Broken Arrow Woman Hoping For Change In Protective Order Law

A Broken Arrow woman whose son was killed two days after being denied a protective order says this could have been prevented if the laws were different.  

Maureen Bucchere says she started a petition to get the lawmaker's attention and her petition has more than 2,000 signatures.

Maureen Bucchere says her son Stephen Bernius had just celebrated his 46th birthday when he was killed in September. 

"Nobody should lose a child, it's not the right order of life," she said. 

Broken Arrow Police say Bernius' roommate and tenant Cody O'Bryan shot Bernius in the chest after an argument. 

O'Bryan is now facing charges of first-degree murder. 

Bucchere says her son had asked a judge for a protective order two days before he was killed, but it was denied. 

"It's just unimaginable, the law just has to be changed, it just has to be changed," Bucchere said. 

The law says if you are roommates, then to get a protective order, you have to either be in a romantic relationship or blood-related, and since the two were neither, it was denied. 

"It shouldn't matter if there is somebody that is threatened, harassed, or in imminent danger, and they can have verifiable documents that the person they are afraid of is deserved to be feared, that law should apply to everybody," Bucchere said. 

She says her grandchildren have now lost their dad, and her children have lost their brother, and this has been a nightmare for everyone.  

"I don't want anybody, anybody to have to go through this, it's painful to the point to where you can't even imagine," she said. 

She says she has sent letters to state lawmakers and is hoping to set up meetings with them to discuss her petition. 

You can find a link to the petition HERE.