Attorney General Gentner Drummond has expressed approval for the state House Appropriations Committee's decision to endorse a proposed consent decree. This decree aims to settle a class-action lawsuit against the state of Oklahoma.
House Concurrent Resolution 1004, which passed unanimously with a 27-0 vote, supports an agreement brokered by the Office of the Attorney General in collaboration with plaintiffs' lawyers. The settlement is designed to provide justice for crime victims and reduce costs for the state by ensuring due process for criminal defendants who are considered incompetent to stand trial.
The lawsuit claims that the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (ODHMHSAS) has violated some pretrial criminal defendants' rights by not providing timely court-ordered competency restoration services. As a result, some inmates have been held in county jails for over a year without facing accountability, delaying justice for crime victims.
“This proposed settlement is a big win for Oklahoma,” Drummond stated. “It saves the state tens of millions of dollars defending a clearly indefensible situation and remedies serious problems that have long plagued our criminal justice system. I am grateful to House Speaker Hilbert and Senate President Pro Tempore Paxton for authoring HCR 1004, and I am optimistic the resolution will make its way to Gov. Stitt for his signature.”
The lawsuit was initiated in March 2023, with negotiations starting shortly after.
The consent decree outlines plans to improve ODMHSAS restoration services, ensuring timely administration of justice. The plan includes collaborating with experts and community leaders to enhance competency restoration services by increasing training for forensic healthcare professionals, reducing incorrect declarations of incompetence, decreasing wait times for competency restoration treatment, developing effective in-jail restoration programs, and expanding resources such as additional inpatient beds.