Man Changes Mind...Rejects Plea

{Charleston, West Virginia}...Monday, Kanawha County Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey halted a plea hearing for 39 year old Jonathan Douglass Butts of Romance, in Jackson County, after Butts broke down in court and insisted he never committed the crime of incest. Butts was indicted for 14 counts of sexual abuse, sexual assault and incest of his daughter from the time she was 7 years old until she was 14. His brother, 42 year old Frederick Thomas Butts, is serving a 20-50 year prison sentence after pleading guilty to 22 charges involving the same victim. Assistant Prosecutor Michelle Drummond had told Bailey that Butts would be pleading guilty to incest and other charges were to be dismissed. Butts faced a possible sentence of five to 15 years in prison. Butts told the judge he no longer intended to plead guilty and that he has reached an impasse with his public defense attorney, Charles Hamilton. Bailey will appoint a new attorney and set a new trial. Butts has been at South Central Regional Jail on a $100,000 bond since he was arrested in August.