Racine homicide: Illinois man pleads guilty to killing brother
Cash'Juan Butler
RACINE, Wis. - An Illinois man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a Racine shooting that killed his own brother.
Cash'Juan Butler, 36, was initially charged with first-degree intentional homicide. However, court records show he pleaded guilty to second-degree reckless homicide. He is scheduled to be sentenced next year.
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The shooting happened near 10th and College during the early morning hours of Oct. 14, 2023. Officers found the 39-year-old victim suffering from multiple gunshot wounds; he later died. A criminal complaint states a gun was found near him, as was a magazine for a different gun.
Butler was arrested hours later after a Kenosha standoff.
Police standoff near 52nd and Sheridan, Kenosha
Once in custody, the complaint states Butler told police he had moved into an apartment, where his brother and a woman lived, "because he needed a place to stay." However, he said his brother and the woman were "having problems," and his brother was not staying there at the time.
The complaint states he heard his brother and the woman arguing, so Butler left his room and confronted his brother. The brother then punched Butler in the face, he said, knocking him down some stairs; Butler said his brother had never hit him before.
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Prosecutors said the stairs Butler fell down led to an exit, but Butler instead went back into the apartment and grabbed a jacket and a gun. When Butler was inside, he said his brother stopped "scuffling" with the woman and turned his focus toward Butler. As the brother approached, Butler said he fired four or five shots in "quick succession," the complaint states. He also said he never saw his brother with a gun and "could not believe" what just happened.
Butler told investigators, per the complaint, that the woman gave him a gun to hide without a magazine. Two guns were later recovered where he said they would be. The one without a magazine matched the magazine that was recovered at the scene.