45:45):
hero Deputy Sheriff Devin Haramio, Miami Dade, just twenty seven,
shot in the line of duty, leaving behind grieving parents.
American hero Deputy Devin Haramo Nancy Grace signing off goodbye friend.
Host
Nancy Grace
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