Lawyers argue survivor’s incarceration is “unlawful” following passage of Oklahoma Survivors’ Act

Story Snapshot 📷 After 27 years in prison for killing her abuser, April Wilkens is seeking release under the Oklahoma Survivors' Act. Her legal team has filed a petition to transfer her to Tulsa County for a hearing and request supervised release while awaiting resentencing. Despite court approval last year, no date has been set, and Wilkens’s attorneys argue the delay violates her rights. The Tulsa DA’s office says they need more time to prepare, while advocates push for urgent action. 

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Story Update: The petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus has been set for a hearing at the Tulsa County Courthouse on May 13, 2025, at 9:30 AM. 

(TULSA, Okla.) Following the lack of movement on the case of domestic violence survivor April Wilkens, her legal team filed a petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus Ad Prosequendum to have her released on Friday. 

Wilkens’s attorneys Colleen McCarty and Abby Gore of Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice requested the court:

- Set a hearing for argument and decision on their April 4 petition

- Have Wilkens transferred to Tulsa County for its argument, and 

- If issued, have Wilkens placed on supervised release until her resentencing hearing 

Wilkens, found guilty of murder after killing her rapist and abuser Terry Carlton, was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 1999.  

Related story: Two decades later, a woman sentenced to life for killing her abuser still fights for freedom

According to court documents, Wilkens’s resentencing hearing under the Oklahoma Survivors’ Act was approved last November but has yet to be set. 

“Ms. Wilkens has shown this court volumes of evidence to show why she should be resentenced under the Oklahoma Survivors' Act,” the petition states. “The District Attorney has shown no evidence to the contrary.”

The Oklahoma Survivors’ Act provides a resentencing of up to 25 years in prison for those sentenced to life with parole who can prove their domestic abuse and show it was a significant factor in their crime. 

Court documents show Wilkens’s evidence of abuse include court transcripts, law enforcement reports, a pre-sentence investigation, domestic incident reports, protective orders, testimony of witnesses to domestic violence, testimony of doctors, SANE exam reports following rapes by Carlton, and other medical and mental health records.

To date, Wilkens has served 27 years in prison. 

“Each day she serves incarcerated over the new range of twenty-five (25) years is another violation of her right to liberty and against unreasonable seizure,” the petition states.

The Tulsa County District Attorney’s Office told us while they are supportive of the intent behind the passage of the law, they will not abandon their responsibility to advocate on behalf of the State of Oklahoma and on behalf of Carlton's family.

"The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed her conviction and the life sentence she received on April 3, 2021," Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler said in a statement following the new filing. "Plainly stated, her sentence is not illegal." 

According to court documents, the Tulsa County DA’s office said they would need, at least, months to prepare for Wilkens’s resentencing hearing.

“This proceeding is meant to be a short resentencing hearing allowing the Defendant to put on the evidence she is entitled to introduce under the Act as well as expert testimony,” the petition states. “The hearing is not meant to be a retrial of the case, as DA Kunzweiler's conduct is suggesting.”

Kunzweiler countered saying just as Wilkens is entitled to a hearing, they are entitled to do their due diligence in examining everything which has taken place since she has been in prison. 

"That takes time and resources for which this statute did not allocate," Kunzweiler said. "We also had to seek out and retain expert witnesses who could assist us with our case once this case is set for a formal hearing."  

Wilkens’s niece Amanda Ross tells VNN Oklahoma she doesn’t understand why the process is taking so long but hopes Wilkens can be released while they wait for the official hearing. 

“We want her out and she deserves to be out,” Ross said. “I don't think anyone realized it would take this long. She was the first to apply and I can't imagine how hard it has been for her attorneys to have to juggle all these cases that seem to be dragging on. Only Lisa Moss has been released so far. We're just so grateful for the navigation her attorneys are offering, too. This is a whole new legal landscape for the entire state of Oklahoma.” 

Wilkens’s legal team says she has been a model prisoner for more than 20 years, creating programs for other inmates, providing care to other inmates, and making more than one million dollars for TruEnergy, an energy brokerage firm which operated a call center inside Mabel Bassett Correctional Center. 

Wilkens has been denied parole five times since she became eligible for parole in 2013, with the Tulsa County DA’s Office protesting that, as well.

This article has been updated to include comments provided by Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler.