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More:Oklahoma Army veteran gets probation for role in Jan. 6 US Capitol riot. Ward was convicted alongside Karl Fontenot for murdering Donna Harraway in Ada. Oklahoma seeks to uphold the murder conviction of Karl Fontenot in the murder of Donna "Denice" Haraway. The Pontotoc County District Attorneys office relied solely on investigators to provide it with the evidence needed to prosecute the case without questioning whether the investigators had turned over all exculpatory and/or impeachment evidence, Judge Paula Inge wrote in her December order. The appeals court did task the district court with handling a remaining claim from Wards team, according to which newly discovered evidence requires his conviction to be vacated. He is currently serving time at the Dick Conner Correctional Center in Hominy in Oklahoma. Advertisement On Friday, a judge vacated Ward's convictions and sentences, dismissed the charges and . The Oklahoma Attorney General's 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. Ward is currently still in prison while the appeals process continues. "They said I had a choice to write it or tape it. Courtesy. 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, 61, and Karl Fontenot, 58, were . 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. Tommy Ward is a critically acclaimed singer and entertainer from Las Vegas who has a deep love and appreciation for legendary musicians and crooners. Ward's attorney, Mark Barrett, will also be filing an appeal for exoneration. She was 24. The state also claims witnesses saw men matching Ward and Fontenots descriptions in the convenience store where Haraway worked before she disappeared. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. By: Dana Hertneky. Also Read: 'The Innocent Man': Netflix Sets December Launch for Docuseries Based on John Grisham Book. 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. The victim, Donna Denice Haraway, disappeared from the McAnally's convenience store in Ada on April 28, 1984. Both are model prisoners. The attorney generals office now has 20 days to respond. In a motion and brief filed Monday on behalf of Tommy Ward, one of two men convicted of Haraway's murder in Ada and who was featured in the John Grisham book the Innocent Man and 2018 Netflix. Timmy Ward gamelogs for the 2022 season. Fontenot was released from prison about one year ago after a federal judge found he also didnt receive a fair trial. This photo provided by the Oklahoma Department of Corrections shows Tommy Ward, who has spent 35 years in prison in a murder case featured in the book and television series The Innocent Man'. Oklahoma Attorney General's Office Appeals Release Of Tommy Ward. The ruling, dated Friday, said the withheld evidence, which included witness interviews and police reports, had been available to Ward's defense since 2003 and was not included in Ward's direct appeal after his 1999 conviction. Donate to The Frontier to support local independent investigative journalism. 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. Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! An autopsy showed evidence that she had been shot and no sign that she had been stabbed, per The AP. info@tommywardmusic.com | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use. We promise to never spam you. Justices should reject the states request to review the case because the evidence in this case qualifies as new evidence of actual innocence under any definition of new evidence, Fontenots lawyers argued. Heres a link to the decision, Mark Barrett & The Center on Wrongful Convictions tweeted, with the legal documents confirming the move attached. News 9s Barry Mangold will have more on the story on News 9 at 10 p.m. Be among the first to get breaking news, weather, and general news updates from News on 6 delivered right to your inbox! sharing the stories, pictures and loves of Oklahomans across our great state. FILE - This photo provided by the Oklahoma Department of Corrections shows Tommy Ward, who has spent 35 years in prison in a murder case featured in the book and television series 'The Innocent. Tommy Ward. Lawyers for a man whose murder conviction in Oklahoma was overturned after he served more than three decades in prison urged the U.S. Supreme Court this week not to grant the states request to review the case. The tribulations faced by the pair are depicted in Netflix's latest true crime docu-series, "The Innocent Man," based on the John Grisham book of the same name. The Official YouTube Channel of Tommy Ward. Wr Hines Ward - NFL.com /a > attorneys representing Tommy Ward was one of two serving! The Court of Criminal Appeals ordered Tommy Ward, 60, to remain imprisoned while the state appeals the lower courts ruling that he be released. Keep up-to-date with everything that happens in your world. After Haraways remains were found in 1986 in rural Hughes County, forensic analysis showed that many of the details in Fontenots and Wards confessions were wrong. Oklahoma seeks to uphold the murder conviction of Karl Fontenot in the murder of Donna Denice Haraway. 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. Courtesy Netflix. Please refer to our. Subscribe for the latest music videos, performances, and more!Tommy's new album "From This Moment On" available n. It was later upheld when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the state's appeal. YOU'VE REACHED YOUR MONTHLY ARTICLE LIMIT. And Mr. Fontenot has also established that evidence suppressed by the State prior to his new trial in 1988 led to a violation of his constitutional right to due process., More:Human remains found, Oklahoma white supremacist leader might be connected. 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. Attorneys representing Tommy Ward continue to fight for his release from jail. Fontenot's case was picked up by The Innocence Project in 2011, but there's . Tommy Ward one of the subjects of Netflix's true-crime docuseries "The Innocent Man," who was convicted of abduction, rape and the murder of an Oklahoma woman is to be released from . A federal judge in Muskogee overturned Fontenot's conviction in late 2019. But the men quickly recanted and have claimed for decades that police coerced them to say they killed Haraway. Back in December a Ponotoc County judge overturned Wards conviction saying prosecutors withheld evidence in the case. Tommy has been recommended for parole at least twice, but turned down by the board in Oklahoma. Haraways body was located after the convictions. The judge said newly discovered evidence about Fontenot's alibi and other suspects in the murder provided "solid proof" of his probable innocence. SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE DAILY NEWSLETTER, FIRST TAKE, 'The Innocent Man': Netflix Sets December Launch for Docuseries Based on John Grisham Book. - STEVE WYNN, founder Wynn Resorts "I just saw Tommy in Las Vegas at a corporate event and I was BLOWN AWAY. Newson6.com is proud to provide Oklahomans with timely and relevant news and information, Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in, A judge reversed the conviction of Thomas Ward, known to the public as Tommy Ward, in 2020, Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile, Tommy Ward in the 2018 Netflix docuseries The Innocent Man'. Ward's case, and others, have been the. We cant do it without your support. 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. The attorney generals office now has 20 days to respond. The judge also called the evidence against Ward circumstantial and said nearly all of the details in his confession were inaccurate. 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. Since the age of 16, Ward has had the opportunity to work alongside industry veterans and legends. Among Fontenots legal team is Donald B. VerrilliJr., the U.S. solicitor general from 2011 to 2016. As a nonprofit news organization,The Frontieris funded by tax-deductible donations made by people who support quality journalism. have asked the court of appeals . 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. I didnt even know what the word 'statement' or 'confessing' meant 'til they told me I confessed to it. You can opt-out at any time. 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. 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 parole. Forget Me Not EP available now on all major platforms. 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. Tuesday, they filed a brief with the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals. 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. It also accounts the false convictions of Ward and Karl Fontenot for themurder of Denice Haraway and the false conviction of Greg Wilhoit for the rape and murder of his estranged wife. 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.. 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. 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.