The family of a murdered Ada woman is blaming Netflix now that both murder convictions in the infamous 1984 case have been thrown out.
“It has sickened us to see what has been done over the past few years to distort, mislead and outright lie about the facts of the case,” the victim's family said Friday in a statement sent to the media.
The victim, Donna Denice Haraway, disappeared from the McAnally's convenience store in Ada on April 28, 1984. The newlywed college student worked as a clerk there at night. She was 24.
Her remains were found more than a year later in a field near Gerty, about 30 miles away. She had been shot in the head.
By Randy Mitchell | For The Ada News Dec 22, 2020 1 of 2
On Friday, an Oklahoma district judge vacated and set aside Thomas Ward s (pictured) convictions and sentences, and ordered him discharged from the custody of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections.
Netflix
Thomas Ward
On Friday, former Ada resident Thomas Jesse Ward, convicted of a murder he insists he did not commit, was ordered to be set free after more than 35 years in custody.
Oklahoma District Court Judge Paula Inge granted Ward s amended application for post-conviction relief and vacated and set aside the judgements and sentences against him.
According to court records filed Friday in Pontotoc County District Court, Inge wrote, . this court finds that the factual contentions made by the petitioner, Thomas Jesse Ward, in his amended application for post-conviction relief are sufficient as a matter of law to establish a prima facie showing the petitioner is entitled to post-co