The Shooting by Panic Button: 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.<br /><br />Follow Panic Button on iHeartRadio - <a href="https://ihr.fm/3xvpTys" rel="noopener">https://ihr.fm/3xvpTys</a><br />Follow on Apple Podcasts - <a href="https://apple.co/3S9VWMJ" rel="noopener">https://apple.co/3S9VWMJ</a><br />Follow Everywhere Else - <a href="https://bit.ly/3LmB9mr" rel="noopener">https://bit.ly/3LmB9mr</a><br /><br /><br />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.<br /><br />In 1999, Wilkens was tried by the state of Oklahoma and sentenced by a jury to LIFE. She's now 51-years-old, and 25 years into her sentence. Panic Button is the untold story of the escalating cycles of abuse that led to Terry Carlton's death, and the unthinkable ways survivors of violence get chewed up and spit out by Oklahoma's justice system.<br /><br />In this first episode, attorneys Colleen McCarty and Leslie Briggs tell the story of the night of the murder, the facts in the record, and April's testimony from the stand at trial.<br /><br />Resources:<br /><br />Detailed Timeline of Events in April's Case: <a href="https://aprilwilkensblog.wordpress.com/2022/02/12/timeline-of-events/" rel="noopener">https://aprilwilkensblog.wordpress.com/2022/02/12/timeline-of-events/</a><br />Sign the Change.org petition to support April's release: <a href="https://www.change.org/p/oklahoma-pardon-parole-board-commute-the-life-sentence-of-abuse-survivor-april-wilkens?signed=true" rel="noopener">https://www.change.org/p/oklahoma-pardon-parole-board-commute-the-life-sentence-of-abuse-survivor-april-wilkens?signed=true</a><br />See pict