CARTER COUNTY, Okla. (KXII) – A judge denied a motion to dismiss the case against Karl Fontenot, one of the men accused in the 1984 murder of Donna Denice Haraway, sending the case toward a third trial.
Case history
Fontenot was twice convicted of Haraway’s murder in Ada. His life sentence was overturned in 2019. He has been free for seven years pending a third trial.
Motion to dismiss denied
Sept. 29, Fontenot and his attorneys returned to the Pontotoc County Courthouse for a hearing and asked the judge to throw out the case. They said he has been denied a speedy trial.
Judge Carson Brooks denied the motion Friday. The order calls the delays reasonable and says most were caused by neutral factors, including a 17 month delay while the case was appealed to the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals and the June recusal of District judge Mike Hogan, as the trial was set before him.
Retrial date
Fontenot’s attorneys were at the Carter County Courthouse on Friday morning. They discussed other issues in the case before the retrial.
They pushed for state funds to cover expert witnesses as Fontenot prepares for his retrial. The motion was discussed in ex parte and the defense says the court is taking it under consideration…