TULSA, Okla. — A woman with a chance to get released early from prison under the Oklahoma Survivors Act will stay behind bars.
Tulsa County District Judge Sharon Holmes denied the request, stating the law requires Erica Harrison to have been an intimate partner with Calvin Anderson, not a rape victim.
Harrison was sentenced to 25 years in prison. She says Anderson raped her twice, once when she was a teenager. She said one night when he physically threatened her, she shot and killed him.
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What is the Oklahoma Survivor's Act?
Harrison has served 12 years, but petitioned to be released under the Oklahoma Survivors Act. Signed into law in 2024, it allows sentencing relief for victims of domestic and sexual violence.
Judge Holmes told the court that the law is “specific and narrow,” and does not include rape. Holmes said if the legislature wanted to include rape, they would have.
Holmes also said the language in the law requires a certain “intimate” relationship. Holmes said if she released Harrison, she would be expanding the scope of the law, because rape is a predatory act, not intimate.
Harrison sat emotionless in the courtroom. Her family did not wish to talk on camera, but we spoke to Marlene Williams, Anderson’s niece.
“Thank God, justice is served,” said Williams.
While happy with the ruling, Williams is frustrated with the justice system. She said no one told the family about the proceedings.
“We saw it on TV, that’s how we were notified,” she said. “No one ever contacted us and told us she was coming up.”
Marsy’s Law, passed in 2018, requires crime victims to be informed of upcoming, important hearings.
Abbie Gore is an attorney for Oklahoma Appleseed, the non-profit organization representing Harrison and several other Oklahoma Survivors Act cases.
“I don’t have any comment on the court’s decision today, but we appreciate everyone who has been supportive of the act and cases moving forward,” said Gore.
Gore said they plan to appeal the ruling.
2 News has reached out to the Tulsa County District Attorney’s Office for clarification on whether Anderson’s family was notified about the hearing.
For this first major hearing involving the Oklahoma Survivors Act in Tulsa County, it is interesting to note — from the judge and bailiff to attorneys and court reporter —everyone in the well of the court was female.
The Oklahoma Survivor Justice Coalition sent a statement, saying in part:
“Erica Harrison was drugged, unconscious, and raped,” said the Oklahoma Survivor Justice Coalition. “To suggest that the absence of her consent disqualifies her from protection under the Survivors’ Act is to twist both the spirit and the letter of the law. It is a cruel distortion of justice to say that because she was a victim—and not a so-called ‘partner’—she is unworthy of relief.”
“The Coalition reaffirms that the Survivors’ Act was intended to provide sentencing relief to survivors of rape. We will not allow this narrow and harmful interpretation to stand unchallenged. We call on Oklahoma lawmakers to act immediately to clarify that rape victims are unquestionably included under the statute, and we stand in unwavering solidarity with Ms. Harrison and all survivors who this decision has retraumatized.”
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