The Frontier - Illuminating journalism
WEB3 days ago — Ashlynd Huffman September 6, 2024. Prison contractor The Geo Group tried to negotiate a $3 million pay increase with Oklahoma this year. But records show state prison officials found the company violated its contract by failing to lock prisoners in their cells, conduct security checks and leaving prisoners alone in pods without staff supervision.
Judge in Innocent Man case agrees to suppress original …
WEBUPDATE Feb 23, 2024: A Tulsa County judge granted a motion to suppress the 1984 confession of Karl Fontenot on Friday afternoon, but stopped short of addressing the defense’s motion to dismiss the case.The state has 30 days to appeal the ruling to the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals. Fontenot, who was in the courtroom in Tulsa on Friday, declined to comment, but early in the hearing ...
We fact-checked what Oklahoma law says about teaching ... - The …
WEBJul 11, 2024 — Claim: Oklahoma law already allows the Bible to be taught in public schools. Source: “Oklahoma law already explicitly allows Bibles in the classroom and enables teachers to use them in instruction,” Phil Bacharach, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Attorney General’s office said in statements to several …
Let down and locked up: Why Oklahoma’s female incarceration is …
WEBSep 20, 2017 — When their paths crossed in June, Allen and her daughter were among more than 3,000 women serving time in Oklahoma, which for 25 years has led the nation in locking up women. The state imprisons 151 out of every 100,000 women, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics – more than double the national rate.. In partnership with The Frontier, an Oklahoma journalism startup, Reveal from ...
Federal appeals court upholds overturned conviction in Ada …
WEBJul 14, 2021 — A federal appeals court has upheld a decision to overturn the conviction of one of two men in the 1985 kidnapping and murder of an Ada convenience store worker. 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 ...
Sovereignty is a hot-button issue as Republicans compete in a ...
WEBJun 17, 2022 — With 13 Republicans running for an open congressional seat that covers mostly native land, some District 2 candidates say they support added federal funding for tribal law enforcement, while others are calling to dismantle reservations.
State asks U.S. Supreme Court to uphold conviction in ‘Innocent …
WEBJan 24, 2022 — Karl Fontenot, Tommy Ward. Courtesy. 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. Oklahoma seeks to uphold the murder conviction of Karl Fontenot in the …
Judge orders second man in Ada's 'Innocent Man' case freed, state …
WEBDec 21, 2020 — Courtesy Netflix. An Oklahoma judge has ordered the second defendant in Ada’s so-called “Innocent Man” murder case to be immediately freed after spending 35 years in prison and excoriating investigators and prosecutors for withholding favorable evidence from his defense team for decades. Tommy Ward, who was convicted twice for …
Oklahoma is set to execute its longest-serving death row prisoner
WEBJun 20, 2024 — Oklahoma is set to execute its longest-serving death row prisoner. Richard Norman Rojem Jr., 66, was sentenced to death after kidnapping, raping and murdering a 7-year-old girl in 1984. -Photos of Layla Cummings was displayed as Oklahoma Attorney Gentner Drummond urged the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole board to reject clemency for Richard Rojem.
Her boyfriend allegedly killed her 2-year-old son, but she's …
WEBJul 22, 2020 — Rebecca Hogue is now charged with first-degree murder in her son’s death. Rebecca Hogue is pictured with her son Jeremiah Ryder Johnson. It was after 4 a.m. on New Year’s Day by the time Rebecca Hogue crawled into bed next to her boyfriend and 2-year old son. She gave the boy a kiss before drifting off to sleep.