A Common Pleas Court judge will issue a ruling on whether a 38-year-old Butler man, who pleaded no contest to charges of corruption of minors and endangering the welfare of children, is a sexually violent predator.

Judge Kelley Streib on Tuesday heard arguments from prosecution and defense attorneys in a hearing to determine whether Garrett Ashley Luttrell, 38, is a sexually violent predator under Megan’s Law.

Streib said she would review the arguments and motions filed in the case and issue a ruling and schedule a sentencing hearing for Luttrell.

Luttrell, who is free on $100,000 bail, pleaded no contest to two felony charges filed by Butler City police in 2018 alleging he sexually abused a girl between June 21, 2014, and April 13, 2018, who was about 11 years old when the alleged abuse began.

Luttrell was originally charged with 470 criminal counts, including felony charges of statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault and corruption of minors. Those charges were consolidated into the two current charges in 2018.

Julia Lindemuth, a member of the Pennsylvania Sexual Offender Assessment Board, testified that she found Luttrell to be a sexually violent predator who has a mental abnormality called paraphilia after reviewing charging documents, interviewing him and assessing other information.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines paraphilia as a pattern of recurring sexually arousing mental imagery or behavior that involves unusual and especially socially unacceptable sexual practices.

Lindemuth said she would have come to the same conclusion if she only had the charging documents to review.

In his no contest plea, Luttrell acknowledged having had sexual behavior with a minor between the ages of 10 and 14 and having had inappropriate sexual behavior with a minor for more than three years. These acknowledgments, said Lindemuth, show he has paraphilia.

Defense attorney Devin O’Leary, who filed a memorandum opposing the sexually violent predator designation, argued that Luttrell is being treated as if he pleaded guilty or was found guilty of all the charges that were filed against him.

O’Leary said Lindemuth’s assessment is based on all of the charges and not just the two to which he pleaded no contest. Her report is “tainted by presumption of guilt” to the other charges, he said.

He cited a case in which a judge found a defendant not to be a sexually violent predator after the expert who performed the assessment said the finding was based solely on charges to which the defendant pleaded not guilty.

Assistant District Attorney Patricia McLean said the case against Luttrell is the opposite of that case. She said the corruption of minors charge he pleaded no contest to includes language acknowledging he committed sexual offenses. His sexually violent predator assessment is based on his admission, not the other charges, she said.

She said his no contest plea is similar to a guilty plea.

“The treatment of a nolo case is the same as pleading guilty,” McLean said.