Pardon and Parole board
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.Â
Episode 1 of Panic Button: The April Wilkens Case podcast is out now!
A new podcast about April Wilkens is launching called “Panic Button: The April Wilkens Case”
Petition update:
Sign the new petition to help #FreeAprilWilkens:
Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board will give full recommendation to the Crossbow Killer (whose victim died by a poisoned arrow), but won’t even grant April Wilkens a parole hearing
Now, we aren’t saying that Jimmie Stohler, (AKA the Crossbow Killer) isn’t deserving of parole. The governor, Kevin Stitt, still has to sign off on it anyway. But what we are saying is it is an injustice to keep a grandmother locked up and not even granting her a parole hearing when she has gotten one in the past. Her crime? She defended herself from her rapist and abuser. As you all know, she was sentenced to Life with the Possibility of Parole, but there seems to be NOTHING she can do to attain parole. She was just denied parole for the 4th time this month after we had so much hope. Our next fight is commutation and we are not giving up, but that decision will also rest with the same all-male Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board. We are watching the news to see the 5th and newest member appointed to the board after Kelly Doyle resigned days before April’s denial (she had been a YES vote for April in the past). We must do all we can to hold them accountable for how they treat women in our state.
This is just one more example of how Oklahoma treats and punishes its women more harshly.
Free April Wilkens Blog 