Kentucky Football players wrongfully charged? Former Police Sergeant thinks so

The first-degree burglary charges facing six Kentucky Football players continue to hang over the program as the season opener approaches. Former Louisville Police Sergeant and Kentucky State Legislator Denny Butler is working with the players on the case and called in to KSR to urge fans not to rush to judgment until they hear all of the facts.

“I warn Big Blue Nation to stand by in convicting them in the media because the stories are not adding up,” Butler said on KSR.

During his time on the LMPD, Butler helped exonerate several wrongfully convicted individuals, including Edwin Chandler, who spent nine years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Now, Butler is working with RJ Adams, JuTahn McClain, Andru Phillips, Earnest Sanders, Joel Williams, and Vito Tisdale to get to the bottom of what happened at the off-campus fraternity party in March.

“It’s alarming. These kids are being railroaded. The offense happened back in March and my understanding is the folks that were in the house used a website for a UK football roster to identify the offenders and it started with them identifying 20, then whittled down to 10 and now it’s six.”

Butler and a group formed to fight wrongful convictions are in the process of setting up a GoFundMe page to hire representation for two or three players that cannot afford it. He expects the page to go live tonight or tomorrow morning. It will include more details on the incident.

“These kids, there’s two or three of them that still don’t have attorneys. That’s what the GoFundMe page is for, is to get them attorneys so they can fight these charges and get back to football. Their lives have been turned over since March because of these charges hanging around their head. The university did their investigation in June and disciplined them for being at the party and having an altercation and that’s what they thought was the end of it.”

Denny Butler’s connection to Kentucky Football

Butler met the team last summer when Mark Stoops asked him and Chandler to speak about the shooting of Jacob Blake and police reform. One of the players reached out to Butler when the charges were filed on August 19.

“There’s a need for criminal justice reform related to wrongful convictions,” Butler said. “That’s how I connected with the players and one of the players reached out to me and I was learning more about the story, started talking with the families and so then I had a choice. Do I let these kids get wrongfully convicted and then I get involved or do I get involved on the front end to get them the attorneys?”

Mark Stoops mentioned Butler today in his press conference while defending his players.

“During the summer we brought in a speaker, Denny Butler, who spent time exonerating wrongfully convicted people, and Edwin Chandler, who spent time on death row, was in there with us and talked to our team. It was very powerful. Really appreciate Chief Weathers, Chief Monroe. They were there as well. Very supportive and very comforting to our players to know it’s not always personal. There are flaws in the system sometimes and we have to trust that system and we will.

“I also stand by our players until I have the evidence that tells me otherwise. So, I hope to have all the players out there but I don’t know; that’s out of my hands. We’ll see what happens. We’ll go from there.”

You can hear Butler’s call below. When the GoFundMe page goes live, we’ll bring you further details.