After appeal, EPD Lt. Jennifer Haddock granted ‘stand your ground’ immunity in brother’s killing

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After winning an appeal before the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, Edmond Police Department Lt. Jennifer Haddock has been granted immunity from prosecution in her brother’s 2023 shooting death under the state’s “stand your ground” statute.

Oklahoma County District Judge Susan Stallings — who first denied the “stand your ground” claim in January 2025 because she said Haddock was “arguably a trespasser” in her mother’s apartment where the shooting took place — issued an order Wednesday declaring Haddock should not be subject to the manslaughter charge filed for the death of her brother, Sean Haddock. Stallings’ new order arrived days after the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals unanimously ordered a new review of the case.

“While introducing a firearm into a volatile verbal argument may not have been an appropriate response, it was not illegal,” Stallings’ new order stated. “A person pointing a weapon at a perpetrator in self-defense or in order to thwart, stop or deter a forcible felony or attempted forcible felony shall not be deemed guilty of committing a criminal act.”

Bayleigh Adams and J. Patrick Quillian, legal counsel for Jennifer Haddock, released a joint statement following the decision.

“We are pleased that the court has granted Ms. Haddock immunity,” Adams and Quillian said. “At this time, we will reserve any further comment as we await the state’s decision on whether it will appeal.”

Oklahoma County District Attorney Vicki Behenna has yet to make that determination, according to spokeswoman Brook Arbeitman.

“We are reviewing the decision and deciding next steps,” Arbeitman said in a Thursday afternoon email. “That’s all I can tell you at this point.”

Shooting stemmed from argument over furniture

The Aug. 3, 2023, shooting took place in the apartment of Marcia Ricketson, the mother of Jennifer Haddock and Sean Haddock. According to details outlined in court documents, Jennifer Haddock had been invited to help Ricketson move out of the apartment, and Sean Haddock was also present. Sean Haddock claimed a black set of furniture inside the apartment was his, which led to an intense verbal altercation inside the apartment.

While Behenna’s office argued Jennifer Haddock was engaged in “potentially unlawful” behavior when she asserted the furniture was not her brother’s and said it would be removed from the apartment, Stallings wrote in her Wednesday immunity order that Ricketson and Marla Haddock, Jennifer Haddock’s stepmother, had reached an agreement to return the black furniture set to Marla Haddock, the original owner. Marla Haddock had agreed to let Sean Haddock use the furniture set in his mother’s apartment for as long as she lived there, according to court documents.

Sean Haddock occasionally stayed at his mother’s apartment but had long since moved out by the time of his death, which the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals acknowledged meant he was no longer a “tenant at will” in its reversal of Stallings’ January 2025 order.

Jennifer Haddock testified in a December 2024 hearing that, during the confrontation, Sean Haddock was more angry than she had ever seen him. She described her brother as stout and muscular, an armed forces veteran, a former university wrestler and a former rugby player. In the close confines of the apartment, Jennifer Haddock testified, she feared he could easily overwhelm and potentially disarm her.

Jennifer Haddock and other family members testified to Sean Haddock’s history of aggression and drug abuse. A toxicology report following his death revealed the presence of fentanyl and methamphetamine in Sean Haddock’s system at the time of his death, potentially contributing to his aggression. The day before he died, he had appeared with “the flue and a fever” in Oklahoma County District Court on a possession of methamphetamine charge, which was filed that March after he was found passed out in his car in a McDonald’s parking lot.

Underscoring disconnects in Oklahoma’s criminal justice system, court records indicate a bench warrant was issued for Sean Haddock’s arrest in October 2023 — two months after his death — because he failed to appear for a court date. In January 2025, his bond was forfeited to the state.

Ultimately, Jennifer Haddock shot her brother with a personal handgun that she testified she would sometimes carry even while off-duty. During the shouting match, Ricketson testified that Sean Haddock had become “fixated” on the weapon, and at one point after Jennifer Haddock removed it from its carry bag, he grabbed the barrel of the handgun and pressed it to his forehead, daring his sister to kill him.

Jennifer Haddock later pulled the trigger after Sean Haddock “raised his right fist backwards,” according to court documents, hitting him in the upper torso. Jennifer Haddock said in her December 2024 testimony she feared the movement indicated her brother was preparing to attack her.

“Although [Jennifer Haddock] administered first aid, Sean died,” court documents read.

The state had previously argued that Sean Haddock was acting in self defense himself, feeling threatened by his sister’s handgun. Stallings disagreed with that assessment in her Wednesday order.

“Whether [Jennifer Haddock’s] brandishing of her weapon caused an adverse reaction with the victim or not, the evidence did not show [Jennifer Haddock] intentionally provoked the victim to use or attempt to use unlawful physical or deadly force,” Stallings wrote.

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