1,000 signatures reached
To: Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond and Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt
Save Brenda Andrew: Sex-Shamed to Death in Oklahoma
We ask you to do everything in your power to spare the life of Brenda Andrew, a woman sex-shamed to death in Oklahoma. Brenda Andrew was condemned to die in Oklahoma County, OK after a 2004 trial in which prosecutors referred to her as a “slut puppy,” paraded her underwear before the jury, and berated her for her mothering skills. These tactics bore no relation to the crime Brenda had been accused of committing—namely, the murder of her husband, Robert Andrew. By taking every opportunity to demonize Brenda’s appearance and demeanor, sexual history, and motherhood, the prosecution stripped Brenda of her very identity as a woman and made her perceived gender transgressions the centerpiece of the trial. Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Arlene Johnson stated that the prosecution’s arguments and testimony served “no other purpose other than to hammer home that Brenda Andrew is a bad wife, a bad mother, and a bad woman.” Prosecutors repeatedly vilified Brenda for her gender expression, including her clothing and demeanor. Prosecutors produced male witnesses who testified that Brenda wore “improper,” “sexy,” and “provocative” clothing. One man recalled that Brenda once wore a dress that was tight, short, and showed “lots of cleavage.”
Prosecutors further dehumanized Brenda before the jury by attacking her value as a mother and homemaker. They elicited irrelevant witness testimony that Brenda’s home was “filthy,” “unkept,” and “shocking.” The prosecutors also weaponized gender-based stereotypes to compare Brenda to “normal” women, asking one witness no fewer than nine times about what a “good mother” would do and whether Brenda failed in this regard.
Finally, the prosecution portrayed Brenda as a sexual deviant by focusing on prurient and irrelevant details about Brenda’s sexual history. In addition to questioning Brenda’s former boyfriends about the specifics of particular sexual encounters, the prosecution read aloud Mr. Andrew’s journal entries about an alleged sexual relationship that Brenda had while she was an unmarried freshman attending an out-of-state college–almost twenty years before the shooting.
The prosecutors’ case led a federal judge to conclude that Brenda Andrew was convicted and condemned to die not for the offense, but because the prosecution maligned her as a gender transgressor who failed to conform to sex-stereotypes of a chaste and moral woman. Tenth Circuit Judge Robert Bacharach observed that such “evidence not only lacked relevance but also cast Ms. Andrew as a woman fixated on seducing nearby men.” He further noted the prosecution’s choice to begin and end trial with “evidence of [Ms. Andrew’s] infidelity closed the loop, creating ‘an outsized effect due to [its] temporal proximity to jury deliberations.’”
For more information, go to http://SaveBrendaAndrew.org and http://linktr.ee/savebrenda
Follow her movement on Instagram @SaveBrendaAndrew and Twitter/X @savebrenda
Prosecutors further dehumanized Brenda before the jury by attacking her value as a mother and homemaker. They elicited irrelevant witness testimony that Brenda’s home was “filthy,” “unkept,” and “shocking.” The prosecutors also weaponized gender-based stereotypes to compare Brenda to “normal” women, asking one witness no fewer than nine times about what a “good mother” would do and whether Brenda failed in this regard.
Finally, the prosecution portrayed Brenda as a sexual deviant by focusing on prurient and irrelevant details about Brenda’s sexual history. In addition to questioning Brenda’s former boyfriends about the specifics of particular sexual encounters, the prosecution read aloud Mr. Andrew’s journal entries about an alleged sexual relationship that Brenda had while she was an unmarried freshman attending an out-of-state college–almost twenty years before the shooting.
The prosecutors’ case led a federal judge to conclude that Brenda Andrew was convicted and condemned to die not for the offense, but because the prosecution maligned her as a gender transgressor who failed to conform to sex-stereotypes of a chaste and moral woman. Tenth Circuit Judge Robert Bacharach observed that such “evidence not only lacked relevance but also cast Ms. Andrew as a woman fixated on seducing nearby men.” He further noted the prosecution’s choice to begin and end trial with “evidence of [Ms. Andrew’s] infidelity closed the loop, creating ‘an outsized effect due to [its] temporal proximity to jury deliberations.’”
For more information, go to http://SaveBrendaAndrew.org and http://linktr.ee/savebrenda
Follow her movement on Instagram @SaveBrendaAndrew and Twitter/X @savebrenda
Why is this important?
Brenda now faces the risk of being set an execution date. She has filed a petition before the U.S. Supreme Court, which is her last appeal. If the U.S. Supreme Court decides not to hear her case, the state of Oklahoma will, in all likelihood, seek to schedule a date to kill Brenda.
In the meantime, an international human rights body, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, has called on the United States to “refrain from carrying out the death penalty to [Ms. Andrew]” and to "adopt the necessary measures to protect [her] life" while the Commission considers her case. We need your help to ensure Brenda's life is protected.
As we await a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court, we are asking for your support. Please sign and share this petition. Please share Brenda's story. No woman should die for failing to conform to society’s biased expectations of a wife, mother, and woman, and Brenda Andrew is no exception.
In the meantime, an international human rights body, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, has called on the United States to “refrain from carrying out the death penalty to [Ms. Andrew]” and to "adopt the necessary measures to protect [her] life" while the Commission considers her case. We need your help to ensure Brenda's life is protected.
As we await a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court, we are asking for your support. Please sign and share this petition. Please share Brenda's story. No woman should die for failing to conform to society’s biased expectations of a wife, mother, and woman, and Brenda Andrew is no exception.