Man accused of kidnapping, rape and sexual torture of Alabama teens denied bond under new Aniah’s Law
Published 10:07 pm Monday, December 19, 2022
Horrendous details of sexual torture emerged Monday during a hearing Monday involving the Alabama man accused of kidnapping and raping two teenage girls.
Michael Jerome Butler, 35, of Greenville, Alabama, is charged with the rape, kidnapping, sodomy, sexual torture and robbery of two 17-year-old girls who were abducted last month at gunpoint from a Walgreens parking lot.
Butler’s hearing involved prosecutor’s desire to hold him without bond, using the newly passed Aniah’s Law, which makes it easier for judge’s to deny bond in certain cases. Ultimately the judge ruled Butler was a threat to the public and denied him bond.
The new law was named for Aniah Blanchard, the Auburn University student who disappeared in October 2019 and was found dead weeks later. The man charged with her murder was out of bonds for attempted murder, kidnapping and robbery at the time he allegedly killed Blanchard.
During Butler’s hearing prosecutors presented testimony from a key investigator who detailed for the court the actions they believe Butler took during the alleged crime.
The teens were forced at gunpoint into Butler’s car at the Walgreens parking lot, the investigator testified and driven to Montgomery and then to Lowndes County where police said the rapes occurred.
The suspect allegedly used the revolver to sexually torture one of the girls.
The investigator said Butler threatened to kill the girls throughout the ordeal.
Prosecutors said there were no prior connections between the victims and the suspects. They were simply randomly chosen by Butler, prosecutors said.
Butler eventually released the girls back in Prattville, police said.
Before he was ultimately arrested, police believe Butler’s crime spree continued including his alleged involvement in a armed home invasion, robbery and shooting in the Atlanta area and a kidnapping and murder in St. Clair County.