A state board supports repealing a requirement that warning letters be sent to people accused of stalking, but the author of the law says he’s proposed new legislation to fix issues with it.
The letter mandate was enacted in 2022 through the Homicide Prevention Act, which upped stalking from a misdemeanor to a felony in Oklahoma.
Bill author Rep. Jacob Rosecrants (D-Norman) said district attorneys can use bodycam footage of perpetrators receiving the warning letter when prosecuting stalkers.
“The idea was to try to prevent stalking by warning the person, ‘Hey, if you go any further, you’re going to get a felony.' But the dual purpose of this is to give prosecutors something to prosecute, because stalking is really hard to prosecute,” Rosecrants said.
But the state’s Domestic Violence Fatality Review Board says defense attorneys have used the fact that a victim can request a letter not be served to hamper prosecutions. It also says a warning letter could tip off stalkers, who could then modify their behavior to stalk the victim in a more obscured way.
In the board’s latest report produced through the state attorney general’s office, they suggested the warning letter rule be repealed. This would be accomplished through Senate Bill 813 from state Senator Ally Seifreid (R-Claremore), who argues the warning letter “is focused on the person stalking and less on the victim.”
“We don’t do this in any other crime where we provide a letter warning someone, and so I think with how closely tied stalking is to violence within relationships, that we don’t need to be sending letters to people perpetrating these crimes,” Seifried said, adding that she has experience working with victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking.
Oklahoma domestic violence homicides hit a record high in 2023, jumping 16%. Tulsa County led the state in number of domestic violence incidents.
Seifried said she proposed the bill at the request of the attorney general’s office.
Rosecrants said House Bill 1002 answers issues with the initial warning letter law. The proposed changes came after meeting routinely with law enforcement, district attorneys and a stalking victim.
“We clarified that the choice of a victim to not serve a stalking warning letter doesn’t mean that stalking didn’t happen,” said Rosecrants. “They don’t have to both be a thing.”
HB 1003 also requires the agency serving the warning letter to enter it into the National Crime Information Center and the Oklahoma Supreme Court Network.
Rosecrants said he plans to speak with the attorney general’s office about their efforts to repeal the warning letter. A spokesperson for the office said they are reviewing Rosecrants’ bill.
Seifried said Tuesday she has not spoken to Rosecrants about the proposed changes to his law.
