Instructor in sociology and doctoral candidate Robert C. Butler was accused and convicted of raping a student in the closet of his faculty office in East Stadium Hall on October 7, 1976. His first trial ended in a mistrial, and he was retried in September 1977 and convicted after an hour’s deliberation by the jury. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.
In 1993 the Federal District Court—Middle Tennessee Division—granted habeas corpus relief, with a requirement that if the state wished to pursue a new trial, it must do so within 60 days. The state moved for a stay pending appeal, which was denied. The state then filed a motion seeking to prevent the release of Butler from prison, which was denied. Butler was released from jail on July 23, 1993. In 1995 a Tennessee trial court dismissed the indictment because of the state’s failure to proceed to trial within the prescribed time period of the federal court’s ruling. The state appealed this decision, and the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals upheld (filed June 25, 1996) the trial judge’s actions, and Butler remained free, with the state unable to try the case again.