Ann E. Murray is the State's Attorney at Oklahoma Department of Human Services. She received her J.D. from the University of Oklahoma in 1991. She has served as the President of the Grady County Bar Association.
If a researcher wishes to use the information gathered in this interview for uses other than educational or scholarly uses, they may not do so without further permission from the interview subject.
Below is a short selection of the interview with Ann E. Murray. You can listen to the full interview by visiting the Chickasaw Nation Law Library at Oklahoma City University School of Law.
Below is an excerpt from Ms. Murray's interview and a link to download the full transcript.
KEK: And who, who are mostly the people that end up paying child support, is it mostly men or women here in the state of Oklahoma or does it just vary by case?
AEM: It’s mostly men are the obligors for child support. Although, there are quite a few women that are ordered to pay and do pay child support. You know, I hate the term deadbeat dad and I wish we could remove that from our vocabulary because the men come in angry and I don’t blame them, if I were labeled like that I would come in angry. And I have to say, “Did I call you that, no, I did not call you that. Do I think of you in that way? No. I know you’re having problems or I know something is going on, let’s work it out, let’s get it back to where you can pay your child support, so that your children are supported because you do love them. I can tell that you do.”
KEK: So, would you rather try to work something out first or go straight to a contempt hearing if someone is not paying?
AEM: Oh, we always try to work something out first. Usually what we do is we’ll set up an arraignment and they’ll plead guilty and we’ll set up a payment plan. And then after that, maybe have it for sentencing and then we may not, as long as they abide by the payment plan, we might not ever see them again. But if they don’t, we do a motion to accelerate the sentencing and get back in court. But usually we still work out a payment plan to help them out. And then, you know, it takes a lot before it gets to a contempt hearing.