She decided to vacate Wards conviction and life sentence, and ordered his release. Per The Associated Press, the convictions were based almost entirely on accounts they said they retrieved from dreams, and came after hours of interrogation by Ada police and state agents desperate to solve the disappearance of Haraway in 1984, just two years after the unsolved rape and murder of another young woman in the small central Oklahoma town.. Oklahoma Attorney General's Office Appeals Release Of Tommy Ward. Oklahoma seeks to uphold the murder conviction of Karl Fontenot in the murder of Donna "Denice" Haraway. Ward was convicted alongside Karl Fontenot for murdering Donna Harraway in Ada. In both Ward and Fontenots cases, judges issued rulings excoriating investigators for withholding favorable evidence from defense attorneys. Both have excellent teams of lawyers who continue to work for their release." The conclusion of "The Innocent Man" docu-series notes that Ward's post-conviction filing has been opposed by the state, but that a judge will review the case in 2019. Shot by Shot: Tracking Oklahoma police shootings in 2023, Listen Frontier: Sen. James Lankford speaks with The Frontier about abortion, immigration and more, Frontier content sharing and collaboration terms. Tuesday, they filed a brief with the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals. Hes very disappointed that hes still in prison for a murder he didn't commit, Wards attorney Mark Barrett told The Associated Press on Tuesday (30 August), adding that the legal team is pressing forward and exploring the possibility of going to federal court.. The Attorney Generals office claims in its filing that Fontenot and Ward attempted to minimize their involvement in Haraways death during their confessions by saying the primary aggressor was another man who was never charged with the crime. Fontenots attorneys have argued that many of the inaccurate details of his confession were supplied by detectives from the Ada Police Department and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations. In her 2020 ruling vacating Wards conviction, Judge Inge pointed to what she said were issues with the evidence in the case, and deemed that due to the passage of time, Ward would not be able to receive a fair trial. Tommy Ward to be set free . PublishedDecember 26, 2020 at 10:50 AM CST, KGOU | Position: WR Height: 6-0 Weight: 190 College: Rutgers Hometown: Canton, PA High School: Canton HS "They have now been in prison for 31 years, serving hard time for a murder committed by someone else. Newly filed court documents reveal that a man who was one of the subjects of "The Innocent Man" is set to be released from prison. Share. Appears the state will retry Karl Fontenot, who was released 2 years ago and subject of #netflix special. At time of writing, he is still serving his life sentence without the possibility of parole, and is now 54 years old. But now, Wards release has been blocked by the state Attorney Generals Office. At only 25 years old, he has already made a name for himself in the entertainment industry, and his videos on social media have racked up millions of views. mail The attorney generals office now has 20 days to respond. Haraway had been shot rather than stabbed, was 20 miles away from where the men said her body had been dumped, and she had been wearing different clothes than those Ward and Fontenot described. Ward was featured in the Netflix documentary and John Grisham book An Innocent Man. Ward along with Karl Fontenot were convicted of killing Denice Haraway back in the 1980s. Please refer to our. The state also claims witnesses saw men matching Ward and Fontenots descriptions in the convenience store where Haraway worked before she disappeared. The Official YouTube Channel of Tommy Ward. Read: Attorney General's Office Appeals Ruling That Would Vacate Sentence Of Tommy Ward, In Tuesdays filing, attorneys representing Ward argued the district judges ruling was fair and reasonable and echoed the judge that the withheld evidence creates a reasonable probability that the outcome would be different.. Tommy Ward is a critically acclaimed singer and entertainer from Las Vegas who has a deep love and appreciation for legendary musicians and crooners. Tommy Ward was scheduled to be released in December 2020, but . Breaking news: Judge orders Tommy released and vacates his conviction. Fontenot was released from prison after a federal judge in Oklahoma ruled in 2019 that the state committed numerous constitutional violations. By, 'Deeply tainted': Oklahoma conservatives call for moratorium, abolition of the death penalty, Sheriff, jail health care provider seek public money to increase staff after two women died, AG Drummond orders independent counsel to review Glossip death penalty case, Oklahoma Attorney General requests more time in between executions. OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) - Convicted murderer Tommy Ward has filed a brief in response to the Attorney General's motion to keep him locked up in prison. Fontenot, Wards co-defendant, was ordered released by a federal judge in 2019, and the state is also appealing that order. Along with co-defendant Tommy Ward, Karl Fontenot was convicted twice in the kidnapping and murder of Donna Denise Haraway from an Ada convenience store in 1984 and sentenced to life without. The courts exhaustively reviewed voluminous amounts of withheld exculpatory evidence and correctly concluded that this is the rare case in which a habeas petitioner has credibly demonstrated actual innocence, the lawyers said. featured in the book and television series, Reports: 3 children dead, 2 wounded in attack at Texas home, Kellyanne Conway, George Conway To Divorce After Decadeslong Marriage: Report, School punished teen girl for working out in sports bra in 100-degree Texas heat, ACLU says, U.S. court won't require FAA to make airplane seat size, spacing rules, 'Extremely dangerous': Spike in illegal crossings at Canada-Vermont border has feds sounding alarm. Barrett noted that the appeals court ordered the lower court to consider an additional claim regarding new evidence discovered in 2019. He is currently serving time at the Dick Conner Correctional Center in Hominy in Oklahoma. Tommy Ward. Ive never been in jail or had a police record in my life and no one in my face telling me Id killed a pretty woman, that Im going to get the death penalty, so I told them the story hoping they would leave me alone. Please refer to our. and his videos on social media have racked up millions of views. [Warning: Spoilers for "The Innocent Man" ahead!]. Attorneys representing Tommy Ward continue to fight for his release from jail. The convictions of Ward and Fontenot have come under intense scrutiny for years and have been the subject of numerous books, including John Grishams The Innocent Man, which he produced into a six-part documentary. Evidence presented to exonerate Fontenot had been available since Fontenots trials in the 1980s, the state said, arguing that the high court should accept the caseto clarify that new evidence means newly discovered or newly available evidence as opposed to newly presented evidence. More:Oklahoma Army veteran gets probation for role in Jan. 6 US Capitol riot. The only evidence the state used in convicting Ward was a confession that he later claimed was spun wildly from a dream he reported, and only came out after intense pressure and hours of brutal interrogation. More damningly, Haraway had not been been stabbed as the young men had described. SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE DAILY NEWSLETTER, FIRST TAKE, 'The Innocent Man': Netflix Sets December Launch for Docuseries Based on John Grisham Book. The judge found Tommy Ward didnt get a fair trial. Ward's attorney, Mark Barrett, will also be filing an appeal for exoneration. But one day before Ward's release, a temporary stay,. Meanwhile, Fontenot, as explained in the Netflix series, had perhaps offered his testimony to the aggressive police because he both feared for his safety and wanted to escape from what was described as poverty and homelessness. The judge said newly discovered evidence about Fontenot's alibi and other suspects in the murder provided "solid proof" of his probable innocence. Back in December a Ponotoc County judge overturned Wards conviction saying prosecutors withheld evidence in the case. It was based on the 2006 true-crime book The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town by John Grisham. The convictions of Ward and Fontenot have been the subject of numerous books, including John Grishams The Innocent Man, which he produced into a six-part documentary. His previous EPs "Forget Me Not" and "Merry Christmas" both reached the Top 10 on iTunes jazz charts on the first day of their release. He is now 58 years old and says he will not admit guilt even if it means improving his chances at parole. Sign up with your email address to receive news and updates. Oklahoma seeks to uphold the murder conviction of Karl Fontenot in the murder of Donna Denice Haraway. Get all your true crime news from Oxygen. However, she would never be seen alive again. Ward and a co-defendant, Karl Fontenot, were convicted and sentenced to life in prison in the 1984 kidnapping and killing of Donna Denice Haraway, a convenience store clerk in Ada, Oklahoma. You can opt-out at any time. Haraways body was located after the convictions. a man whose murder conviction in Oklahoma was overturned, Fontenot and Thomas Ward were convicted of killing Ada convenience store clerk Donna Denice Haraway in 1984, which became a Netflix documentary series, Oklahoma Army veteran gets probation for role in Jan. 6 US Capitol riot, Human remains found, Oklahoma white supremacist leader might be connected, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. - QUINCY JONES, 27 time GRAMMY-award-winning producer "A fine singer A lovely, silky voice." The newlywed college student worked as a clerk there at night. Forget Me Not EP available now on all major platforms. Ward's case was the focus of the Netflix documentary "The Innocent Man, " which was released in 2018. The convictions were based almost entirely on accounts they said they retrieved from dreams. The Court of Criminal Appeals ordered Tommy Ward, 60, to remain imprisoned while the state appeals the lower court's ruling that he be released. Tommy Ward andKarl Fontenot were sentenced to death in 1985 for the murder of Denice Haraway, despite the fact that their confessions didn't match the crime they were accused of. Fontenot was released from prison after a federal judge in Oklahoma ruled in 2019 that the state committed numerous constitutional violations. The order is the latest in a string of decisions rebuking the convictions of Ward and Karl Fontenot for an infamous 1984 murder documented in two books and a recent Netflix documentary. They cant. The conclusion of "The Innocent Man" docu-series notes that Ward's post-conviction filing has been opposed by the state, but that a judge will review the case in 2019. (Oklahoma Department of Corrections via AP), Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. Denice Haraway of Ada, Oklahoma went in for an ordinary day of work at her convenience store job on April 28, 1984. info@tommywardmusic.com | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use. Courtesy. Timmy Ward gamelogs for the 2022 season. The most recent exculpatory disclosure came in 2019, 31 years after Fontenots conviction.. Critically acclaimed singer, musician, and entertainer. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. The state Attorney Generals office appealed the order to overturn Fontenots conviction in federal court and has now announced its intent to appeal the order to release Ward. Later that year, an Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation Agent interviewed Tommy Ward, who said he, Karl Fontenot, and another man robbed the store Haraway worked at, then stabbed and raped. Fontenot has been released pending a decision from the United States 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. The judge said newly discovered evidence about Fontenots alibi and other suspects in the murder provided solid proof of his probable innocence. The case was the subject of the book, The Dreams of Ada, by Robert Mayer, and was also described in John Grishams The Innocent Man, which became a Netflix documentary series. Karl Fontenot was 20 years old in 1984, when he was arrested for the rape and murder of Donna Denice Haraway along with Tommy Ward. In June this year, the US Supreme Court refused to take up the case and to examine the states appeal. Last week, a Pontotoc County District Court judge ordered Tommy Ward be released from prison. At 17, he and his band were one of the youngest opening acts in Las Vegas history, completing 90 shows for Billboard #1 artist and Las Vegas headliner of the year, Frankie Moreno. The six-part docuseries series, based on John Grishams 2006 best-selling non-fiction book The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town, tells the story of Ronald Keith Williamson, a man wrongfully convicted of rape and murder who spent 11 years on death row before he was exonerated. The investigators seem to have taken on the role of prosecutor, judge and jury, determining that the only relevant evidence was evidence that fit their theory of the case.. OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) A man who has spent 35 years in prison in a murder case featured in the book and television series The Innocent Man must remain incarcerated even after a judge ordered his release, an appeals court ruled Thursday. Fontenot was released in December 2019 at the age of 55 after a federal judge ordered he be released or retried. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and filming for Halloween Ends to release on October 14, 2022 with! I received Christmas cards last week from both Tommy Ward and Karl Fontenot, so we keep in touch," Grisham said. Tommy has been recommended for parole at least twice, but turned down by the board in Oklahoma. The Oklahoma Attorney Generals Office has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the conviction of one man in the 1984 murder of an Ada convienince store worker featured featured The Innocent Man. The attorneys claim a trove of hundreds of new documents uncovered in a police storage room back up Fontenots claims of innocence. Link your TV provider to stream full episodes and live TV.

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