An Alabama man charged with a series of violent crimes spanning from central Alabama to Georgia has been punished for the kidnapping and sexual abuse of two juvenile girls in Prattville.
Michael Jerome Butler, 37, pled guilty on April 8 to two counts of first-degree kidnapping, two counts of first-degree rape, two counts of first-degree sodomy, robbery, and sexual torture. Butler appeared Thursday morning in front of Autauga County Circuit Judge Joy Pace Booth, who sentenced the Greenville man to eight consecutive life sentences.
Butler is scheduled to go on trial in November for the unrelated murder of a St. Clair County woman.
The violent crime spree in 2022 occurred while Butler was on mandatory release from the Alabama Department of Corrections.
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CJ Robinson, the district attorney for Alabama’s 19th Judicial Circuit, called Butler a “monster” and said he shouldn’t have been on the streets.
“The bottom line is straightforward. A monster like Michael Butler was sentenced to prison for his fourth offense by a court in south Alabama, but he was released early without an ankle monitor (which was required) and then refused to appear for supervision,” Robinson said. “Butler drove to our circuit and began his reign of terror.”
“There is no excuse, no justification, and no dollar amount that can soften the nauseating reality that these unspeakable acts of violence could have been avoided,” stated the district attorney.
The inquiry began on November 3, 2022, when two 17-year-old girls were kidnapped as they left a Prattville Walgreens. Butler was unknown to the teenage victims.
Butler led them to an isolated spot and sexually abused them at gunpoint.
The kidnapping occurred at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, and Butler left the area in the victims’ car some hours later, according to investigators.
Investigators tracked Butler to Georgia, where he is accused of armed home invasion, shooting, robbery, and other offenses, before returning to Alabama.
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“Unfortunately, he murdered in St. Clair County before we could apprehend him,” Prattville Police Chief Mark Thompson stated at the time. “There’s no doubt he would have done more.”
Just days later, on November 6, 2022, 54-year-old Victoria Malet’s body was discovered at about 11 a.m. near Cook Springs Road in Pell City. Malet was discovered in a rural, wooded area after being shot several times reported al.com.
Butler was apprehended when Leeds police officers got a lookout warning and set up surveillance on Interstate 20. Officers located the suspect’s vehicle and confirmed Butler’s presence inside.
Police attempted to halt the vehicle, but Butler refused to yield.
Leeds Police Chief Paul Irwin stated that officers pursued Butler until he ran off the road and down an embankment. Butler then fled on foot before being apprehended by authorities from the Leeds and Moody police departments, as well as the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office. Butler had several firearms.
According to court records, Butler has a long history of charges dating back to 2006, the majority of which were for property violations.
In 2017, he pled guilty to theft and received a ten-year prison sentence. It was not immediately known when he was freed from prison.
Robinson has been a strong opponent of prison reform, and he has used Butler’s violent history to present a picture of what may happen when criminals are released prematurely without the monitoring required to trace them and ensure public safety.
“I am so proud of the Prattville Police Department for leading the multi-agency effort to apprehend this evil soul,” he stated. “While Chief Thompson’s officers did an amazing job, the true heroes are the two young women who lived through every parent’s worst nightmare,” Robinson revealed that he has spent time with both girls and their families.
“Neither girl ever lost her will to survive,” Robinson stated. “They are not victims, they are survivors.”
“Unfortunately, when the State of Alabama went ‘all-in’ on an experiment called prison reform in 2016, we committed to raising a generation of young people who have seen their parents/guardians, older siblings, and friends face little to no consequences for criminal acts,” he stated.
Robinson claimed that over a decade of “failed leadership, lies from special interest groups, and reckless policies based on skewed statistics infested our communities with drug dealers, thieves, violent offenders, and sexual predators who continue to leave a trail of victims in their path.”
“We were routinely misled into believing our prisons were full of nonviolent drug addicts, while thousands were being released with every type of prior conviction you could imagine,” he stated.
“Thankfully, in the last two legislative sessions, we have taken great strides to begin re-establishing accountability and slow down the revolving door of violent offenders being released back into society after serving only a fraction of their sentence.”