Defending mothers

• Author: Jamie Hwang
• Pages: 16-18

The Docket

EDITED BY KEVIN DAVIS / KEVIN.DAVIS@AMERICANBAR.ORG

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY SARA WADFORD, MIDIWAVES, FOTOKITA, NADYAEUGENE/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

National

Pulse

DEFENDING

MOTHERS

As Benjel Brown, 38, walked a round

an Oklahoma Walmar t with her younger

brother and his girlfr iend on an April day

in 2017, she discovered her brother had a

drug kit with s yringes in his back pocket.

She asked him to give it to her.

A recovering addict hersel f, Brown placed the drug kit

in her purse, intending to get r id of it once they left t he

store. At the self-checkout station, Brow n was scanning a

sippy cup when her brother’s girlfriend attempted to t ake

a baby blanket and baby shoes wit hout paying. Brown

was unaware.

A security g uard noticed, however, and the trio was

stopped for suspicion of shoplifting—all thre e tried to

leave the store. The guard led them t o a room where they

had to empty their bags a nd pockets. During the search,

the guard found the dr ug kit in Brown’s bag: It contained

a dose of metha mphetamine.

Even though Brown claimed she had paid for her

items and her brother explained the k it was his, she was

charged w ith shoplifting a nd possession of metha mphet-

amine—a felony in Oklahoma at the time—and t aken to

jail. Her brother’s girlfriend was not a rrested but given a

ticket for shopli fting.

Brown says regardles s of her explanation, police stuck

with the drug cha rge. “I thought no one was going to

believe me because I have prior convic tions,” she says.

She spent a sleepless night in jail, not knowi ng whether

her husband would be able to get her out and wondering

how she’d pay for an attorney. But when she went home

with her husband the next day af ter posting bail, Brown

noticed a card in front of the door. The card wa s from

Still She Rises , a holistic public defender organization in

Tulsa that represents women with legal needs who c an’t

a ord counsel. This was no coincidence. The group con-

stantly track s the jail website, available to the public, to

fi nd potential clients in need.

Kristin a Saleh, an attorney and program dir ector at

Still She Rises , had learned about Brown’s situation and

personally visit ed her house to drop o the card , o ering

to help.

Brown remained skeptica l of the unfamiliar organi-

zation when she picked up the card, but she thought she

had no other choice—so she decided to call t he number.

After the organization to ok on her case, she found sup -

port. “They believe d in the system when I didn’t,” she

A LEGAL AID PROGRAM IN OKLAHOMA

IS DEDICATED TO REPRESENTING

MOMS IN TROUBLE BY JAMIE HWANG

16 || ABA JOURNAL OCTOBER 2018