A 47-year-old Duanesburg man was sentenced to 21 years in prison followed by 25 years of parole after admitting he repeatedly sexually abused a child he knew well, abuse that began when he was 30 and his victim was just 10 years old. Charles Butler III was sentenced on October 16 in Schenectady County Court, closing out a case that stretched back more than a decade to when the abuse first started.
Butler pleaded guilty to one count of course of sexual conduct against a child in the first degree, admitting he repeatedly abused the child between summer 2009 and March 2012 in the town of Duanesburg, according to News10. Judge Lorraine Diamond ordered the 25-year parole term because of a previous conviction, the station reported. As reported by WRGB CBS 6 Albany, the Schenectady County District Attorney's office said Butler pleaded guilty to repeatedly sexually abusing a child over nearly three years.
The case took a dramatic turn in the courtroom itself. Butler chose to plead guilty on the third day of his trial, after jury selection had concluded and immediately before opening statements were set to begin, per the same News10 report. His guilty plea satisfied a single-count indictment that had been pending against him in Schenectady County Court.
A Disclosure That Took Years to Build Into a Case
The victim told a trusted adult about the abuse in December 2014 and reported it to New York State Police the same day. State Police investigators and Schenectady County Child Protective Services then conducted an investigation, but by that point the abuse had been over for about two years and nine months, according to the Schenectady County DA's office, as cited by WRGB.
Officials said delayed disclosures can affect what evidence remains to corroborate a victim's account, and the initial investigation found the available proof insufficient to meet prosecutors' burden at trial. The case was not closed, however. District Attorney Robert M. Carney said that at the time, even though prosecutors believed the victim, additional proof of Butler's guilt was still necessary before charges could move forward.
An Eyewitness Comes Forward More Than a Decade Later
That additional proof arrived in May 2025, when an eyewitness who had been a child at the time of the abuse and was previously unable to testify came forward and fully cooperated with investigators, News10 reported. The eyewitness account corroborated the victim's original report and led directly to Butler's arrest.
Carney said Schenectady County Special Victims Bureau Chief John Carson developed proof of Butler's guilt over time and ultimately presented that evidence to a grand jury. Carson was in the middle of trying the case before a jury when Butler admitted his guilt, according to Carney's account relayed by WRGB.
No Statute of Limitations, Prosecutors Say
Prosecutors said there is no statute of limitations on the offense because of the crime's seriousness, News10 reported. A New York statute addressing course of sexual conduct against a child in the first degree lists the offense among those covered by an exception to the state's general timeliness provisions, according to the New York State Senate. Under New York's penal code, the offense of course of sexual conduct against a child in the first degree involves conduct occurring over a period of at least three months and includes two or more acts of sexual conduct, among other elements, per the New York State Senate.
The court heard three victim impact statements during sentencing, one from the victim and two from close family members, in Schenectady County Court. The prosecution was represented by Special Victims Bureau Chief John J. Carson and Assistant District Attorney James Faucher, while Butler was represented by attorney Mark Juda of the Juda Law Office PLLC, according to the Schenectady County government's announcement.
