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The Innocent Man.
A three-judge panel of the US 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver ruled 2-1 that Karl Fontenot, 56, has shown actual innocence in the 1984 kidnapping and death of Donna Denice Haraway in Ada, about 113 kilometres south-east of Oklahoma City, based on newly discovered evidence that the court said was withheld by prosecutors at the time. Weâre very happy, Karl is ecstatic, and weâre just waiting to see what happens next,â Mr Fontenot s attorney, Tiffany Murphy told The Associated Press today.
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Karl Fontenot was 20 at the time of his arrest in 1984.(Supplied)
The state has 120 days from the date of Tuesday s ruling to decide whether to retry Mr Fontenot, according to the ruling.
The upper court agreed Fontenot s conviction should be reversed.
Fontenot has been out of prison since 2019 while his case was on appeal. The Oklahoma attorney general now has 120 days to re-try the case or Fontenot will remain free.
Fontenot spent 35 years behind bars for the 1984 kidnapping, robbery, and murder of Denise Haraway in what the 10th circuit now calls a fundamental miscarriage of justice.
In 2019 a federal judge ruled prosecutors withheld evidence of Fontenot s probable innocence, adding that there was no physical evidence linking Fontenot to the crime. The Oklahoma Attorney General s Office appealed that ruling on statute of limitations and procedural issues.
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