Mom and Daughter Face Incest Charges After Getting Married

An Oklahoma woman and her daughter face incest charges for getting married to each other earlier this year, after the mother had previously married her son. It’s unclear why 43-year-old Patricia Ann Spann and her 25-year-old daughter, Misty Velvet Dawn Spann, tied the knot. But marriage to a close relative is legally considered incest in Oklahoma even if there is no sexual relationship. The pair appeared Wednesday at a Stephens County District Court hearing, where the mother claimed she thought marriage was acceptable because she was not listed on her daughter’s birth certificate. She said three of her children had been adopted by their paternal grandmother, though she reunited with her daughter last year, according to court documents. Police say she married her son in 2008, though he filed for annulment 15 months later and cited incest as the reason. The women are being held on $10,000 bonds.