A Detroit courtroom erupted in grief and disorder Today as Jarvis Butts was sentenced to 35 to 60 years in prison for the second-degree murder of 13-year-old Na’Ziyah Harris, a case that has gripped the city for more than two years and remains unresolved in one critical way: her body has never been found.
Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Nicholas Hathaway imposed the sentence in accordance with a plea agreement Butts reached last month, weeks before he was set to go to trial. In addition to the murder charge, Butts received concurrent sentences of 10 to 15 years on five criminal sexual conduct charges connected to four separate victims. He will be required to register as a sex offender upon release.
Butts pleaded guilty on Feb. 12 to second-degree murder, four counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct. Additional charges were dismissed as part of the agreement.
Na’Ziyah was 13 when she was killed
Na’Ziyah Harris was last seen stepping off a school bus on Jan. 9, 2024, near Cornwall and Three Mile Drive in Detroit. Prosecutors said Butts killed her after discovering she was pregnant with his child. He had been exchanging sexually abusive messages with her as early as 2022, according to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office.
As a condition of the plea agreement, Butts was required to provide a truthful statement about the location of Na’Ziyah’s body. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy confirmed after the hearing that such a statement had been given to authorities, though the specific details were not being released publicly. Worthy said the office was satisfied with what Butts disclosed.
Victim impact statements drew raw emotion from the gallery
The sentencing hearing began with a review of a pre-sentence report covering Butts’ background and family history before moving into a series of seven victim impact statements. The statements were visibly difficult for both those speaking and those watching from the gallery, and the hearing was interrupted on two separate occasions when people were escorted from the courtroom after outbursts from the audience.
Na’Ziyah’s grandmother was the first to speak, and as she broke down in tears at the microphone, shouting erupted from the gallery. Several people were removed from the room, and the commotion spilled into the hallway. A second relative of Na’Ziyah also became emotional during her statement.
A relative of Butts also addressed the court, saying she could not understand how or why he had acted in the ways that led to the charges. She expressed support for the victims.
One of Butts’ other victims also spoke, describing the lasting damage his actions had caused and saying she no longer viewed him as a father figure but as something far darker.
The statements from Na’Ziyah’s family centered on the financial and emotional toll the case had taken across two years of uncertainty. Her aunt told the court that justice had not truly been served because Butts would continue to receive food, healthcare and shelter while Na’Ziyah remained missing and her family continued to grieve.
Butts’ sister also spoke, directing her remarks partly at her brother and telling him to accept the consequences of what he had done.
A case that child welfare agencies had been warned about
Court records and prior reporting indicated that child protective services had received repeated warnings about Butts in the years before Na’Ziyah’s disappearance. The 42-year-old was charged last year in connection with her murder and the separate sexual assault cases. His plea deal resolved all six outstanding cases against him simultaneously.
With the sentencing now complete, Na’Ziyah’s family faces the continuation of one painful reality. Despite Butts‘ statement to prosecutors about her body’s location, she has not been publicly recovered. For her grandmother and the rest of the family, the court proceedings offered accountability without the closure they have been seeking since January 2024.
