Charles “Tim” Laughlin

Qualifications

Charles “Tim” Laughlin

Tim Laughlin’s entire career has been dedicated to defending the Constitutional rights of Oklahomans in criminal courts. In more than 27 years, Tim defended hundreds of clients at the trial or appellate levels in courts all over Oklahoma.

The charges ranged from misdemeanors to capital murder. He has investigated and prepared successful trial strategies in cases involving allegations of property crimes, drug crimes, sex crimes, and violent offenses including first degree murder and rape. In addition to securing not-guilty verdicts on behalf of many of his clients, Tim has successfully negotiated beneficial case dispositions for hundreds of clients through zealous advocacy, diligent preparation, and skilled resolution strategies.

Professional Experience

Through each of the professional experiences described below, Tim has developed valuable investigative, cross-examination, research, and trial preparation skills. Until joining the Wyatt Law Office, Tim Laughlin spent his entire career with the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System (OIDS), ultimately running the agency.  His passion is defending those accused of crimes.
Executive Director, Oklahoma Indigent Defense System, February 2021 – January 2025
As Executive Director of the State’s largest public defender agency, Tim managed the recruitment, training, and performance of attorneys and investigators for thousands of clients in seventy-five of Oklahoma’s seventy-seven Counties. Tim relied on his years of trial and appellate experience to foster winning trial and appellate advocacy strategies. 

Chief of the Non-Capital Trial Division, Oklahoma Indigent Defense System, January 2007 – January 2021
Often under difficult budgetary circumstances, Tim secured skilled trial attorneys, tenacious investigators, and well-qualified experts in defense of the Constitutional rights of tens of thousands of people. When the opportunity presented itself, Tim would personally take cases to trial, often securing not-guilty verdicts. 

Capital Trial Defense, August 2004 – January 2007
Tim defended clients charged with first degree murder in cases in which the government sought the death penalty. These cases were factually heavy and legally complicated. Each of these cases involved dozens of facts witnesses and several expert witnesses. Tim, in coordination with his trial teams, secured life-saving resolutions for all but one of his clients at a time when the State was aggressively pursuing the death penalty in Oklahoma. Tim’s and his team’s successes included securing several charge reductions from first degree murder to a lesser offense. One example: Tim and his team secured a reduction in charge from first-degree murder to a lesser offense and the client was received a 20-year suspended sentence. Tim and his co-counsel also secured a first-degree murder not-guilty verdict in a death penalty trial in which their client, a prison inmate serving a life without parole sentence for a previous homicide, was found guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter for killing his cellmate. 

Non-Capital Trial Attorney, March 1998 – August 2004
Tim defended hundreds of clients in Western Oklahoma who faced all kinds of criminal charges. Tim defended juveniles, youthful offenders, and adults charged with property crimes, drug offenses, domestic violence, sexual offenses, and homicide including first degree murder.

Capital Post-Conviction Attorney/Investigator May 1997 – March 1998
Tim researched, investigated, and helped prepare post-conviction applications in some of the most complicated criminal cases in Oklahoma history.

Education

• University of Oklahoma, Bachelor of Arts Degree, English Major, History and Political Science Minors, 1993
• University of Oklahoma School of Law, Juris Doctor, 1997

Honors

• Champion of Public Defense, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyer – 2025
• Professional Advocate Award (Defense) Oklahoma Bar Association Criminal Justice Section, 2009
• President of Oklahoma Criminal Defense Lawyers Association (OCDLA), 2011 – 2013 (Member since 1998)
• Custer County Bar President, 2002
• Honored Speaker for the Society of Forensic Toxicologists, 2009
• Academic Achievement Award, European Human Rights, 1997

Bar Admissions

• Oklahoma
• U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Oklahoma (pending)
• U.S. District Court, Northern District of Oklahoma (pending)
• U.S. District Court, Western District of Oklahoma (pending)

Other Affiliations

• Oklahoma Bar Association
• Oklahoma Criminal Defense Lawyers Association (OCDLA)
• National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL)
• Oklahoma County Bar Association

Presentations & Lectures

Tim Laughlin has been sought as a criminal law and procedure expert for many years.  His speaking engagements are too many to list.   He has spoken at the annual OCDLA Criminal Defense Institute and many other OCDLA continuing legal education (CLE) seminars over the years, in addition to speaking before the Oklahoma Judicial Conference and many County Bar Associations across Oklahoma.    Much of Tim’s career has been spent teaching other lawyers with the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System on matters of criminal law and procedure, the rules of evidence, trial preparation, and trial practice.

Representative Cases

State of Oklahoma v.  Johnson – Mr. Johnson was charged with first degree rape based on the state’s theory that the complaining witness was too intoxicated to consent to a sexual encounter. Through diligent preparation and careful cross-examination, Tim and co-counsel established testimony that hours lapsed between the witness’s last consumption of alcohol and the time of the very brief sexual encounter. After a brief deliberation, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty.

State of Oklahoma v.  Flores – Mr. Flores charged with sexual battery following allegations by two young women who worked with Mr. Flores at a restaurant. Tim developed testimony at trial that provided the jury valuable context. The jury found Mr. Flores not guilty of sexual battery but guilty of simple assault and battery and sentenced him to 1 day in jail.

State v. Cooper – Years before becoming Tim’s client, Mr. Cooper pleaded guilty to first degree murder and was sentenced to life without parole. He was 19 years old. In his early thirties, while in prison in Lawton, Mr. Cooper killed his cellmate. The State charged Mr. Cooper with first degree murder and filed a bill of particulars in support of the death penalty. Tim and his co-counsel thoroughly investigated the facts of the case exposing institutional malpractice and corruption that facilitated the prison homicide. At trial, Mr. Cooper was found not guilty of first-degree murder, but guilty of the lesser charge of first-degree manslaughter.  His new life sentence ran concurrent with the Life without parole Cooper was already serving. 

In a subsequent civil suit brought by the decedent’s family against the prison, Mr. Cooper insisted on testifying to his role in the homicide and the corruption that contributed to it. The plaintiff’s lawyers virtually copied Tim’s trial strategy and obtained jury award of $6.5 million in actual and punitive damages.

State v. Creamer – Mr. Creamer was charged with two counts of first-degree rape and one count of sodomy. The charges were filed as Mr. Creamer was litigating a divorce. Tim defended Mr. Creamer through preliminary examination and jury trial. Following a contentious trial, the jury found Mr. Creamer not guilty of all charges.

Contact Information for Tim Laughlin

Wyatt Law Office, 501 N. Walker Ave., Suite 110, Oklahoma City, OK 73102
Phone: 405-234-5500
Direct: 405-225-2858
Text: 405-225-2858
International: 00+1-405-234-5500 (from outside the U.S.)