Former Marshall football player gets jail time for punching gay men

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — A former Marshall University football player is going to jail after hitting a gay couple he spotted kissing on a Huntington sidewalk.

Steward Butler

Steward Butler will spend six months in jail. He was sentenced Monday in Cabell County Circuit Court on two counts of battery.

Butler previously pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery in July.

The former running back saw the two gay men kissing along 5th Avenue and 9th Street in April 2015. He was accused of punching the men and shouting homophobic slurs.

Butler was indicted on a felony civil rights violation charge, which was dismissed by the state Virginia Supreme Court.

He will serve two six month sentences for each misdemeanor battery charge. The sentences will run concurrently.

Butler was a running back for Marshall from 2012 to 2014.





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