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HB 1639 is off to the senate! This is a tremendous win for all who have personally dealt with domestic violence or have been a witness to it. I truly believe this is a positive step in the right direction for the state of Oklahoma. We are beginning to shed light on this being a systemic issue. There is just one more detail that we can’t leave behind for HB 1639 to pass. Retroactivity must be added to HB 1639. We Can’t Leave Them Behind.

Retroactivity will allow people who are incarcerated a chance to get their prison sentences shortened if they can prove that they were victims of domestic abuse at the time of the crime. Oklahoma Appleseed’s research estimates that there are between 150 and 500 survivors in Oklahoma prisons who can prove their victimization led to their prosecution. Letting them be released on lower sentences would save $3.9 million and $13 million per year to the state budget.

Calls to Action:

For HB 1639 to move forward it is important that the bill is placed on a senate committee. Contact OK Senator Brent Howard to place HB 1639 on the judiciary agenda (405)-521-5612.

The OK Survivor Justice Coalition has gotten our hands on a new action tool to write emails to the Oklahoma legislature. We are needing collective effort to put retroactivity back on HB 1639. Please use the following link to send an email/and or call your Oklahoma senator, script included! https://ujoin.co/campaigns/2221/actions/public?action_id=2389

Important Dates:

April 13th – Senate Committee Deadline (we need to be out of senate committee to continue advancing by this day)

April 25th – Domestic Abuse Advocacy Day at the Oklahoma Capitol hosted by OK Appleseed, we will be in the Supreme Court Hallway from 9a-3p. RSVP Here

April 27th – Senate Floor Deadline (we need to be voted off the Senate floor by the end of the day on the 27th to return to the house for final passage).

Free Film Screening about Oklahoma’s female incarceration: ‘Women in Prison: America’s Forgotten Voices’

Film Screening and Panel Discussion on Women’s Incarceration in Oklahoma

Incarceration rates for women have increased 800% across the nation. In #Oklahoma alone, the number of women locked away in prisons has increased more than 17-fold, from 176 in 1978 to 3,114 in 2017. We continue to lead the nation in female incarceration, only second to Idaho, and this devastating phenomenon has caught the attention of the world.

Join us in a private screening of the film Women in Prison: America’s Forgotten Voices by French film studio StudioFact Rights documenting the mass incarceration of women in Oklahoma.

Afterwards we will be joined by Kris Steele, the Executive Director of TEEM, Colleen McCarty, the Executive Director of Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, and Tondalao Hall, an advocate for reform and formerly incarcerated individual.

The program Poetic Justice is showcased in this documentary. April Wilkens was a part of that program last year, but is not featured. Colleen McCarty of Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice is on the panel. McCarty is the co-host of the Panic Button podcast, whose first season told the ongoing story of April Wilkens.

 

View a recording of The Ladies of Hope Ministries panel discussion for ‘Survived & Criminalized’ here

Colleen McCarty of the Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice speaks about April Wilkens on this panel:

BONUS EPISODE: Panic Button: The April Wilkens Case

Listen here.

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Happened last night: Channel 8 story by Brenna Rose about April Wilkens

A decades old Tulsa murder is back in the spotlight. Lawyers filed post conviction relief for April Wilkens, alleging evidence was suppressed in her trial. More on the story @KTULNEWS 10pm #Tulsa #Oklahoma pic.twitter.com/fgzY3tY9Hz

— Brenna Rose (@BrennaRoseTV) October 1, 2022

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Next Saturday: An immersive podcast experience for Panic Button: The April Wilkens Case at the Center for Public Secrets

Join us for an immersive podcast experience to celebrate the completion of Season One of Panic Button: The April Wilkens Case. The podcast tells the story of April Wilkens, a domestic violence survivor serving LIFE in an Oklahoma Prison, and two attorneys’ journey to expose the truth about her conviction so we can finally bring her home.

For the first time in 25 years, the harrowing experience April Wilkens endured at the hands of her ex-fiance, Terry Carlton, and the heart-breaking crusade against her led by former Tulsa County DA Tim Harris that followed, are brought to the light. You’ll see the exhibits from April’s trial up close, and hear excerpts from the podcast that tackles the question of how a victim of domestic violence can become a criminal in the eyes of the law.

Join hosts Leslie Briggs and Colleen McCarty, as well as licensed master social worker and Battered Womens’ Syndrome Expert, Molly Bryant, and others to learn about how Oklahoma’s justice system treats criminalized abuse survivors–and what you can do about it.

Learn how to RSVP here: https://fb.me/e/2ayoYPE3x

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Updates about the Sept. 13 Criminalized Survivor interim study sought by Oklahoma House Representative Toni Hasenbeck

A roundup of coverage about the study before and after:

Oklahoma Appleseed will work with state Representative Toni Hasenbeck of Elgin for Interim Study on issues flowing from Domestic Violence – Capitol Beat – Sept.7, 2022. 

McCarty joined OKAppleseed when it formed last spring to support justice and opportunity for every Oklahoman by addressing criminal justice reform, mental health care for people in the justice system, and addressing the root causes of over-incarceration.

Recently McCarty was co-host, with attorney Leslie Briggs, of the new podcast “Panic Button,” which outlined the case of April Wilkens, a Tulsa victim of domestic violence who was convicted of murdering her partner in 1999.

The case raises the issue of criminalized survivors who through no fault of their own must defend themselves from abuse and often are convicted of crimes with long sentences.

The podcast is intended to raise awareness of unjust incarceration of victims of domestic violence. Wilkens has been in prison for 25 years.

The Interim Study was sought by Rep. Hasenbeck, and approved for this year by Speaker of the House Charles McCall, R-Atoka.

Slides used during the study. 

Fighting back often lands domestic violence targets in jail, legislative panel told – Tulsa World – Sept. 13, 2022

Among the cases highlighted was that of Tulsan April Rose Wilkens, who remains in prison for the 1998 killing of her former fiancé. According to attorneys Collen McCarty and Leslie Briggs, Wilkens shot Terry Carlton after he raped and handcuffed her and said he was going to kill her. This, they said, followed years of abuse, including several rapes and at least a dozen stalking complaints.

When moms fight back: Stories from the Capitol – VNN  – Sept. 14, 2022. 

She and fellow attorney Leslie Briggs co-host “Panic Button”, a podcast that promotes awareness of the April Wilkens case, which both women discussed during Tuesday’s study.

Wilkens is currently serving the 25th year of a life sentence for killing her rapist and abuser Terry Carlton.

Despite 14 police reports, three protective orders, and two substantiated rape kits filed over the course of his abuse, Carlton was only arrested one time.

“She has maintained her story and every single piece of that has been substantiated by external evidence,” McCarty said.

“This case happens to be one of the most corroborated cases of abuse and self-defense that I have ever seen,” Briggs added.

 

New Mother Jones story about April Wilkens

She hopes new evidence about her case, highlighted on the podcast, might help people understand the pressure she was under at the time of her offense. She even has an audio tape she recorded of Carlton admitting that he’d assaulted her prior to the night in question, and not denying that he’d raped her previously, but it was never presented during trial. “She did everything she could have possibly done,” says McCarty, the attorney. “She reported to police, she kept records, she took pictures.”

As Wilkens waits for her next opportunity to plead her case to the parole board or for lawmakers to pass a law, she continues to think of her granddaughter. In their recent phone call, after questioning why Wilkens was in prison, the 4-year-old asked whether she was okay there, whether she was happy, and whether she might be allowed to go home soon. Not right now, Wilkens told her. Still, she tries to imagine things changing.”I want to make it a better world,” she tells me, thinking again of her granddaughter, “so she won’t have to go through anything like this.”

Read the rest on Mother Jones. 

'Even with evidence, adds McCarty, “there is still this larger cultural issue of people just not believing women.”'

Is Oklahoma paying attention? https://t.co/geKXJltB5p #FreeAprilWilkens #WrongfulConvictions #SurvivedAndPunished #CriminalizedSurvivors #DomesticViolence #Tulsa

— Free April Wilkens in Oklahoma (@FreeAprilW) August 11, 2022

FOX23 News coverage of April Wilkens

Tulsa nonprofit sheds light on murder case, alleges killing was self defense https://t.co/VxqlglvAOC #FreeAprilWilkens

— Free April Wilkens in Oklahoma (@FreeAprilW) July 15, 2022

"April's case is every woman's nightmare," said attorney Colleen McCarty and co-host of the true-crime podcast. https://t.co/5DsUPXyNaN

— FOX23 (@FOX23) June 28, 2022

"McCarley said she had seen numerous times Terry stalking around April’s house in the late winter to early spring of 1998." https://t.co/N5NprqFVBS #FreeAprilWilkens #Tulsa #TrueCrime

— Free April Wilkens in Oklahoma (@FreeAprilW) July 6, 2022

“April pulls the trigger but the gun doesn't fire. Terry actually tells April at this time. ‘I'm God and I am Satan. And April is frankly starting to believe it. https://t.co/WhVda6PO6B

— FOX23 (@FOX23) July 14, 2022

Have you signed the petition yet?

April is coming up on her 25th year incarcerated at Mabel Bassett in McLoud, Oklahoma. We got to talk to her last week. Stay tuned for updates on how to help and sign the petition supporting April’s release at https://t.co/7GdVHhrL3W #survivedandpunished pic.twitter.com/QZfLtG5KrK

— OK_Appleseed (@OK_Appleseed) June 15, 2022