Update Panic Button

Leslie and Colleen give a short update on April's case, the efforts in Oklahoma to bring justice to survivors, and the activities happening in Oklahoma next week to support HB 1639, a bill that will help people who were victims of domestic violence at the time of their crime get sentencing relief.
 
 
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TRANSCRIPTION
SPEAKERS
Colleen McCarty, Leslie Briggs
 
Leslie Briggs  00:17
Hey, Colleen.
 
Colleen McCarty  00:18
Hey Leslie,
 
Leslie Briggs  00:19
welcome back to the studio.
 
Colleen McCarty  00:21
I'm so glad to be back here. Bison & Bean with you.
 
Leslie Briggs  00:25
It's been too long.
 
Colleen McCarty  00:26
It's been a wild ride,
 
Leslie Briggs  00:28
guys, we have updates.
 
Colleen McCarty  00:30
We have so many updates. We never sleep. So
 
Leslie Briggs  00:34
we do not sleep. It's gnarly. I'm so tired.
 
Colleen McCarty  00:38
We don't wish this on you. But we're happy to give you all the updates and all the work we've been doing for the last six months since we wrapped our last episode of panic button. The April Wilkins case. Yeah. What's been happening?
 
Leslie Briggs  00:51
Well, I came to work for you. Oh, that's
 
Colleen McCarty  00:53
right. Pretty sweet. That
 
Leslie Briggs  00:56
happened a little while ago. So yeah, I'm the new legal director at OK Appleseed, the nonprofit that puts on the panic button podcast. What do you do at Oklahoma Appleseed, Lesley. Well, I try to execute your vision. protect the rights of every Oklahoman. We're doing a lot of cool stuff. Really.
 
Colleen McCarty  01:14
Oh my gosh, I know every day I wake up and I'm like, I can't believe I get to do this for a job. And
 
Leslie Briggs  01:19
me too. I love it so much. Yeah, chaotic, and awesome. Just like us just like just a good time, dude,
 
Colleen McCarty  01:28
seriously, we strive for a good time. And seeking justice at the same time. Right. And so in service of seeking justice, we we did this big story about April's case that all of you have heard and I hope it has lit a fire under you because it lit a fire under us. And in service of seeking justice for her. We wrote what's called a post conviction relief application. And I'm going to let Leslie talk to you about what that means and and how we're trying to help her get out of prison.
 
Leslie Briggs  01:57
Yeah, we actually wound up doing that throughout the fall before I came on full time with OK Appleseed. And it's based on new evidence that we uncovered. And we believe that evidence warrants a new trial, or a vacation or sentence, or modification to time served. And that's what we've asked the court to do. We were we lost at the district court, you can go and read all of the pleadings online if you're a legal nerd, or you just want to know more about what the evidence was that we found, but it's currently on appeal. We appealed that district court decision to the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals. And if we lose there, we're going to take it all the way to the top.
 
Colleen McCarty  02:39
How long does it usually take to hear back from the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals?
 
Leslie Briggs  02:43
Oh, I mean, I don't know what the what an average time is, but probably several months, I imagine will be on appeal through the summer at least. And then maybe have a decision at the end of the summer.
 
Colleen McCarty  02:55
Have you talked to April about how she's feeling about all of this?
 
Leslie Briggs  02:59
I think April, I mean, April has been through every possible legal hurdle, multiple times. I mean, she has this is her third post conviction relief application. And she's been through the appellate process before so April kind of knows how to temper expectations and just see what happens more than anything, though. I think April is extremely motivated and excited about the other work we've been doing, which I'm hoping you'll ever give everyone an update about which is our legislative push to change the