Did You Know That in Oklahoma You Can Be Charged With a Felony for Writing a Fictional Story?

The Facts

A Day in the Life of a Typical Teenager
A typical high school student sits down at a computer in a classroom. He finds a story started on this computer. The title of the story intrigues him. Since he has another computer class (in another classroom) he decides to copy the file on to a floppy disk & take it with him.

This student has natural writing ability. He has received all kinds of praise and encouragement for his writings. He writes expressively, and since he is barely 18, he is within the age range where students frequently write of things dark in nature. They write of what they know, some of which is school violence.

As he is composing this story, he hides it in a folder on this computer so he can access it at times when he has his work completed. Little does he know that this creative writing would cause him extreme hardship in the near future.

The Discovery
Computers in this classroom are networked, and they share a printer. The computer the student was using had access by many others. While other students were looking through folders on this computer, the discovery was made. A couple of students found the notepad document inside a folder. They opened and read the story, reported the story to the teacher, who reported it to the principal. The principal called the police.

The Investigation
After searching the student's locker and backpack, finding nothing, the police then proceeded to the residence. Upon arriving, they were met at the door by the father. They requested permission to search the student's room. Permission was granted, the officers' search included the bedroom, the attic, and the storage building in the back yard. This search turned up nothing. The student then arrived home and granted permission for the officers to search his car. Again, nothing was found. They did not find guns, ammunition, explosives, walkie-talkies, diagrams, notes, hit list, camouflage clothing, copies of the story -- nothing.

This student was not a discipline problem. He was never previously suspended. He was not in trouble for fighting or causing disruptions. He did serve detention, but only for being tardy to class. He was not from a broken home and did not come from an environment of domestic violence or substance abuse. He was a typical student involved in many extra-curricular activities. He was a student who had a part time job for two years (until this happened).

The Suspension
The student was then suspended from school for a year. He was not allowed on the school campus at all. The school granted permission for him to finish his English class, but no other classes were allowed to be made up through the high school. He had to enroll in two correspondence classes through a local university to finish his credit requirements for his diploma.

Along with the suspension, he lost the end of his senior year. He was not permitted to attend end of the year band activities, the prom or even graduation.

The Arrest
This student was charged with a felony under part A of Oklahoma's new law, which does not have to prove intent.

The statute does not require that officials prove intent of a threatening message, the [Moore] police sergeant said. "We don't have to prove that it was meant as a serious threat."

Sitzman [Assistant DA] said this is the first time a charge like this has been filed here. "Whether it was 'just a joke' is a defense remains to be seen," he said. "We really have no case law to go on yet." ...

Singer [Moore police sergeant] said police have uncovered no evidence that any other student was involved in the e-mail message or the plan. [Note: This was not an email, but a notepad document.]

--Taken from The Norman Transcript, August 16, 2002 "Moore student arrested for alleged plan to kill peers", staff by Jane Glenn Cannon

Even though the story describes many people being involved in this attack, meetings taking place, ammunition and explosives being used, walkie-talkies being used, nothing was found....it didn't exist. Regardless of this fact, the writer of this story was charged with a felony because intent does not have to be proven under this new law.

This student has been charged with a felony under Part A for writing a story.
A student could walk onto a school campus with a loaded gun and threaten to shoot people, and be charged under Part B (misdemeanor).
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