Sara Polston, whose early release from prison prompted Oklahoma lawmakers to tighten the state’s early-release program, is now challenging the new law in federal court.
Polston filed a federal lawsuit against Oklahoma Department of Corrections director Justin Farris on Wednesday, arguing the state can’t retroactively use Senate Bill 137 to send her back to prison without notice.
A judge in Cleveland County gave Polston a 15-year sentence in December 2025, with the first eight years to be served in prison after she pleaded guilty to DUI-great bodily injury. But the Oklahoma Department of Corrections released Polston with an ankle monitor after serving just 73 days in prison.
Polston was charged after she caused a 2023 car crash that nearly killed 20-year-old Micaela Borrego in Norman. Polston’s blood alcohol level was nearly twice the legal limit when she sailed through four stop signs going 66 miles per hour in a Norman residential area, according to court records.
Borrego suffered a traumatic brain injury as a result of the crash and now needs constant care, according to her family.
Oklahoma law allowed certain crimes to be eligible for release with GPS monitoring at the time of Polston’s conviction and sentencing. Gov. Kevin Stitt was a “close personal friend” of the Polstons, according to the grand jury investigation. The report, published in May, revealed Stitt made multiple calls to Farris on behalf of the Polstons.
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Become a donor“On at least one other occasion, the Governor’s Chief of Staff, Donnell Harder, called interim Director Farris inquiring about Sara Polston even before she was sentenced to prison,” according to the report.
Stitt’s office received over 30 emailed letters urging him not to allow Polston’s release, according to state records.
Public outcry over Polston’s release resulted in the Oklahoma Legislature passing Senate Bill 137 earlier this year. The bill became law in May without the governor’s signature and bans people convicted of DUI-causing great bodily injury from participating in the state’s GPS release program.
The law says, “loss of eligibility for the program shall result in removal of the inmate from the program.”
“Oklahoma officials have credibly threatened that SB137 will be retroactively enforced against Ms. Polston to automatically remove her from the Program and send her back to prison,” Polston’s attorneys wrote in a complaint filed Wednesday in federal court in Oklahoma City.
The complaint alleges that applying the law retroactively to remove Polston from the program to put her back into prison would be unconstitutional because it would give her a heavier punishment based on a newly passed law that was enacted after she committed the crime.
The lawsuit claims the law “specifically targets Ms. Polston” by attempting to send her back to prison and impose an additional sentence without requiring a trial.
The Multi-County Grand Jury report found that Polston received favored treatment while jailed at the Cleveland County Detention Center. According to the investigation, former Cleveland County Sheriff Chris Amason arranged for private meetings between Polston and her husband, tax attorney Rod Polston. Amason allowed Polston to have food from Chick-fil-A and staff allowed her to have a tablet outside of “normal procedures,” according to the report.
The grand jury report noted that the GPS release program had “serious pitfalls” concerning how it chose inmates. The grand jury made several recommendations following the investigation, such as requiring inmates to serve a minimum percentage of their sentences before being eligible and notifying victims and prosecutors before approving GPS transfers.
One recommendation directly addressed Polston’s situation.
The grand jury recommended that the Department of Corrections require any inmate currently sentenced for DUI-great bodily injury who is part of the GPS program “to be immediately returned to traditional DOC custody
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Ashlynd Baecht joined The Frontier in 2023 as a criminal justice reporter. Contact Ashlynd at Ashlynd@readfrontier.com
