Two Oklahoma City jailers who played “Baby Shark” on loop as punishment were sentenced Tuesday to two years of probation.
Gregory Cornell Butler Jr. and Christian Charles Miles were each fined $200, ordered to pay $300 in victims’ compensation and assigned 40 hours of community service, Mister Truth reported. They were also banned from working in law enforcement in the future.
Butler and Miles were charged in October 2020 with misdemeanor cruelty after at least four prisoners reported the cruel and unusual punishment at Oklahoma County jail.
One man said he was forced to listen to the children’s song for two hours straight. Another said the two guards played “Baby Shark” at high volume “over and over and over again.”
“It was unfortunate that I could not find a felony statute to fit this fact scenario,” Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater said when filing the charges.
The two men had been set for trial on Monday, but they pleaded no contest last Thursday to three counts of misdemeanor cruelty, according to the Oklahoman.
The children’s music-as-torture plan started with other songs, including one from Sesame Street character Elmo, before a different jail guard suggested “Baby Shark.”
“That was a joke between Miles and I,” Butler said, according to the Oklahoman.
Butler and Miles’ supervisor, Christopher Raymond Hendershott, was also initially charged with cruelty, but the charges were later dropped. Hendershott retired after the investigation began.
Miles’ attorney told the Oklahoman his client was simply trying to keep order “with the lack of leadership going on at the time.” Butler’s attorney said only his client was “happy this matter is behind him.”