STILLWATER, Okla. (Scripps News Tulsa) — The attorney for a victim in the rape case of Oklahoma teenager Jesse Butler has filed a motion to “enforce victim’s constitutional rights” under Marsy’s Law.
Butler is serving a youthful offender sentence without jail time after facing ten rape counts stemming from allegedly attacking two girls he pursued sexually before he turned 18.
Bodycamera footage showed Jesse Butler as he was arrested on multiple rape-related charges. (Stillwater Police Dept. via Scripps News Tulsa)
“We filed a motion to enforce Marsy’s Law and to set aside the (plea deal) and call for a corrective hearing,” attorney Rachel Bussett told Scripps News Tulsa on Wednesday.
MORE | Police release video of Jesse Butler’s arrest after controversial plea deal
Marsy’s Law, Bussett said, is designed to protect victims’ rights as rigorously as those of the accused.
“So when a victim comes forward to talk about what’s happened to them, it’s very important that they feel heard,” she said. “And these young women feel silenced because they wanted to testify. They wanted to talk about what their experience was and what they went through.”
On Wednesday, the judge also unsealed documents detailing the disturbing claims made against Butler, including that one of the strangulation instances left a victim “30 seconds from death.”
“That was really the important thing that we looked at here when we started writing from beginning to end what happened and how it happened,” Bussett said. “It’s clear that Marcy’s Law has not been complied with.”
“I’m not going to speculate on what the judge is going to do,” the lawyer added. “I’m going to trust in the legal system that this judge is going to look at this with fresh eyes.”
“All victims need to know that the system is fair, and that nobody’s getting a special deal.”
This story was originally published by Scripps News Tulsa, an E.W. Scripps Company.
