A rapist who was arrested in Ocean Beach after two lesbians heard the victim’s screams and chased him was sentenced April 17 to 30 years to life in state prison.
Richard Christopher Butts, 26, said nothing before San Diego Superior Court Judge Timothy Walsh handed down the expected sentence. Butts pleaded guilty March 3 to sexually assaulting one victim in 2013 and another woman in 2012.
Deputy District Attorney Wendy Patrick praised the quick actions and “bravery” of the two women who were dog sitting in Ocean Beach when they heard the victim’s screams and ran outside. They chased Butts away and called 911 and he was arrested near Robb Field.
The women were not present but the victim they helped attended the sentencing and Patrick read her letter in court. The woman, who is in her 20s, was tackled late at night and dragged 80 feet between two houses March 24, 2013.
“I often replay the scene like a movie in my mind,” wrote the victim.
The woman wrote that she now carries pepper spray with her and fears walking at night. She wrote that she experiences fear constantly.
Patrick said the sentencing “brings closure to the victims” and she commended them for testifying at the preliminary hearing. It turned out that Butts was linked to an earlier unsolved rape in Ocean Beach in August 2012 from DNA evidence obtained in the 2013 assault.
