A petition on Change.org calling for the resignation of Tulsa District Judge Sharon Holmes has accumulated nearly a thousand signatures in a matter of a few days.
Jonathan, who created the petition with his wife, told KRMG Monday that he thought long and hard before posting it.
He related that a family member had suffered sexual abuse as a child, but didn’t disclose until she became an adult.
After making the extremely difficult decision to come forward, she followed through with prosecutors, and other victims stepped forward as well.
That led her abuser to eventually get sentenced to a hundred years in prison.
So when he heard about the case of Shawn Canady, a Broken Arrow man convicted on two counts of sexual abuse of a minor, it hit home for him and his family.
The jury in Canady’s case recommended 20 years in prison on each of the two felony convictions.
Judge Holmes instead sentenced him to 20 years’ probation on each count, to run concurrently.
“We felt so bad for the victims, having been through this with our own family,“ Jonathan told KRMG, ”It hurt our hearts to know what they must be going through. And the courage it takes for a victim to come forward with something like this is monumental."
He knows the petition has no legal weight, but hopes it will send a message to Judge Holmes.
“Ideally, I‘d like to see her walk away,” he added. “Maybe, when things like this are happening, and there‘s so much of an adverse reaction to the work that you’re doing, it’s time to hang up your cleats and go home.”
Judge Sharon Holmes was first elected to the bench in Tulsa County in 2014, becoming the first black woman to ever fill that role in the county.
She will be up for re-election in 2026.
Our reporter contacted her office, but was told she does not comment on cases or decisions.
You can see the petition here; as of late Monday afternoon, it had more than 900 signatures.