TULSA, Okla. — A Tulsa woman convicted of killing her ex-boyfriend has been asking to be released from prison, but a judge denied her request on Sept. 4.
April Wilkens served 27 years for the 1998 murder of Terry Carlton.
Wilkens' attorneys asked the judge to reconsider the evidence in this case under the Oklahoma Survivor's Act.
WATCH: SURVIVOR'S ACT: Judge denies April Wilkens' resentencing request
According to court records, Wilkens said she suffered years of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse at the hands of her ex-boyfriend, Terry Carlton.
A jury found her guilty of his murder and sentenced her to life in prison.
Her attorney, Colleen McCarty, is asking the judge to reconsider the evidence and said Wilkens should be released based on the Oklahoma Survivor's Act, which says that people can get shorter sentences if it's proven the person they killed had abused them.
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What is the Oklahoma Survivors' Act?
On the first day of the hearing, the judge heard all of the evidence to decide whether or not to adjust her sentence.
After opening statements by both the prosecution and the defense -- the defense called domestic violence response professional, Angela Baetty, with the YWCA, Baetty testified she reviewed court transcripts, police reports, and made a timeline of the abuse Wilkens suffered at the hands of Carlton.
Baetty said Wilkens acted in self-defense when she shot and killed her ex-boyfriend in 1998.
On the state's cross-examination, prosecutors worked to discredit her testimony. They said she is not a licensed psychologist and left out Wilken's drug abuse in her report.
Other witnesses included one of Carlton's former employees and a Tulsa police lieutenant. He testified about a vandalism call he responded to involving Wilkens. He claimed she was high on meth at the time and acting erratically.
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