He Assaulted Two Girls And Strangled One Almost To Death and Got Zero Jail Time, Meet Jesse Butler
Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & Commentary
True Crime Today
3.3 • 907 Ratings
🗓️ 11 November 2025
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Video evidence. Multiple felony counts.
And an 18-year-old who should’ve faced decades in prison — but didn’t.
In Payne County, Oklahoma, Jesse Butler pleaded no contest to multiple violent felonies: rape, attempted rape, assault by strangulation, and rape by instrumentation.
Each count carried heavy time — up to 78 years combined.
But thanks to a stunning plea deal, Butler walked free.
No prison. Just community service, counseling, and “youthful offender” status.
The agreement was signed off by Judge Susan C. Worthington, prompting outrage from victims, advocates, and law-abiding citizens who can’t fathom how this could happen.
A young woman nearly strangled to death — doctors saying seconds longer and she’d be gone — and the man responsible goes home.
On Hidden Killers with Tony Brueski, former FBI Special Agent Jennifer Coffindaffer joins to break down how plea mechanics, influence, and institutional apathy intersect to create decisions that mock justice itself.
We explore how Oklahoma’s Youthful Offender Act was never intended for predators like Butler — and how misuse of that statute now threatens public safety statewide.
This conversation asks the questions prosecutors and judges won’t:
What message does this send to survivors?
How many future victims will stay silent after seeing a predator walk free?
And what does it say when violent offenders are given “second chances” while victims are left with life sentences of trauma?
This isn’t about vengeance.
It’s about proportion.
It’s about a justice system that’s supposed to protect the vulnerable — and instead, too often, protects the well-connected.
#JesseButler #HiddenKillers #TonyBrueski #JenniferCoffindaffer #TrueCrimeToday #JudgeWorthington #OklahomaJustice #RapeCase #PleaDeal #YouthfulOffender
Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video?
Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod
X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod
Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is Hidden Killers Live with Tony Bruske, Stacey Cole and Todd Michaels. |
| 0:08.8 | Let's go on to another case that is making a lot of headlines and making a lot of people angry, |
| 0:15.7 | angry enough to go out in the cold and hang out outside the courthouse and Stillwater, Oklahoma, |
| 0:20.3 | with large signs |
| 0:21.1 | screaming and yelling. A essay that took place there, strangulation, video evidence, and a plea deal |
| 0:27.7 | so lenient. Yeah, people in Oklahoma are outraged. 18-year-old Jesse Butler, once facing nearly |
| 0:34.4 | 80 years behind bars after allegedly essaying, sodomizing, and using instruments |
| 0:41.3 | during the assault and strangling a 16-year-old to near death, she had to have surgery. |
| 0:48.0 | He's walked away with no prison time. Instead, community service, counseling, youthful offender status. |
| 0:54.0 | You know, how did this happen, who made the deal, and what messages does this send to survivors, |
| 1:00.5 | especially the two young women who now have to live in the same small community with this monster? |
| 1:06.2 | To justice, to the community, what is going on? |
| 1:09.3 | Jennifer Coffendaffer, retired FBI special agent with us. |
| 1:12.7 | Let's walk through the starkest contrast here. An alleged crime so violent and so graphic, |
| 1:19.1 | coupled with a plea resolution, so minimal. By law and practice, how does something like this |
| 1:25.3 | even come together, Jennifer? |
| 1:39.5 | Well, how it happens is you have a defense attorney that is working their magic and or has some sort of relationship, which they often do with the prosecutor, right? |
| 1:43.2 | Whenever you have a prosecution, this is Stillwater, Oklahoma. |
| 1:51.1 | Whenever you have a DA's office, those line prosecutors, they come to know defense attorneys. |
| 2:01.0 | And through that relationship, I believe, they made the agreement that Jesse would be changed in status. |
| 2:03.0 | He was initially charged as an adult. |
| 2:05.3 | They changed it to what we call a YO, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from True Crime Today, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of True Crime Today and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.