Former Maryland Apprentice Sentenced To 20 Years In Prison For Role In Shooting Of 17-Year-Old

[Wandering Eyes]

Bryson Butterfly, who was an up-and-coming teenage apprentice jockey in Maryland when he was arrested two years ago on first-degree murder charges for his part in a staged robbery that went wrong and killed a 17-year-old high-school student, was sentenced to 20 years in prison Thursday by a Baltimore County Circuit Court judge.

Butterfly, now 20, started riding horses as a toddler while growing up on a Native American Indian reservation in rural Washington. He had graduated from Pacific Northwest bush-track horsebacking to being a $2-million winning apprentice based primarily in the mid-Atlantic region through 771 races spanning 2021 through 2023.

According to Sapna Bansil of the Baltimore Banner, Butterfly, in a deal bargained with prosecutors, had pleaded guilty last year to a lesser misdemeanor charge of conspiracy to commit armed robbery. He testified against one other conspirator and the triggerman, who were both sentenced to life in prison with, respectively, all but 50 and 40 years suspended.

Butterfly was known on the backstretch as a quick-to-learn apprentice with a big smile and braces that made him look even younger than he was when he moved cross-country at age 16 to fulfill a childhood dream of being a professional jockey.

Butterfly came from a family of accomplished horse riders. His mom, Amy Nelson, had a brief 12-mount career as a jockey in western Canada in 2000. She later trained in Arizona, and had four starters at last winter's Turf Paradise meet.

The Banner reported that Butterfly, wearing an orange jumpsuit and with his hands shackled in front of him, cried as he briefly addressed the court Oct. 30, while Nelson watched from the gallery.

The Banner reported that Butterfly told the court he participated in the crime because he was young and trying to fit in his with his friends.

“I'm so, so sorry,” the Banner quoted him as saying. “Words can't explain.”

The judge told Butterfly that she believed Butterfly's contrition was sincere, the Banner reported, but added that death is a foreseeable consequence of an armed robbery, and that Butterfly should be held accountable for putting the victim in harm's way.

The Banner reported that Butterfly's role in the murder was to lure a teenager he knew to a shopping center for a marijuana buy, knowing two accomplices would be there to ambush and rob them.

The Banner reported that Butterfly fled while the victim fought back, and that one of the conspirators shot the teenager in the chest with a pistol.

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