Inset: Rep. Ty Burns (Oklahoma House of Representatives). Background: The area where Burns allegedly ran a car off the road with his 16-year-old daughter inside (Google Maps).
A 46-year-old Oklahoma state representative and MAGA supporter will not be spending any time behind bars for a series of domestic violence incidents that included him trying to gouge out his wife”s eye and running his wife and their 16-year-old daughter off the road.
Pawnee County District Judge Patrick Pickerill last week handed down a 1-year suspended sentence to Republican Rep. Ty Burns after he pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of domestic abuse and two misdemeanor counts of assault, authorities announced. In addition, Burns will be required to complete a Batterers Intervention Program as part of his sentence.
“These are serious charges,” Attorney General Gentner Drummond said in a statement. “While there is no excuse for domestic violence, I am encouraged that the representative has taken responsibility for his actions and will receive counseling under terms of his sentence. Domestic violence is tragically all too common in our state. It must stop.”
The office of the attorney general took on the cases against Burns, filed in November 2024 and April 2025, after Pawnee County District Attorney Mike Fisher recused his office from prosecuting Burns.
After formally pleading guilty to the criminal charges, Burns resigned from the legislature, effective Oct. 1.
“It is in the best interest of the people I serve in House District 35 and, most importantly, my family to step down from my position,” he said in a statement. “I take full responsibility for my actions and am going to counseling with my family. Although not an excuse for my actions, I am receiving intensive treatment for issues from military service that I have long ignored as a problem.”
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According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by Law&Crime, Burns and his wife on April 24, got into an argument that culminated with him showing up at a home in Morrison, a city some 80 miles northeast of Oklahoma City, where there were at least two young children present and being “verbally abusive” towards [his wife] and “pushing her around.” The couple’s 16-year-old daughter was also in the home along with another adult female.
When the other female attempted to leave the home with the children in her van, police said Burns “came storming out of nowhere” and “started shaking the van and pushing it and also opened and slammed the doors.”
“Ty [Burns] started screaming at [redacted], ‘Get the f— out of here. I hate you. You are the cause of all these problems,'” the affidavit says. “[Burns] told [redacted] to get the f— out of there and that she would be sorry if she stayed. [Redacted] thought [Burns] was going to hurt her.”
When the van pulled away, authorities say Burns “then got in his big truck and started chasing.” The affidavit says he came “really close to the van” and “got to the side of the van and tried to make [redacted] weave off of the road.” Burns was finally able to overtake the van and stopped in the road, blocking the vehicle from moving forward and demanding his daughter get out of the car.
“I’m goin to make sure you go down,” he screamed per the affidavit. “I’m going to kill you.”
In a recording of the incident taken from inside the van, one of the occupants can be heard saying, “He is literally following us in the truck, he is chasing us, he is literally about to kill us.”
The driver of the van said she believed she hurt her back and hit her head when Burns “ran them off the road and they hit a ditch.”
During the investigation, Burns’ wife told investigators about a separate incident that took place during Thanksgiving 2024. She said Burns “got mad at her” because she “made plans to do something with friend.” After telling Burns he was “too controlling,” and that she was going with her friends anyway, he attacked her, per the affidavit.
“[Burns] followed [his wife] into the bathroom,” the document says. “[Burns] was pointing at [his wife] and then forcefully tried to gouge her eye out with his finger. [Burns] broke a blood vessel in [his wife’s] eye. As a result of her eye injury, [she] could not go to work the whole next week. [A family friend] confirmed having seen [Burns’ wife] with injury to her eye.”
