Former Laurel Park jockey Bryson Butterfly was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in prison for his role in the killing of a Baltimore County high school student, a crime the judge called “a tragic, tragic circumstance.”
Butterfly, 20, pleaded guilty last year to a misdemeanor charge of conspiracy to commit armed robbery in the 2023 shooting death of Elias Cieslak. The 17-year-old was days from graduating from Parkville High School.
Butterfly agreed to testify against two other defendants in the case.
Baltimore County Circuit Judge Stacy Mayer said, even though Butterfly fulfilled the terms of the plea deal, “it can’t be bargained away that Elias died.”
Her sentence matched what prosecutors in the case were seeking. Butterfly’s attorney had asked for supervised probation.
Alluding to Butterfly’s burgeoning career in horse racing, Mayer said, “It’s hard to see someone with so much promise gamble it away, as happened in this case.”
Butterfly showed an early talent for riding while growing up on a Native American reservation in rural Washington state. He turned professional in 2021 at age 16, moved to Maryland and competed at Laurel Park racetrack. Soon, he was riding at prominent tracks across the mid-Atlantic.
He rode for just over two years, topping $2 million in earnings, of which he collected a small percentage.
In July 2023, the day after he competed in three races at Charles Town racetrack in West Virginia, Butterfly was arrested by U.S. marshals and charged with seven counts in Cieslak’s death, including first-degree murder.
In court proceedings and interviews with The Banner, Butterfly acknowledged he had arranged to buy marijuana from Cieslak in a Parkville shopping center, knowing that two individuals would ambush and rob them.
Marcus Powell, 17, and David Lofton, 32, also were charged in the case. Powell pleaded guilty shortly after Butterfly struck a deal with prosecutors and received a life sentence with all but 40 years suspended.
Lofton’s case went to a bench trial this year, in which Mayer convicted him on all six counts, including first-degree murder, and sentenced him to life in prison with all but 50 years suspended. Lofton’s public defender, Sean Coleman, said the case is awaiting an appeal.
Powell and Butterfly were close friends and had discussed the crime in the days leading up to it.
During the robbery, Butterfly, who was then 18, fled, while Cieslak tried to fight back. Powell fired a single shot that struck Cieslak’s hand and chest and killed him.
Butterfly said he took part in the robbery because he felt threatened by Powell, who had come to his house with a gun and requested he find someone to rob. Butterfly suggested Cieslak, from whom he had purchased marijuana.
Dozens of Cieslak’s family and friends showed up for Thursday’s sentencing, causing the proceedings to be relocated to a larger courtroom.
Several family members addressed the court, remembering Cieslak as someone who loved playing baseball, fishing and riding his dirt bike. After graduation, he was planning to work with his father, Juan Cieslak, as a carpenter.
They also spoke of their deep grief.
“I felt like I died with him,” Cieslak’s mother, Crystal Maenner, said in a victim impact statement read by Baltimore County Assistant State’s Attorney Joe Dominick as Maenner was overcome with emotion.
Wearing a black T-shirt printed with his son’s photograph, Juan Cieslak addressed Butterfly and said, “You broke all of us.”
Butterfly, wearing an orange jumpsuit and with his hands shackled in front of him, cried as he briefly addressed the court. His mother, Amy Nelson, watched from the gallery. He said he participated in the crime because he was young and trying to fit in his with his friends.
“I’m so, so sorry,” he said. “Words can’t explain.”
Mayer said she believed Butterfly’s contrition was sincere and acknowledged that Butterfly did not plan for Cieslak to be killed. But the judge added that the death was a foreseeable consequence of the armed robbery.
She said Butterfly should be held accountable for putting Cieslak in harm’s way.
“That’s not something this court would ever ignore,” Mayer said.
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