Board recommends parole for Spottedcrow

BY CARY ASPINWALL World Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Oklahoma’s Pardon and Parole Board unanimously voted Wednesday to recommend parole for Patricia Spottedcrow, who is serving an eight-year prison sentence for selling marijuana to a police informant in Kingfisher County in 2009.

Spottedcrow, 26, was originally handed a 12-year sentence in a blind plea before a judge. In October, a Kingfisher County judge reduced her sentence by four years.

After her story was published in the Tulsa World’s series on Women in Prison in 2011, a groundswell of support emerged.

Because children were in Spottedcrow’s home when she was arrested, a charge of possession of a dangerous substance in the presence of a minor was added. Her mother, Delita Starr, was also charged with the crime, but given a 30-year suspended sentence so she could care for Spottedcrow’s four children while their mother was incarcerated.

Board member Marc Dreyer, the senior pastor at Memorial Baptist Church in Tulsa, was instrumental in the early consideration of Spottedcrow’s case.

He said he requested to meet Spottedcrow while visiting Eddie Warrior Correctional Center in Taft a few months ago, after reading about her case in the Tulsa World.

“Based on quantity of drugs involved and the desperation of her situation at the time, it was my view that she ought to have consideration by the board for parole, as there were some extenuating circumstances,” Dreyer said.

Read more on this story in Thursday's Tulsa World.

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