Accused of trying to “gouge” his wife’s eye out on Thanksgiving 2024 and of running his wife’s former mother-in-law and their teenage daughter off the road in April, Oklahoma House Rep. Ty Burns pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of domestic abuse and two misdemeanor counts of assault today in Pawnee County District Court.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond announced the charges, guilty plea and sentence Thursday — an unusual same-day charging and adjudication. Pawnee County Associate District Court Judge Patrick Pickerell gave Burns (R-Morrison) concurrent one-year suspended sentences on each count and ordered him to attend 52 weeks of domestic violence intervention services. Pickerell granted Burns unsupervised probation following the completion of his one-year suspended sentence.
“These are serious charges,” Drummond said in a statement. “While there is no excuse for domestic violence, I am encouraged that the representative has taken responsibility for his actions and will receive counseling under terms of his sentence. Domestic violence is tragically all too common in our state. It must stop.”
On April 29, Pawnee County District Attorney Mike Fisher asked the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation to review a complaint that Burns, 46, had gotten into an argument with his wife and her former mother-in-law April 25. Burns was accused of “attempting to run a vehicle that [the woman] was driving off the road and striking said vehicle with his hands while screaming and making threats of violence” around 11 p.m.
OSBI Special Agent Lynda Stevens wrote the probable cause affidavit (embedded below) outlining the investigation into Burns.
“The OSBI received the Pawnee County Sheriff’s report along with recorded interviews, a statement, audio/video of interviews and video depicting a time Ty Burns was chasing [the woman and Burns’ child] in his pickup truck as [the woman] was driving a van,” Stevens wrote. “I viewed the video and saw the following: The video was of a dark evening, a view of the two back windows of the van [the woman] and [the minor] were in, and through the back window the yellow lights on the top of Ty’s truck can be seen. The video also depicted the front of the van as it was travelling on a dirt road and the inside of the van. [The minor] can be heard saying, ‘He is literally following us in the truck, he is chasing us, he is literally about to kill us.’ [The woman] stated, ‘I don’t care he can kill me.’ [The minor] stated, ‘Oh my god this is scary.’ [The woman] stated, ‘I’m not scared.'”
Burns struck the van with his truck, passed [the woman] and stopped in the road to block her way before his daughter agreed to get into his vehicle, Stevens wrote. According to text messages from the daughter quoted in the OSBI affidavit, Burns was acting “fucking crazy.”
“(Burns) literally ran us off the road and hit us with his big ass truck,” one text stated. “Like [we] nearly almost died.”
During OSBI’s investigation of the April incident, Burns’ wife “told investigators about a separate incident in which she was physically assaulted by [Burns]” at their residence.
“[She] told investigators that last Thanksgiving holiday (2024), [she] made plans to do something with friends and Ty got mad at her,” Stevens wrote. “[She] told Ty he was too controlling, and that she was going. Ty followed [his wife] into the bathroom. Ty was pointing at [her] and then forcefully tried to gouge her eye out with his finger. Ty broke a blood vessel in [her] eye. As a result of her eye injury, [she] could not go to work the whole next week. [The former mother-in-law] confirmed having seen [Burns’ wife] with injury to her eye.”
Burns: ‘I must do better for myself and my family’
With Drummond only charging Burns with misdemeanor counts instead of felonies, the four-term legislator from Pawnee County is not required to resign from office despite pleading guilty to the crimes. Drummond’s press release said he chose to take over the case after Fisher, the Pawnee County DA, recused. Burns is represented by his colleague, Rep. Chris Kannady, in the criminal case. Kannady (R-OKC) is an attorney and the state staff judge advocate for the Oklahoma Air National Guard.
Burns, a military veteran and former law enforcement officer, released a statement saying that he is stepping down from his position as chairman of the House Appropriations and Budget Subcommittee on Finance.
“I take full responsibility for my actions and have started a year-long batterers intervention program and am getting treatment for post traumatic stress disorder and learning how to deal with past experiences in a more healthy manner,” Burns said. “I know I must do better for myself and my family. I deeply regret what occurred and am prepared to be held accountable for my actions.”
Burns said he wants to “focus on my family and serving my constituents.”
“There is no place in society for domestic violence of any kind,” House Speaker Kyle Hilbert (R-Bristow) said in a statement. “I appreciate Rep. Burns taking ownership for his actions and seeking treatment.”
Burns, who lives in the Watchorn area, was first elected to House District 35 in 2018. He previously worked in law enforcement and in ranching. He retired from the U.S. Army’s 45th Infantry Brigade in 2018 after 20 years of service. Burns was deployed to Iraq from 2007 to 2008 and to Afghanistan from 2011 to 2012. He received the Bronze Star, Infantry Badge and Purple Heart during his time in the military.
Burns becomes the first Oklahoma legislator to face criminal charges since Rep. Dean Davis (R-Broken Arrow) was arrested and charged in municipal court for public intoxication when an officer said he refused to leave a Bricktown bar after it had closed.
Rep. Ryan Martinez (R-Edmond) was arrested on a DUI charge in October 2022. Rep. Terry O’Donnell (R-Catoosa) was indicted by a grand jury in December 2021 for running legislation that allowed his wife to become a state-appointed tag agent and raised fees collected by tag agents. Davis pleaded no contest to his charge and lost his 2024 reelection bid, Martinez pleaded guilty and resigned, and O’Donnell had his case expunged after Attorney General Gentner Drummond dismissed it with the qualification, “Terry’s guilty.” O’Donnell was prevented from seeking reelection in 2024 owing to term limits.
This year, legislators revised the law governing domestic violence intervention programs to which offenders may be sentenced. Effective Nov. 1, HB 1273 allows the attorney general to authorize two pilot programs for alternative batterers’ intervention models that could carry shorter terms than the 52-week standard model. Gov. Kevin Stitt vetoed HB 1273, calling it “a concession to abusers” that “puts victims at greater risk.”
“Someone who has committed violence against their spouse should not have an easy way out. They should go to jail,” Stitt wrote. “This bill allows the batterers’ intervention program to be shortened from 52 weeks to a 26-week experimental pilot program, providing for an even more lenient punishment. This will make it easier for abusers to sidestep meaningful consequences and avoid jail time with less effort.”
Both chambers of the Legislature voted to override Stitt’s veto and pass HB 1273 into law. Burns voted to override Stitt’s veto May 29 and for HB 1273’s final passage May 14, only 19 days after he ran the van off the road in pursuit of his daughter. However, in March, Burns had voted against a version of the bill that would have granted all district court judges the discretion of sentencing domestic abusers to the alternative intervention models.
Stitt asks Burns to resign from Legislature
Just after noon Friday, the day following Burns’ guilty plea, Stitt released a statement encouraging the lawmaker to resign.
“Rep. Burns and his family are in my prayers, but at this time I urge him to step down from his position in the Legislature,” Stitt said. “Domestic violence is a serious crime and should be treated as such. Being an elected official is a full-time commitment to the public, and these serious convictions of recent abuse should demand full time attention to rehabilitation and reconciliation.”
Read the probable cause affidavit against Rep. Ty Burns
(Correction: This article was updated minutes after it was published to correct a reference to the charges in its headline and to correct reference to the military title of Rep. Chris Kannady. It was updated again at Friday, Aug. 29, to note that Burns’ sentences were suspended instead of deferred, to include Stitt’s call for Burns to resign, and clarify the relationship of the van driver to the family.)
 has pleaded guilty to three counts of domestic violence on family members according to court records.){kind=link}