Jesse Butler Case: Dismissal, Marsy’s Law, and Federal Lawsuit

The Jesse Butler case is an Oklahoma criminal matter in which a Stillwater High School student, charged as an adult with 11 counts of rape, sexual battery, and domestic assault and battery by strangulation involving two female classmates, pleaded no contest in August 2025 and received community service, rehabilitation, and outpatient counseling with no prison time after being certified as a youthful offender. The outcome set off protests, a Marsy’s Law challenge from the victims, and a federal lawsuit against Stillwater Public Schools.¹

What Butler Was Accused Of

The assaults took place over roughly six months in 2024 and involved two Stillwater High School students, identified in filings as K.S., also called “Kate,” and L.S. Butler began dating L.S. in late January 2024. On February 2, he allegedly forcibly removed her clothing and sexually assaulted her in his car until a passerby interrupted. Later that month, in a Walmart parking lot, he allegedly strangled her to unconsciousness after she refused sexual acts. A medical professional later told her she had been roughly 30 seconds from death, and she required surgery on her neck.²

Butler began dating Kate that spring. About a month in, he allegedly grabbed, slapped, and threw her to the ground at a Sonic Drive-in after she refused his advances. In late July, he allegedly strangled her to unconsciousness while the two were house-sitting. Police later recovered video from Butler’s phone, dated August 1, 2024, showing him strangling Kate on multiple occasions and filming her as she passed out.² Investigators noted that Butler used similar tactics with both girls, strangling them into unconsciousness when they refused sex.

How the Case Reached Court

In September 2024, both victims reported the assaults to a Stillwater High School assistant principal and the school resource officer. An Emergency Protective Order was served on Butler on September 26, 2024.³ The families later said they waited two weeks after the police report before a forensic interview was conducted, and during that stretch one victim was required to remain in the same math class as Butler.²

Butler was arrested at his home in March 2025 while still underage. He was initially charged as an adult with nine felonies covering rape, sexual battery, and domestic assault and battery by strangulation. A tenth-and-eleventh count was later added for violating the protective order held by L.S., bringing the total to 11.¹

Why He Got No Prison Time

In July 2025, Special Judge Susan Worthington certified Butler as a youthful offender under Oklahoma’s Youthful Offender Act, which allows minors aged 15 to 17 charged with certain serious felonies to be handled outside the adult track at judicial discretion, prioritizing rehabilitation.⁴ If the offender completes the court-ordered treatment plan, the court can discharge the case without a formal judgment of guilt, and the record generally does not have to be disclosed for purposes like employment.⁵

On August 25, 2025, Butler entered a no-contest plea to all 11 counts. The charges carried a combined maximum of 78 years in prison. Under the youthful offender framework, he was sentenced instead to community service, rehabilitation, and outpatient counseling with no incarceration, and placed under the supervision of the Office of Juvenile Affairs.¹ If he fails to meet the terms of his rehabilitation plan, he faces reclassification as an adult and a ten-year prison sentence.⁶

Payne County District Attorney Laura Austin Thomas defended the resolution afterward, saying youthful offender status was the “most likely final outcome” because existing Oklahoma law favors rehabilitation for offenders under 18. She noted that only two of the eleven charges qualified the case for adult court in the first place, and that the plea spared the victims from having to testify or face cross-examination.⁷

Public Outcry and the OSU Connection

Butler’s father is a former director of football operations at Oklahoma State University, a detail that became a flashpoint in coverage of the case. Judge Worthington, who granted youthful offender status, also had ties to the university. No evidence surfaced that the father’s position formally influenced the court, but the connection fed community suspicion that, as Oklahoma Watch put it, “justice appears to depend on who you know.”¹

Protests gathered outside the Payne County courthouse. At a December 8, 2025, compliance hearing, demonstrators using the slogan “no jail, no justice” surrounded Butler and his family as they were escorted from a back entrance, and one confronted his father over supporting his son.⁸ Kate’s mother, Yvonne, said the experience “just kind of felt like it was all for nothing” and that “community service and counseling doesn’t equate to what he did to her.” Her father, Austin, said Butler “should have been pulled out of school” the day the girls reported the assaults.² In a victim impact statement filed with the court, one victim wrote: “You didn’t just strangle me with your hands, you strangled my voice, my joy, my ability to feel safe in my own body.”⁹

The Marsy’s Law Challenge

On December 10, 2025, victims’ attorney Rachel Bussett filed a motion to enforce her client’s constitutional rights under Marsy’s Law, Oklahoma’s voter-approved victims’ rights amendment. The motion sought to set aside the plea and order a corrective hearing, arguing that the Payne County District Attorney’s office failed to meaningfully consult the victims or their families before agreeing to the plea and youthful offender certification.¹⁰

The dispute centered on a communication breakdown. Assistant District Attorney Debra Vincent testified that she initially told the families Butler would plead guilty, then informed them the Friday before the Monday hearing that the defense had switched the plea to no contest. The families said they believed negotiations were still open over the weekend and learned the final terms only moments before the August 25 hearing.¹¹ Bussett also alleged Vincent had promised the victim’s mother a role in shaping any deal and an extension of a protective order, neither of which happened.¹²

Associate District Judge Michael Kulling held a three-day evidentiary hearing from April 13 to 15, 2026, and issued a written ruling on April 20 finding that the District Attorney’s office did not violate the victims’ rights under Marsy’s Law or the Oklahoma Victim’s Rights Act. Kulling wrote that the rights afforded to victims are “participatory and informational in nature, not determinative” and that “[n]either provision confers upon victims the authority to direct, control, or veto prosecutorial decision-making.” Dissatisfaction with a plea outcome, he concluded, “does not equate to a denial of rights guaranteed under Oklahoma law.”⁶ Legal observers had noted separately that the Fifth Amendment’s double jeopardy protections would likely have prevented altering Butler’s sentence even if a violation had been found, though the victims could pursue a separate cause of action against the state for noncompliance.¹³

Federal Lawsuit Against Stillwater Public Schools

On December 22, 2025, the parents of one of the victims, Amber and Tyler Selvey, filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma. The suit names Stillwater Public Schools, the City of Stillwater, Jesse Butler, his parents Jacque and Mack Butler, school resource officer Paul Blankinship, and Stillwater High School principal Walter Howell. The claims include Title IX violations, civil rights violations, negligence, emotional distress, and assault and battery.¹⁴

The complaint alleges the district failed to investigate Butler’s behavior after the report, failed to notify staff, and did not enter the Emergency Protective Order into its internal database in violation of district policy. It further alleges the principal instructed the victim’s mother to bring problems with Butler to him directly rather than to Stillwater police. The filing also accuses the district of discouraging student protests over the sentencing by scheduling mandatory senior activities on protest days and penalizing students who left campus to demonstrate.¹⁵ The suit identifies Mack Butler as an assistant athletic director for the district and alleges the victim was subjected to harassment and intimidation by him.¹⁴ Stillwater Public Schools has declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.

The Canyn Porter Comparison

The Butler resolution drew renewed scrutiny when a second Stillwater teenager, 18-year-old Canyn Porter, was charged with first-degree rape and two counts of domestic battery, including battery by strangulation, for an alleged November 10, 2024 assault on a 16-year-old. Assistant District Attorney Debra Vincent actively opposed Porter’s motion to be certified as a youthful offender, the opposite of the office’s posture in Butler’s case.¹⁶

District Attorney Laura Austin Thomas distinguished the two cases on several grounds: the Porter victim was not in a relationship with the accused, the outcry was “immediate,” the alleged assault produced “visible, documented injury,” and Porter was only days from turning 18 at the time of the offense.⁷ Critics pointed to the contrast: in Butler’s case, prosecutors cited the difficulty of prosecuting sexual assault between former intimate partners; in Porter’s, the state is requiring the victim to testify at preliminary hearings.¹⁶

Where the Case Stands

As of April 2026, Butler remains under the supervision of the Office of Juvenile Affairs as a youthful offender. At the December 2025 compliance hearing, a judge confirmed he was meeting the terms of his agreement but warned that any violation would trigger an adult prison sentence.⁸ He is barred from Stillwater Public Schools property and from any school events.¹⁷ The federal lawsuit against Stillwater Public Schools and the other defendants remains pending, and the Canyn Porter prosecution continues separately in Payne County.

1
Oklahoma Watch. Families Outraged After OSU Official’s Son Spared Prison in Sexual Assault Case
2
ABC News. Parents of Oklahoma Teen Sex Assault Victim Speak After Sentencing
3
News 9. New Hearing Set for Stillwater Teen Convicted of Raping High School Students
4
Justia. Oklahoma Statutes Title 10A, Section 2-5-205
5
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Oklahoma Youthful Offender Act, 10A Okl.St.Ann. Section 2-5-202
6
FOX 25 Oklahoma City. Judge Rules Against Jesse Butler Victims in Marsy’s Law Case
7
FOX 25 Oklahoma City. Payne County District Attorney Speaks Out for First Time on Handling of Jesse Butler Case
8
News 9. Jesse Butler Oklahoma Court Hearing Protests
9
KOCO. Parents Outraged After Jesse Butler Downgraded to Youthful Offender
10
Court TV. Victim’s Lawyer Files New Motion in Jesse Butler Rape Case
11
FOX 25 Oklahoma City. Payne County Judge to Decide if Victims’ Rights Were Violated During Jesse Butler Case
12
FOX 25 Oklahoma City. Motion Filed to Enforce Victims’ Rights in Jesse Butler Case
13
KOCO. Jesse Butler Sentence Change Court Hearing
14
News 9. Jesse Butler Stillwater High School Sexual Assault Lawsuit
15
FOX 25 Oklahoma City. Lawsuit Claims Stillwater Schools Failed to Protect Victim From Jesse Butler
16
Oklahoma Watch. Second Stillwater Teen Faces Rape Charges as Unequal Treatment Questions Mount
17
KJRH. Stillwater Police Investigate Concerning Calls to SPS Over Jesse Butler Case