TEXAS, UNITED STATES, November 18, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The unwarranted assault allegations filed in March 2022 against prominent Houston plastic surgeon Charles Butler, MD have officially resulted in all criminal charges being dismissed due to insufficient evidence, according to Harris County District Clerk’s records online¹ at the time of writing. A source close to the couple stated that both Dr. Charles Butler and his life partner, the alleged victim of assault, have maintained from the beginning that no such offense occurred, and his arrest was a mistake.

In speaking with individuals close to Dr. Butler, a media battle was waged long before the case was dismissed, with one colleague stating “[I] would not put it past his ex-wife to convince someone in the media to publish fictional and defamatory things about him.” With the case finally dismissed, Dr. Butler no longer has to deal with the humiliating stigma caused by the assault allegations, but unfortunately, in recent months prior to the dismissal, the media had no qualms adding undue stress to his life.

In the summer of 2022, a local news outlet reported several false allegations about Dr. Butler. Many of the reported claims originated from one of the multiple family court filings made by Mrs. Butler Diamant in her post-divorce litigation against him. The local news story was run with very little, if any, fact-checking by the reporter and attracted considerable protests from the local community who rightfully viewed it as an unfair “hit piece”. Seemingly, the aim of this story was to prolong his ex-wife’s long-standing campaign to damage Dr. Butler’s public standing and to gain an advantage in an upcoming family court case.

Jamey Angel Butler Diamant and Dr. Charles E. Butler began their contentious divorce proceeding in 2015. According to Mrs. Butler Diamant’s immediate family, she began an extra-marital affair with her divorce attorney, Jeffrey Nolan Diamant, whom she subsequently married in May 2021. Since the divorce was finalized in July 2020, Mrs. Butler Diamant and her husband have filed numerous unduly post-divorce actions against Dr. Butler. These documents were publicly visible in the Harris County District Clerk’s online records but recently have been sealed.

The local news report specifically referenced one of Mrs. Butler Diamant’s May 2022 family court filings in which she alleged that Dr. Charles Butler was being investigated for falsifying a court financial document. She further claimed that his employer was conducting a separate investigation into his medical and psychological fitness. Both allegations might have helped Mrs. Butler Diamant’s case against Dr. Butler in family court, but they were patently false. Judge Tristan Longino denied her requests for an emergency injunction and prohibited her from gaining access to and more control of Dr. Butler‘s financial accounts which had already been awarded to respective parties in their divorce.

Among many accusations that were hurled in the family court case filings, Mrs. Butler Diamant suggested that Dr. Butler did not hold his current position at MD Anderson Cancer Center. According to M.D. Anderson’s website and Dr. Butler’s LinkedIn, Dr. Charles E. Butler is currently employed as a Tenured Professor of Plastic Surgery and is the Charles B. Barker Endowed Chair in Surgery. In fact, Dr. Butler’s biography on the M.D. Anderson website reveals that he has been employed there since 1999 after he completed his General Surgery and Plastic Surgery training at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Butler has also published well over 200 original peer-reviewed research publications and has been a visiting professor at numerous academic institutions around the world.

In the age where anyone can say anything online, what is the use of a news station that fails to fact-check their stories? What has happened to journalistic integrity in the digital age?

While Dr. Butler’s reputation has been restored from a legal perspective, it is unknown what, if any, aftermath he might face.

Dr. Butler and his attorneys were unavailable for comment.

¹ ᶜᵃᵘˢᵉ ⁿᵘᵐᵇᵉʳ ¹⁷⁶⁴⁰⁵⁶⁰¹⁰¹⁰

Kristen Lucido
Kristen Lucido
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