The Innocent Man TV -
Unsolved, violent crimes haunt Ada. The Innocent Man I: Debbie & Denice, newspaper article Sunday April 28th 1985, Netflix 2019
Grisham to chronicle Ada murders: One of America’s most famed fiction writers plans to write first non-fiction book about a crime in Ada. ibid. newspaper headline
If I wrote The Innocent Man as a novel, fiction, folks probably wouldn’t believe it. ibid. Grisham
Debbie Carter, 1982: The crime scene was a total mess. Debbie’s body was lying naked on the floor except she had a cord wrapped around her neck. She had DUKE GRAHAM written on her back and DIE on her chest. On the wall was written JIM SMITH NEXT WILL DIE. And on the kitchen table was written DON’T LOOK FORE US OR EALSE. ibid. rozzer
Denice: Missing: Local clerk abducted. ibid. newspaper headline
1984: Denice [Haraway] worked at the little Quick Stop out on Highway One. ibid. Billie Floyd, local historical society
They [rozzers] looked at Tommy [Ward] as a ruffian, a lower class person. And the police didn’t like him for some reason. ibid. brother-in-law
Robert Mayer: The Dreams of Ada: A True Story of Murder, Obsession and a Small Town. ibid.
The confession of, Well was anybody else there? … the ringleader, the guy whose idea it was, was Odell Titsworth. ibid. Robert
On that day Odell Titsworth had been treated and he had a broken arm. ibid.
Fontenot, Ward trial: Judge rules enough evidence exists to show corpus delecti. ibid. The Ada Sunday News September 15th 1985
They wouldn’t take ‘No I didn’t do it’ for an answer. The Innocent Man II, Tommy
Well, it’s gotta be two men who did this, OK? Because it’s so violent. Ron Williamson & Dennis Fritz (interviewed 1983, no arrests made) ibid. Grisham
Glen Gore, eyewitness: It was only Glen Gore who that who said that Ron Williamson was there [Coachhouse pub]. ibid.
Williamson Found guilty: Jury suggests death. ibid. newspaper article Thursday, 28th April 1988
First time I met Ron Williamson was on death in 1988. The Innocent Man III, appeal attorney
When I first started working on this case I was told that this was one of our clients who might be innocent. And I read the trial transcript, and I’m like, Well where’s the part where he’s innocent? Because the way the trial was presented, there was so much that was unsaid in the trial. And so much that was just kind of skewed. Because there was nobody fighting back as hard as they could have. ibid. appeal attorney #2
This long video tape that they didn’t turn over because they said it was a polygraph … should have been given to defense counsel. ibid.
Hair samples don’t match: Fritz, Williamson could be set free this week. Ada Sunday News front page 1999
Now that was something. ibid. Barry Scheck
It was not a well done investigation. And the failure to disclose a lot of this exculpatory evidence the judge recognised. ibid.
Something’s really rotten at the core of this case. ibid.
The police had it out for him because they were dirt poor, so they tried to blame everything on him. I was bringing Tommy back from his house and the police pulled me over, not for anything I had done, but they wanted Tommy. They dragged Tommy out of my car and started beating the hell out of him with their billy clubs because they said he had done something, and he had done nothing. The Innocent Man IV: Corpus Delecti, lady
Everything about their confession has been proven wrong. ibid. defense counsel #2
In 1989 Tom Ward & Karl Fontenot were granted new trials. ibid.
October 12th 1984: Tommy Ward is questioned by the police; October 18th 1984: Tommy Ward confesses. ibid.
These are completely coerced false confessions … They should have been released a long time ago. ibid. expert
It was clear to us almost from the beginning that Glen Gore had been treated differently from everybody else. ibid. Ward & Fontenot appeal attorney #1
After they did the DNA testing, the DNA profile matched Glen Gore. And he took off. The Innocent Man V: Smoking Guns, man
John Grisham: An Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town: Every trip to Ada introduced me to more and more characters; the documents, the paperwork itself was overwhelming. I had tons of sworn testimony. The Innocent Man VI: Snow Storm
The hair expert for the state! Let’s talk about what you did. ibid. Gisham, re Bill Peterson
So we somehow went from 800 pages to 146 pages, uh, and a lot gets lost there. ibid. defense attorney
Dennis Smith, lead police investigator; Bill Peterson, district attorney; Gary Rogers, OSBI agent; Chris Ross, assistant district attorney. ibid. in the frame
We don’t expect the police to do that. And it happens all the time. ibid. Grisham