The parents of an Oklahoma teenager at the center of a high-profile s**ual assault case are speaking publicly for the first time, saying they feel their daughter was denied justice after the young man accused of attacking her was spared prison time.
Their comments appear in an interview with Nightline’s JuJu Chang, previewed on Good Morning America on Wednesday, Dec. 10.
The case centers on 18-year-old Jesse Butler, who authorities say assaulted two former girlfriends when he was 16 and 17.
Butler was arrested in March in Stillwater, Okla., and faced multiple counts of attempted rape, s**ual battery, strangulation and domestic assault, according to court documents cited by KOCO. He was initially charged as an adult and faced possible prison time, but a judge later granted him youthful offender status, according to multiple outlets including The Journal Record and Oklahoma Watch.
In August, Butler pleaded no contest to 11 counts, according to an official report obtained and shared online by FOX 25. Though he was facing up to 78 years in prison, a judge in November ordered community service, rehabilitation and counseling instead of incarceration, KJRH reported.
For the parents of one victim, Kate, that outcome felt deeply inadequate.
“Community service and counseling doesn’t equate to what he did to her, what he’s taken from her,” her mother, Ivonne, told Chang.
Her father, Austin, shared the same frustration. “[I’m] just hoping that his name will be out there. That somebody will know that he’s capable of this and just anything we can do to prevent other harm.”
Kate, they explained, was 16 when she was first allowed to date. Butler was her first boyfriend.
At the beginning, he seemed like a bright spot in her life. “We liked him, we thought he was pretty nice,” Ivonne recalled. “He would bring her flowers pretty frequently. He took her to lots of fancy places, and she went to many of his sports events and games.”
“He seemed very kind and he seemed like a gentleman to me,” Austin added.
But over time, Kate’s behavior started to change. Eventually, her parents say they learned she had been s**ually assaulted.
The impact has been profound. Kate is now finishing her senior year of high school online.
“She doesn’t have her high school friends anymore,” Ivonne said. “And I’ll never have a prom picture or a graduation picture because she doesn’t want to walk.”
Ivonne and Austin say they want other parents to understand that intimate partner violence can happen in teenage relationships, not just among adults.
Kate’s father believes Butler’s punishment sends the wrong message. “Community service for this type of crime, that’s nothing. People get that for minor crimes,” he said.
The family’s attorney, Rachel Bussett, told Nightline that the sentence does not match the seriousness of the allegations. “I think there should have been a period of incarceration and I think there should have been an admission of guilt of what he did,” she said.
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Bussett has filed a motion arguing that Kate’s rights were violated during the plea and sentencing process, noting that Butler’s current restrictions amount to, as Chang described it, “slightly more than grounding.” The district attorney’s office told ABC News they consulted the victims’ families throughout the case and warned them this outcome was likely.
As the family continues to push for more accountability, Ivonne says she hopes her daughter can eventually rebuild trust. “I hope that she tries to date again; right now she’s been too scared,” she said.
Asked if the experience shattered her daughter’s belief in relationships, Ivonne replied, “Yeah, it’s her first boyfriend and that was her first experience with love. I hope that she’ll try again, because love shouldn’t hurt.”
Good Morning America airs on ABC beginning at 7 a.m. ET. Nightline airs weeknights at 12:35 a.m. ET, also on ABC.
