PRATTVILLE − A Butler County man will serve eight consecutive life sentences in prison for the kidnapping and rape of two Prattville teenagers in a crime that shocked this community.

Circuit Judge Joy Booth handed down the eight consecutive life terms for Michael Jerome Butler of Greenville in a Thursday morning sentencing hearing that was often emotional. Butler, 37, entered guilty pleas in April to two counts of kidnapping, two counts of rape, two counts of sodomy and one count each of robbery and sexual torture in the November 2022 case.

Booth’s courtroom was packed with large groups of family and friends there to support the two victims. There was also a heavy law enforcement presence.

The victims, both 17-year-old high school students at the time, and self-described as best friends, addressed Booth before she handed down the sentence. They had gone to Walgreens that night to buy a birthday card for one of their teachers.

Butler abducted them at gunpoint from the parking lot. What followed was a multi-hour, multi-county horror story.

“My life changed forever that night, and I came all too close to never seeing my loved ones again,” one victim said, her voice strong. “He told me he was going to murder me that night, several times with a gun to my head. I knew I could be murdered at any time.

“So I prayed.”

During the victims’ statements, Butler stood about 10 feet away wearing bright yellow St. Clair County Jail garb, restrained in handcuffs and leg irons. He hung his head, staring at the floor and appeared to show no emotion while both victims spoke.

“You told us you wanted to be known as an infamous criminal, to have movies made about you,” she said. “You will only be forever known as the man who was outsmarted by two teenage girls.

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“This man never needs to be out of prison again. I know you wanted to snuff the life out of me. You did not win.”

The second victim appeared to gather herself before she spoke. As she spoke her voice became stronger.

“You will rot in a cell until your bones become weak and your health declines,” she said. “You took nothing from me. I am free, and you are in shackles.

“I am so incredibly strong. You made me stronger. I am not your victim. I never was your victim. You will get what you deserve from the Lord and your fellow inmates. I am not afraid of you.”

Before the sentences were handed down, prosecutors told Booth that Butler had four previous theft-related felony convictions on his record. Tray Richardson, who was acting as Butler’s attorney, told Booth that the proper sentence was eight life terms because that’s what Butler accepted in the plea agreement.

Butler also spoke, saying that at the time he was impaired by drug use and had not slept for 14 days. His statement to Booth was at times inaudible.

“I was out of my mind….I’m not that type of person,” he said. “I’m not looking for no excuse, I’m just speaking the truth. I want y’all to know I’m sorry.”

The courtroom was hushed for the proceedings. Muffled sobs came from some people in the gallery. In handing down the sentences, Booth ticked off each charge.

“Kidnapping in the first degree: Life imprisonment. Kidnapping in the first degree: Life imprisonment,” she said, mentioning each charge individually followed by the sentence.

Butler also faces murder charges in St. Clair County, where he is accused of killing a woman while he was on the run for about 48 hours after the Prattville attacks, court records show. In addition, he faces home invasion and attempted murder charges in Atlanta for crimes he is accused of committing while on the run, local prosecutors said.

‘Everyone’s nightmare’

Grisly details about the Prattville case emerged during a December 2022 bond hearing for Butler, before Booth, who was then an Autauga district judge.

On the night of Nov. 3, 2022, the teens were abducted by gunpoint from a local store’s parking lot then driven through two counties where they were raped, also at gunpoint, and had their lives threatened several times, according to testimony.

Scott Baxley, the Prattville Police Department investigator in the case, was the only witness the prosecution called in the bond hearing. He told Booth that Butler was armed with a revolver when he abducted the teens and he forced the teens into a Nissan car that was registered to his mother. Butler drove the teens from Prattville first to Montgomery, then to Lowndes County where the sexual assaults occurred, according to Baxley.

“This is every parent’s nightmare, everyone’s nightmare,” District Attorney C.J. Robinson said then. “It was a random act, we can find no connection between Butler and the victims. These two girls are here by the grace of God and their own fortitude in getting through this together.”

Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Marty Roney at mroney@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Man gets 8 life sentences in kidnapping, rape of Alabama teens