Oklahoma woman convicted of murder requests resentencing under new domestic violence law

A new state law is about to be put to the test after attorneys filed the first application for courts to consider resentencing a woman who was convicted of murder in a case that involved domestic violence.

April Wilkens is seeking a lesser prison sentence under the Oklahoma Survivors Act – a new law that allows courts to consider factors such as abuse during the sentencing process and allows defendants to provide evidence showing domestic violence was a contributing factor in their crime.

At least twelve other people plan to file similar applications for resentencing, according to attorneys at the Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, who are filing the cases pro bono.

The new law — which Gov. Kevin Stitt signed this spring — comes at a time when domestic violence rates remain persistently bleak in Oklahoma, along with homicides resulting from domestic violence.

The law could affect the cases of as many as 150 people, according to attorney Colleen McCarty.

Wilkens has served about 26 years at Mabel Bassett Correctional Center for killing her fiancé in 1998. Wilkens testified the man handcuffed and raped her , but she couldn’t use evidence of domestic abuse when she applied for early release, The Oklahoman reported last year.

The court will now consider Wilkens' request for resentencing and determine whether to move forward to apply for sentencing relief on Wilkens’ behalf. The 12 other requests are expected to be filed soon, and it might take up to 60 days to get a hearing, said McCarty, an Appleseed Center attorney.

More: 'A beacon of hope': Newly signed bill moves the needle on helping victims of domestic violence

She said the center’s clients are hopeful and feel it’s a “sea of change” in having people believe them about the abuse they suffered.

McCarty and attorney Leslie Briggs announced the expected filings at a press conference at the Tulsa County Courthouse on Thursday.

In an interview earlier this year, both attorneys said while new law won’t directly protect domestic violence victims or make it less likely that they would face abuse, it does provide them an extra layer of legal protections that courts can consider.

“You ideally would never want a survivor of domestic violence to be in the situation where they’ve committed a crime that stems from their abuse, but it happens all the time here because oftentimes people don’t feel like they can involve law enforcement or when they have tried to, [it] wasn’t effective,” McCarty said.

The Oklahoma Survivors Act was authored in the Senate by Pro Tem Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, and sponsored by Rep. Jon Echols, R-Oklahoma City, in the House. It ultimately passed with widespread support after the first version, House Bill 1470, was vetoed by Gov. Kevin Stitt, who said it addressed the issue too broadly, but supporters said he misunderstood the intent.

Echols told The Oklahoman earlier this year he was confident Oklahoma could reverse its trend of domestic violence.

“You can’t stop domestic violence without men doing it, because we’re doing most of the perpetrating,” Echols said. “Men have to take responsibility for stopping it. I didn’t necessarily say leadership, I said responsibility.”

In 15 of the 24 years between 1996 and 2020, Oklahoma was ranked in the top 10 states with the highest numbers of women killed by men, a 2023 report from the Violence Policy Center indicated. The center is a national nonprofit educational organization that works to stop gun deaths and injuries through research, education, advocacy and collaboration.

In its 2023 annual report, the attorney general’s Domestic Violence Fatality Review Board identified 2,241 domestic violence fatalities between 1998 and 2002. The board described the outlook in the Sooner State as “bleak,” adding that Oklahoma was experiencing a “domestic violence epidemic.”

What does the Oklahoma Survivors Act do?

The new law is the second of its kind in the U.S. Here’s what it does:

● Requires courts to consider such mitigating factors as whether the person convicted has been abused physically, sexually or psychologically by a sexual partner, family member, household member, trafficker or someone who used the person for financial gain.

● Allows a defendant to provide at least one piece of evidence, including court records, pre-sentencing report, social services records, hospital records, witness statements, law enforcement records, domestic incident reports or protective orders, in addition to other evidence.

● Permits courts to impose a new, lesser sentence following a hearing if the court determines the defendant was a victim of domestic violence at the time of the offense and the violence or abuse was related to and a substantial contributing factor in causing the defendant to commit the offense. At the hearing, courts can take testimony from witnesses offered by either party, consider relevant evidence and consider oral and written arguments.

● Allows people who are currently incarcerated to submit a request to apply for resentencing so courts can consider whether domestic violence should be considered as a mitigating factor.

The legislation does not apply to people registered as a sex offender, child abusers, people who abuse or neglect a vulnerable adult or someone who is sentenced to death.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma woman convicted of murder requests resentencing under new domestic violence law