STILLWATER, Okla. — Typically, a compliance hearing wouldn’t generate a large crowd but when it comes to Jesse Mac Butler, it’s a different story.
Butler, whose dad is a prominent figure in the football community, pleaded no contest to 10 rape related charges. He faced up to 78 years in prison, but ended up with no jail time.
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Protesters lined the streets demanding a larger investigation into the Payne county court and DA‘s office.
“Rape is rape violence is violence, and it needs to end and so does systematic corruption,” said Betty Patterson, a protestor. “Why would a judge hear a case of such a violence and grotesqueness and then let somebody walk like that?"
WATCH: Judge agrees to unseal some Jesse Mac Butler records:
The review was to ensure he’s doing what he’s supposed to be doing—which includes, among other things, daily calls and weekly visits to the Office of Juvenile Affairs, therapy and community service.
Victims’ advocates were allowed to speak at the hearing, where they voiced concerns that keeping court records sealed is an effort to protect Butler.
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Cara Carllson, a victims advocate, says actions like that are a slap in the face to victims who testify.
“They endure the trauma of reliving everything,” she said. “It was swept away, and it was sealed up as if it were their form of healing and it is not.”
In court, the victims advocate also took the opportunity to ask the judge how therapy would benefit Butler, when he has never admitted any wrongdoing.
Butler kept quiet as he left the courtroom surrounded by reporters and protesters.
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