New Oklahoma Law Aims To Help Incarcerated Domestic Violence Survivors

For some Oklahoma women, the prison of domestic violence can lead to an actual prison. Oklahoma lawmakers recently passed a law to reduce sentences for women who harm or kill their domestic abusers. The new law has already made an impact. 

A Seminole County woman is serving a life sentence for the murder of her abusive husband, and she wasn’t the one who pulled the trigger. Leaders at the Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice filed an appeal on Monday to reduce her sentence thanks to the Oklahoma Survivors’ Act. 

Executive director of the Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice Colleen McCarty said many women commit violent crimes because of abuse they’ve suffered. 

“It’s pretty heart-wrenching,” McCarty said. “We’ve got women going to prison, either because they were trying to protect themselves and their children. "Now it’s being called a domestic violence victim to prison pipeline."

According to the Violence Policy Center’s data on women murdered by men; Oklahoma was in the top 10 states for 15 out of the past 25 years. The Oklahoma Survivor’s Act offers courts the option for shorter sentences if domestic abuse contributed to crimes. Lisa Moss married Mike Moss in Seminole County in 1987. McCarty said Moss suffered years of mental and physical violence. 

“She was facing physical beatings … he was also raping her,” McCarty said. 

Moss’s brother Richard Wright killed Mike to protect his sister, according to court records. McCarty said Moss wasn’t home at the time of her husband’s murder. However, the court held Moss equally responsible and handed her a life sentence without the possibility of parole. She has spent 34 years behind bars. 

“She lost the ability to raise her children,” McCarty said. “It’s incredibly heartbreaking.” 

The Oklahoma Survivors’ Act allows McCarty’s team to appeal Moss’s sentence. McCarty said they would present evidence of abuse as a significant factor in her crime. 

“The DA actually concedes that the reason Richard pulled the trigger is because of the abuse. We’re not saying what she did was right — and neither is she,” McCarty said. “She’s actually incredibly remorseful.” 

In a state with a history of high incarceration, McCarty said reform must continue. 

“[Incarceration] hasn’t worked,” McCarty said. “It’s causing people to be thrown away.” 

McCarty wants more criminal justice protections for people like Moss — so they can take ownership of their lives free from isolation and free from pain. 

“We have to get to a place as a state where we can start having these conversations about, 'What is forgiveness and grace,'” McCarty said. 

McCarty said Moss is one of 13 women who helped inspire the Oklahoma Survivor’s Act. She said there are 70 other cases currently in review and many Oklahoma lawyers are helping appeal their sentences for free — part of the Oklahoma Standard. 

The Oklahoma Appleseed Center hopes for a hearing in the next 60 days for Moss’s case. However, this process can take months to reach a conclusion.