An Oklahoma man walked out of prison Thursday after a judge decided Karl Fontenot had spent 35 years in prison for a kidnapping and murder that he likely didn’t commit- citing a lack of evidence and sloppy police work, and yet his freedom could be short-lived.
The 55-year-old Fontenot had been the subject of Netflix docu-series “The Innocent Man” and a John Grisham novel following the murder of Donna Denice Haraway in Ada, Oklahoma in 1984. She was kidnapped from her convenience store where she was working as a clerk and then murdered.
Fontenot and a co-defendant, Thomas Ward, were convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
The convictions have come under intense scrutiny for years. In August, a federal judge ordered Fontenot’s release, writing that newly discovered evidence provides “solid proof of Mr. Fontenot’s probable innocence.” The state’s attorney general is appealing the decision.
Ward remains imprisoned while his appeal is proceeding separately in state court.
