The sun sets on the Fulton County Courthouse, Monday, Aug. 14, 2023, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Alex Slitz, File)
This story was updated on Thursday, July 17 at 11:09 a.m. to add context from a Gwinnett County prosecutor who handled Dickens’ case.
LaToya Dickens says her husband, whom she met when they were teenagers, physically abused her for years.
“By the time I was 18 years old, he and I had three children together,” Dickens said. “The abuse continued to get extensive. One time, I can recall that he lifted me up waist high to him and threw me off the porch while I was eight months pregnant.”
There were instances where the police were called, but Dickens said she didn’t press charges. At the time, she felt she had nowhere else to turn. That’s until January 1999, when Dickens ended up stabbing her husband one time while struggling over a knife. He died three days later.
“It was devastating to say the least,” Dickens said. “People just think, ‘Oh, she killed her husband, and she thinks she gets to walk away scot-free from that.’ That was never the case.”
LaToya Dickens stands inside the Georgia Capitol on February 5, 2025, after helping push for the passage of Georgia’s Survivor Justice Act, which received near-unanimous support. (Courtesy of LaToya Dickens)
According to Dickens, at no point during her trial did the court consider her backstory before she was convicted of felony murder.
John Melvin, a Gwinnett County prosecutor who handled her case, told WABE in a July 10 email a different account.
“Prior to the murder, Ms. Dickens called 911 and she announced her intent to kill her husband,” Melvin wrote. “Then she called 911 back moments later confessing to stabbing him. … So, the jury did get the backstory. They did hear of the prior abuse. They just rejected it.”
In the end, Dickens served 25 years in prison and is now on parole for the rest of her life, but she hopes Georgia’s Survivor Justice Act, which took effect on Tuesday, will allow her case to be re-examined, giving her a chance at full freedom.
Storytelling takes bill across the finish line
Dickens and several others shared their testimony with Georgia legislators earlier this year to garner support for what’s also known as House Bill 582.
It later passed with near-unanimous votes in both chambers, giving domestic violence survivors increased opportunities to argue that they acted in self-defense, fairer sentences if they are convicted of a crime related to their abuse and the ability to apply for a sentence reduction if they are already serving time in prison.
“It was extremely exhilarating to know that we were finally starting to be heard and seen,” Dickens said.
Robyn Hasan-Simpson, executive director of the Atlanta-based advocacy group Women on the Rise, is a domestic violence survivor, too. She and Dickens met while they were both serving time behind bars. But most recently, they came together to push for change.
“It was a lot of work on the back end,” Hasan-Simpson said, “but once we got legislators involved, we got [HB 582] passed this session, which was huge, because that normally takes two or three sessions. Our role was getting women involved who are currently incarcerated and formerly incarcerated… and so we just shared our story of how by having this law, it basically protects us for trying to survive.”
Two major reasons people don’t leave abusive relationships are because they’ve become financially dependent on a partner or it’s become more dangerous to leave than to stay, Hasan-Simpson said.
Oklahoma and a few other states have similar laws to protect domestic violence survivors from excessive prison sentences, but Hasan-Simpson says Georgia’s Survivor Justice Act is “better” because it’s retroactive.
“That never happens,” she said. “Normally, when we pass a law, it’s like, okay, it’s effective July 1, 2025, but if you got a sentence 20 years ago, it doesn’t affect you, which is crazy because you’ve changed the law!”
For Dickens, having a criminal record and being on lifetime parole has cost her a full-time job opportunity at a mental health counseling center. She said she’s trying to start her own cleaning business, but getting the money to do it has been difficult, so she’s trying to get re-certified to be a nursing assistant. She’s also had to pay for and take a domestic violence class.
“Some people will listen to what happened to you, and they will give you a second chance,” Dickens said. “So, you know, I’m just waiting for that opportunity.”
What’s next?
Last month, organizations, including Women on the Rise and the Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence, held a roundtable with prosecutors from across the state at McRae Women’s Facility to answer questions about the new law.
“As prosecutors, you know, their thing is to prosecute,” Hasan-Simpson said. “But we’re really trying to get them to understand and get the stories first-hand from women inside about how this could have helped them. That way, when we start helping women go back to court, prosecutors will be open to listening instead of wanting to fight people coming home.”
The Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence estimates that up to 95% of women who are currently incarcerated have experienced domestic or sexual violence during their lifetime. The advocacy organization FWD also estimates that about a quarter of women serving life sentences in Georgia may qualify for relief under the Survivor Justice Act.
In June, the state’s Corrections Department reported that there were 427 women in its custody who are serving life sentences, meaning just over a hundred could benefit from the change in the law.
New York implemented its own version in 2019 and faced several hurdles, ranging from the courts not understanding the process for seeking resentencing, which led to judges denying some claims initially, to a lack of representation or bandwidth from attorneys representing those incarcerated, according to PBS NewsHour.
Hasan-Simpson recommends that potential beneficiaries hire a lawyer, or if they can’t afford one, reach out to the Georgia Justice Project or Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence for help with their petition.
“We do tell people it’s not a get out of jail free card,” Hasan-Simpson said, “but it [can lead to] as little as you getting probation and up to 10 years in prison. That’s much better than the 30 years that you automatically get with a life sentence. That’s what’s in Georgia right now.”
