Oklahoma Prosecutors May Pressure Domestic Violence Survivors To Waive Their Rights
Earlier this year, Oklahoma state lawmakers passed a historic law requiring reduced sentences for survivors of domestic violence who could prove their crimes were related to their abuse.
The Oklahoma Survivors’ Act, which passed with nearly unanimous support from state lawmakers, was inspired by women who faced harsh prison sentences for killing their abusers to protect themselves; who committed a crime while trying to flee abuse; or who were pressured by their abuser into breaking the law. It created a sentencing matrix that caps sentences for qualifying individuals at 30 years in prison. People who were sentenced prior to the law’s passage can petition for resentencing under the modified rules.
Now, less than three weeks after the law went into effect, prosecutors in one of the state’s most populous counties are considering a plan to exclude potential candidates from sentencing relief. The office of Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler has created a form for people entering plea deals that would require anyone who signs it to surrender their rights under the domestic violence bill.
“As a consequence of said negotiated plea, I am affirmatively stating that the Oklahoma Survivor’s Act and any of its benefits do not apply to me,” states the waiver, which was obtained by HuffPost. “I am waiving my ability to raise a claim under the Oklahoma Survivor’s Act both now at the time of plea, during a subsequent revocation hearing (if applicable), and after I have been sentenced in a post-conviction setting.”
The Tulsa County DA’s office told a local ABC affiliate that it “intends to memorialize whether someone is eligible under the Act at the time of sentencing,” and that “if a defendant is eligible, the Act will be factored into their range of punishment and plea. If a defendant is not eligible, an acknowledgment of this fact should be filed at the time of plea.”
The DA’s office said the waiver is still under consideration. If it is put into use, it’s not clear in what situations the DA’s office would deploy it.
But asking any defendant to sign such a waiver would violate the legislative intent of the Oklahoma Survivors’ Act, according to lawyers and policy advocates who helped push the bill through the state legislature. It would effectively make a premature determination about whether someone experienced domestic abuse, potentially before a defendant even has a chance to present that evidence — and people might nevertheless feel forced to sign the waiver in order to obtain a plea deal.
Prosecutors are “preying on survivors at their weakest moment, using a law meant to help them to coerce them into the plea that [prosecutors] want so they don’t have to go trial,” Alexandra Bailey, a senior campaign strategist at the Sentencing Project and a survivor of domestic violence, said in an interview.
Under the law, survivors of domestic violence who have been charged with or convicted of a crime can present evidence of abuse to the court, including hospital records, police reports, protective orders, social service records or witness statements. If the court finds that the individual was subjected to violence or abuse that was a “substantial contributing factor” in causing the crime, it is instructed to follow the reduced sentencing matrix.
It is not appropriate for the district attorney’s office to determine who is and is not eligible under the law, said Colleen McCarty, executive director of the Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law & Justice. “They’re not that person’s attorney. How would they know that?” McCarty said in an interview. “Other than to say, ‘Oh, you never called the police, so you’re not a real victim.’ Or, ‘You don’t have an active case against your abuser, you’re not really a victim.’”
The Oklahoma Appleseed Center, which helped pass the bill, is currently representing 13 people who plan to petition for resentencing under the law, and investigating 60 additional cases. Studiesshow that most women who are incarcerated are survivors of physical, emotional or sexual abuse.
State lawmakers first considered a version of the Oklahoma Survivors’ Act in 2023, but policy advocates pulled support after prosecutors pressured lawmakers into stripping language that would make it apply retroactively. In 2024, a version with retroactivity passed with near-unanimous support, only to be vetoed by Gov. Kevin Stitt (R). The Oklahoma District Attorneys Association supported the veto. Lawmakers quickly passed a slightly modified version of the bill, which Stitt signed into law.
Need help? In the U.S., call 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) for the National Domestic Violence Hotline.
