While Facing Criminal Charges, Ex-Convict Files Lawsuit from Jail
Jesse J. Butte, 33, facing charges in three pending criminal cases was in Solano County Court for a brief time on December 17 to get dates scheduled in January for a jury trial.
One of Butte’s pending cases involves him allegedly resisting arrest on September 16 when police came looking for him at his home on Rollingwood Drive. He was wanted because he’d skipped previous court dates regarding two felony cases involving charges of burglary, assault, domestic violence, auto theft and other charges.
Butte claims he suffered unreasonable pain and damage when arrested pursuant to domestic violence and other charges in his home in this Rollingwood neighborhood.
In the federal civil rights case that he filed last week, Butte asserts that he was in his bathroom when police showed up at his home. He further asserts that he followed their orders to “come out with your hands up.” But, Butte claims, when he opened the bathroom door and lay prone on the ground, as further ordered, with his hands still in the air, K-9 Officer Stephen Garcia (one of the officers on the scene) order his dog Jack to attack Butte.
Butte’s lawsuit seeks damages in the amount of $220,000 for the injuries he says Jack inflicted on him. Butte says he merely wants reimbursement for what he describes as “horrible pain.” “I will forever have nightmares about it because it so rendered my hand nonfunctional and in constant throbbing pain,” he states in the lawsuit.
City of Fairfield officials, as a matter of routine, do not comment of pending litigation. Hearing dates have yet to be set in federal court for Butte’s lawsuit.
Records show multiple arrests for Butte going back to at least 2007, when he was arrested that February for attempted theft, burglary, and petty theft with a prior. In 2008 he was charged with possession and possession for sale of a controlled substance.
In July of 2013 Butte was charged with battery on a spouse of co-habitant – domestic violence. That was followed in March of 2014 with a charge of inflicting corporal injury on a spouse of co-habitant, child endangerment, and assault with a weapon likely to produce great bodily harm. That arrest was followed by several warrants, and a failure to appear arrest in August, along with a charge of disobeying a domestic relations court order. The second failure to appear that resulted in the arrest prompting the lawsuit occurred on Tuesday, September 16, when he was also charged with automobile theft.
