Corky Siemaszko is a senior reporter for NBC News Digital.
The governor of Oklahoma has been accused of showing “rank political favoritism” to his college friend’s wife after she was sentenced to eight years in prison for drunk driving and causing an accident that maimed a young woman — but was released with an ankle monitor after having served just 73 days behind bars.
Gov. Kevin Stitt made “multiple calls” to the interim head of the state Department of Corrections about Sara Polston, according to a multicounty grand jury report state Attorney General Gentner Drummond released Friday. Stitt’s chief of staff, Donnell Harder, also called the Corrections Department chief “inquiring about Sara Polston even before she was sentenced to prison,” the report says.
While none of the witnesses who testified before the grand jury said Stitt told them to release Polston early, the report says, “it defies common sense and logic to believe” that the calls to the Corrections Department chief, Justin Farris, “did not play a role in the remarkable decision to release Sara Polston just over two months into an eight-year sentence for DUI -Great Bodily Injury. ” Neither Stitt not Harder are accused of breaking the law, but, the report says, “this rank political favoritism, particularly on a crime that nearly took the life of a 20-year old young woman, is indefensible.
” Stitt, a two-term Republican governor, did not respond to a request for comment from NBC News about the allegations. In an interview Friday with KWTV of Oklahoma City, Stitt said he did call the Corrections Department about Polston but insisted he did “zero favors for this inmate. ” He also conceded that Polston’s husband, Rod, is his lifelong friend, fraternity brother and political supporter.
“When I found out she was going on an ankle monitor, I called to say this is weird. Are you sure this is right? ” Stitt said.
“I never called to say put her on an ankle bracelet. ” Stitt emphasized that the grand jury report said that “there is no criminal wrongdoing from the Department of Corrections, from the governor’s office, from anybody. ” “What you have is basically political gossip and hearsay,” he said. Asked whether Polston should still be in prison, Stitt said, “Under the current law, no, because of the ankle bracelet.
” “But going forward, yes,” he said, adding that the 73 days she spent in jail was “too short. ” Under Oklahoma law, offenders with sentences of 10 years or less for nonviolent crimes who have already served minimums of 30 days could be considered for early release with GPS monitoring. The Corrections Department reviews the inmates’ eligibility, coordinates with their case managers and submits the plans to the Corrections Department’s population office.
Stitt also took a swipe at Drummond, a Republican running for governor, accusing him of weaponizing his office for political gain.
“It’s what they did to President Trump,” he said, repeating a baseless accusation that plays well in deeply conservative Oklahoma. Drummond also did not respond to a request for comment from NBC News. Polston, 43, was driving to pick up her kids from school in February 2023 when she crashed her car into a vehicle driven by Micaela Borrego, 20, in Norman, police said.
“She later admitted to drinking margaritas at lunch with a group of women before getting behind the wheel that day,” the grand jury report says. Borrego was badly injured and “spent two months in a coma and suffered a stroke due to her injuries, potentially shortening her life expectancy by ten years,” it says. Farris began getting calls from the governor’s office before Polston was sentenced last December.
“That conversation was initially discussing Farris’ appointment to the role of interim DOC Director and his impending Senate confirmation,” the grand jury report says. “The conversation then shifted to the topic of Sara Polston who was at the time a pending criminal defendant not yet in the custody of DOC. ” The governor’s office was asking for information about the presentencing investigation the judge in Polston’s case asked the Corrections Department to conduct.
After she was sentenced, Polston was sent to the Cleveland County Jail, where, unlike other inmates, she was allowed to switch cells, was given access to an iPad and was allowed to nosh on her Chick-fil-A delivered to the jail by her husband, the report says. The sheriff later told investigators that “he was trying to do Polston a favor and wanted to ‘do them a solid,’” according to the report.
In the meantime, the report says, Rod Polston was giving his wife updates on what he was doing to get her out of jail.
“Knowing that their calls were being recorded, the Polstons often spoke in code to conceal the subjects of their conversations,” the report says. “A common subject of conversation was a person the Polstons referred to as ‘The Guy,’ ‘Our Friend,’ and ‘Our Buddy. ’” The report does not identify the person. In at least two calls, Rod Polston mentioned that he was reaching out to somebody named “Kevin.
” NBC News emailed both Polstons for comment and to ask whether Kevin referred to Stitt in the phone calls. Neither immediately responded. Rod Polston also said he was planning to contact Jon Echols, a former state politician and current candidate for state attorney general. Echols, the report says, did not play any role in the Polston case.
And he returned the $3,500 campaign contribution he received from Rod Polston, his campaign manager, Isaac Hadam, told NBC News.
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