District Attorney Kunzweiler Responds To Claims That He Is Strong-Arming Victims To Give Up Rights Under New Law

The Tulsa County District Attorney is disputing claims being made that he's strong-arming victims into giving up their rights under a newly passed law.

The Oklahoma Survivor Justice Coalition says the district attorney is using a form to get victims to bypass the Oklahoma Survivor's Act.

Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler says the only people who would sign this form are people who are not survivors of abuse so it would not apply to them anyway.

He says a form like this is common in other types of cases.

The Oklahoma Survivors' Act was created to help victims of domestic violence who commit crimes, get shorter prison sentences.

“The law was designed to help people who may have been victims in the past, and maybe they shouldn't be exposed to the larger range of punishment,” Kunzweiler said.

Kunzweiler says it's critical to make sure people understand if they are a survivor under the new law, they may be entitled to serve less time.

So everyone would know their rights, he created an acknowledgment form for people who are not those victims, saying they are not eligible under the new law.

He says he's not going to have domestic abuse survivors sign the form and the only people who will sign it, are not abuse survivors.

“That makes sense because you don't want people who are nonvictims taking advantage of an opportunity they shouldn't be entitled to,” Kunzweiler said.

The Oklahoma Survivor Justice Coalition says Kunzweiler is pressuring domestic abuse survivors to give up their rights and the group calls it appalling.

Kunzweiler says their message is not true and he does care about survivors.

“That would be improper of me or any prosecutor to somehow try and say, I'm going to try and take advantage of your past victims' status, to gain an advantage, we're not doing that, we're focusing on making sure these victims know, OK you're eligible let's make sure we're all on the exact same page,” he said.

He says he understands if you are charged with a crime, you may be worried about what will happen, but before anyone signs this form, they would have gone over it with an attorney and a judge.