Oklahoma Representative Looks To Pass Law In Honor Of Henryetta Murder Victims

An Oklahoma state representative hopes to pass a law named in honor of the victims in the Henryetta murders.

The legislation, proposed by Representative Scott Fetgatter ( R ) Okmulgee, would be called "Knights Law," named after the Henryetta Schools mascot. It would help protect potential victims from people convicted of sex crimes.

Fetgatter said he was furious to learn the murder suspect, Jesse McFadden, was out of prison after being convicted of rape and then charged with having sexual conversations with a minor while he was still in prison.

"If you are a registered sex offender, pedophile, you do your full time. There should be no getting out. This could have all been prevented,” said 14-year-old Ivy Webster’s grandmother, Shannon Boykin.

She said she's angry that current Oklahoma laws allow convicted rapists, like McFadden, to get out of prison after serving 85 percent of their sentence.

She said if McFadden hadn't been released in October 2020, after serving 85 percent of his sentence, he might still be in prison.

"It needs to be like the U.S. Census, when a sex offender moves into your area, everybody gets a copy of it. Things need to change,” said Boykin.

Representative Fetgatter passed Kaylee's Law in 2019, which orders the courts to issue no contact orders between convicted sex offenders and their victims.

He said an even stronger law is needed now, not only to protect victims, but potential victims as well.

Fetgatter wants to see sex offenders serve 100 percent of their sentence before they can be released.

Ivy's family said they may never get all the answers about why these murders happened, but they hope law changes will keep this from happening again.

"We can get more funding for the OSBI if they need it, and we can make laws strict for pedophiles and stuff like that and so they can't get visitors in jail,” said Boykin. "Everybody just needs to keep in mind that if this was their daughter, granddaughter, sister. This is our first year of firsts."

The current legislative session ends May 26th, so any law would have to be put together and passed before then.