We bring the justice system into the light
In 2022, our inaugural season was about the Oklahoma case of April Wilkens. April was a victim of domestic violence that killed her attacker in what she claimed was self-defense. After a contentious trial, a jury sentenced her to life in prison. We take a closer look and what we found was shocking.
In Season 2, we flip April's case around and ask: if women are getting such long sentences for fighting back, what are the men getting for committing the actual abuse? Listen Now
Praise for Panic Button:
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I love and admire the work these women are doing to shed light on the social injustices happing in our country and our hometowns. A well-researched, thoughtful, fascinating podcast.
– Apple Podcasts Review
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Listen to the first episode and you will be invested in this case. This podcast is so well done. The attorneys are extremely intelligent and invested. They clearly explain the gravity of this case. As a 3rd generation Tulsan the details and description of Tulsa was on point. I’m thankful that a podcast like this exists. Understanding the history of the law, how the legal process works and explaining the side of an abused woman. Listen to it you won’t regret it.
– Apple Podcasts Review
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Local attorneys, Colleen McCarty and Leslie Briggs draw us into what could be a plot taken right out of a thriller script, but the story is true and ripped right out of the headlines.
– 102.3 KRMG Radio Tulsa
THE PANIC
BUTTON TEAM
LESLIE BRIGGS, ESQ.
Leslie Briggs is a homegrown Tulsan. She received her undergraduate degrees in Spanish and History from Oklahoma State University. She also holds a Master's Degree in International Studies from OSU and a Master's Degree in Political Science from UPAEP in Puebla, Mexico.
Since being licensed as an attorney, she's worked in civil rights litigation as an associate at Smolen and Roytman, and as a Supervising Attorney at the YWCA-Tulsa helping supervise a team of legal advocates and working to resettle the nearly 1000 afghan evacuees who have arrived in Tulsa since 2021.
COLLEEN McCARTY, ESQ.
Colleen McCarty is an attorney and life-long advocate of a more just system. In 2017, McCarty went back to the University of Tulsa College of Law to attend law school (JD ‘20).
While in law school, McCarty co-published a piece in the Federal Sentencing Reporter titled, "Oklahoma's State Question 780: Reform & Resistance." As a law student, McCarty assisted in the commutation of hundreds of felony drug sentences (both directly and indirectly) before the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board.
SEASON ONE
THE APRIL WILKENS CASE
Terry Carlton is found shot dead in his basement in Tulsa, Oklahoma. When the police arrive, his long-time on-again-off-again fiance, April Wilkens, answers the door. "I shot him, he's in the basement," she says.
But this wasn't exactly an open and shut case. Terry had raped April mere hours before the shooting. It was while he was violating her that he said he was going to kill her and twisted her neck to break it. During the life and death struggle for her life, April knows she had no options--it wasn't a feeling, she had no options.
SEASON TWO
OPERATION:WILDFIRE
In Season 2, Tulsa Attorneys Leslie Briggs and Colleen McCarty try to unwind a tangled web of domestic violence survivors and their stories. The hook? They’ve all been victimized by the same man. Listen as they discover who he is, how he’s escaped accountability for over three decades, and what his survivors decided to do about it.
If the monster who hurt you was still out there? How far would you go to warn others? And what would you do if the justice system was no longer on your side?
