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Over the last decade, Oklahoma lawmakers and voters have taken historic, bipartisan steps toward reducing the state’s swollen penal system of prisons, jails, and supervision.  Thanks to important changes to the law and the support of voters, people today in Oklahoma have a second chance to get their lives back: It’s easier to get a […]

By G.W. Schulz An effort underway in Oklahoma could lead to changes in how the state handles child custody and divorce. That could mean new family laws or the reform of existing ones. Included in this effort was an interim study of the state’s court system for families. Lawmakers have heard from experts, advocacy groups,

By G.W. Schulz Oklahoma ranks as one of the highest in the nation for domestic abuse and violence. Fortunately, if you’re escaping an abusive relationship or marriage, you have new legal protections.  They’re contained in what’s known as Alanda’s Law, which was passed by the Oklahoma Legislature in 2024. The name commemorates a victim of abuse

By G.W. Schulz In 2023, Norwood.Law earned an extraordinary lifetime achievement that attracted national and international attention. But even that wasn’t enough for us. First, Norwood.Law made history by freeing America’s longest-serving wrongfully convicted man, Glynn Simmons. He was locked up for 48 years in Oklahoma’s merciless prison system before we brought him home. Now we’re fighting

Lt. Sean “Sticks” Larkin of the Tulsa Police Department didn’t seem aware of the conflict in his 2021 testimony during a shooting trial.

During a recorded conversation on Aug. 12, 2019, Lt. Sean “Sticks” Larkin of the Tulsa Police Department made an extraordinary statement.

When matrimony became acrimony for one of Oklahoma’s wealthiest power couples, their divorce in 2014 attracted national headlines. That’s because the breakup resulted in what was reported to be one of the largest divorce settlements in history.

Efforts are continuing in Oklahoma by advocates to raise the compensation given to people who serve years or decades in prison for crimes they didn’t commit. Under current Oklahoma law, a person must be pardoned by the governor or formally declared innocent by a judge in order to be eligible for any payouts to the wrongfully convicted. No matter how many years a person has served in prison, they are only granted a small, lump sum.

Two eyewitnesses and night-time visibility. That was all Tulsa County prosecutors needed in 1995 to send Malcolm Scott and Demarchoe Carpenter to Oklahoma’s prison system for murder.