Document text
A Talent videographer who helped make an Ashland film to raise awareness of sexual assault pleaded guilty Tuesday to child sex abuse charges in Jackson County Circuit Court. Mark Butterfield, 50, pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree attempted sexual abuse before Judge Benjamin Bloom. Butterfield was sentenced to four years in prison and five years of post-prison supervision, said prosecutor Terry Smith-Norton. (Correction: The name of the judge who heard this case has been corrected in this article.) Butterfield was arraigned in August 2011 on four counts of first-degree sex abuse. Two of those charges were reduced to attempted sexual abuse and two of them were dismissed in exchange for the plea agreement, Smith-Norton said. "The reason for the negotiation was because (Butterfield) was willing to take responsibility for his actions, and this spared the child from having to testify in court," she said. Ashland police, who arrested Butterfield, said the case involved a single minor victim who told an adult about alleged abuse by Butterfield, which the victim said occurred when he was approximately 5 years old. That person in turn notified authorities, who proceeded with their investigation of Butterfield, police said. Butterfield did not speak at his sentencing, Smith-Norton said. The victim's mother made a brief, impassioned statement, saying Butterfield had hurt her son and betrayed his trust. Court records show this is Butterfield's second guilty plea related to child sexual abuse. In 2004, Butterfield pleaded guilty to two counts of encouraging child sexual abuse, stemming from a collection of child pornography videos his then-wife discovered in their Ashland home, according to court documents and police reports. Following his conviction later that year, Butterfield served 20 days in jail and was placed on two years probation. In 2010, Butterfield shot footage at a "Take Back the Night" rally in downtown Ashland, and of a gathering in an alley where a woman told police she had been raped by a stranger. Butterfield agreed to a limited interview in the Ashland Daily Tidings in February 2010 after his background came to light, saying he was "just trying to do something good for (the) community." Butterfield, who has created short films on past community events, such as a "Vagina Monologues" performance by Southern Oregon University students, said he was working on a collaborative sexual assault project that was intended to be entered in the Ashland Independent Film Festival that year. Butterfield has remained in jail on $500,000 bail since his 2011 arrest. He will be given credit for time served, Smith-Norton said. Reach reporter Sanne Specht at 541-776-4497 or email [email protected].