State Rep. Dean Davis censured after claiming immunity from arrest

Georgia Jones Contributing Writer

The Oklahoma House of Representatives voted to censure State Rep. Dean Davis, R-Broken Arrow, last Monday after the lawmaker was arrested for public intoxication and attempting to use his State Representative card to “get out of jail free.” This raised debate among lawmakers on how to approach representatives who misunderstand the law, and how to handle those who do not meet the guidelines set forth by either House.

The card Davis had police review states that “Senators and Representatives shall, except for treason, felony, or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during the session of the Legislature, and in going to and returning from the same, and, for any speech or debate in either House, shall not be questioned in any other place.”

The police then informed Davis that he was not in session outside the Skinny Slims in Oklahoma City, and arrested the representative on March 23. He was then subsequently censured on March 27.

“As a body, the House of Representatives and its members must hold ourselves to a high standard, and Rep. Davis’ conduct did not live up to that standard,” said Speaker of the House, Charles McCall. “The House of Representatives has nothing but the utmost respect for the members of our law enforcement community, and we expect the members of our body to exemplify that in their dealings with law enforcement.”

Censuring means a governmental body has made a formal statement of disapproval against a representative; however, the representative still holds the position, title, and power to vote. Davis is not the first Oklahoma representative to be arrested, nor the first to be censured during this session. Rep. Mauree Turner was censured on March 7 for allowing a protester who was wanted for questioning in connection with an alleged assault inside of their House office and rejecting multiple requests by law enforcement to question the individual.

Turner also spoke of Davis’ censure and spoke against the decision made.

“Continuing to censure people in this body won’t push the representative towards the help that he needs, and sends a message to folks who are battling substance use issues that getting the help you need is not the priority to this body, but continuing to silence communities who need access to resources, who need to be wrapped in love and community support, the message we send to them is that those issues aren’t a priority to us,” Turner said. “Have we ever tried something different? I’m asking, have we ever tried to actually get people the help they need?”

Davis had been arrested previously on intoxication charges, including a DUI charge from 2019 that he finished serving probation for on March 3. Another state representative, Rep. Ryan Martinez, R-Edmond, was charged with a felony in December 2022 in connection to his DUI from October of the same year, and made a similar claim of immunity from arrest.

State law forbids anyone convicted of a felony from serving in the Legislature. Early last year, Rep. Terry O’Donnell resigned from office after he and his wife were arrested on multiple charges, including conspiracy against the state. The House voted to censure Davis, with a vote of 81-9.