Oklahoma

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Munson was convicted of murdering Alma Hall, a convenience store clerk.  Police testified that one of the victim's earrings and a .22 caliber bullet was found in Munson's motel room.  The prosecution claimed a .22 caliber gun was used to murder the victim.  In addition, a jailhouse informant claimed that Munson confessed.  Defense requests for funds to investigate the evidence were denied.  Some eight years later exculpatory facts emerged that had been hidden from the defense.  Additionally, it was shown that a .22 caliber gun was not used to kill the victim.  Dr. Ralph Erdmann, the pathologist who testified otherwise, was subsequently convicted of seven felony counts involving misrepresentation of facts in other cases.

Several witnesses contradicted the police officer who claimed he had found the victim's earring in Munson's motel room.  In addition, evidence proved that the jailhouse informant had lied when he denied that he was testifying in hopes of a deal from the state.  A new trial was ordered, with the trial judge stating that he "was saddened that people charged with upholding justice would do such a thing."  The retrial jury acquitted Munson of all charges in April 1995.  (PC)  [7/05]

In the fall of 1907, a human skeleton was found in a wooded area, about 3/4 of a mile from the nearest road.  The nearest human habitation was the Bates sawmill, about four miles away, near the town of Heavener.  Not long before, in August, an employee of the mill named Bud Terry had mysteriously disappeared.  Terry was in his early twenties.  His aunt, Mrs. Knotts, with whom he lived, had heard nothing from him since his disappearance.  Knotts had raised Terry since he was orphaned, and it was Terry’s custom to keep her informed whenever he left home for any length of time.  There was suspicion that W. L. Bates, the owner of the sawmill, and his employees knew more about the Terry’s disappearance than they were willing to admit.

Terry belonged to an Odd Fellows Lodge and had a $1,000 life insurance policy through it, payable to Mrs. Knotts.  The Lodge and Mrs. Knotts made a wide search for him, including extensive advertising.   However, the search proved fruitless and the Lodge, being satisfied of Terry's death, paid the insurance.

In Nov. 1909, Sam Swider, who had worked part-time at the sawmill, was convicted of larceny and sentenced to five years in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary.  In the fall of 1911, Swider met with the prison warden and told him that he saw a sawmill employee named Millard Vaught kill Terry.  According to Swider, Bates and another employee named Will Stiles assisted Vaught.  After having talked with Swider, another former sawmill employee, Louis McKibben, backed up Swider’s story.

According to Swider, Bates confronted Vaught for telling people that he, Vaught, had being going around with Bates’ wife.  Vaught denied the accusation, but Bates stated that Terry had informed him of Vaught’s tales.  Vaught then confronted Terry, who admitted what he had done.  The two got into an altercation.  Bates and Stiles actively took sides with Vaught.  Vaught then hit Terry repeatedly with a piece of lumber, crushing his skull, after which he died.  The three participants then moved Terry’s body to the place where the skeleton was found, making the location look like a hobo camp so no one would think the victim was a local person.  The three also threatened to kill Swider and McKibben if they ever revealed what they saw.

Vaught, Stiles, and Bates were arrested.  Since Terry’s killing allegedly occurred three months before Oklahoma became a state, they were indicted and tried under Arkansas law, which prevailed in the territory prior to Oklahoma statehood.  Because the statute of limitations for manslaughter had expired, the three were tried for premeditated killing (murder), as they could not be charged with unpremeditated killing (manslaughter).  At trial, the found skeleton was presented along with compelling testimony that the skeleton was that of Bud Terry.  Swider testified to witnessing the killing, and McKibben corroborated his testimony in every detail.  The defendants, however, presented strong alibis, particularly Vaught, whose alibi would normally be regarded as insurmountable.  The jurors became deadlocked, resulting in a mistrial.  The trial judge interviewed members of the jury and found that jury entertained no doubt that the defendants had killed Terry.  Their disagreement was due to jurors believing that the defendants were guilty of manslaughter rather than murder.

Stiles then successfully demanded that his case be severed from his co-defendants, and he was retried alone.  With virtually the same evidence, a jury acquitted him.  When interviewed, the jurors reported a unanimous opinion that Stiles, Vaught, and Bates had killed Terry.  However, by following the judge’s instructions, they could only find him guilty of manslaughter rather than murder, and consequently they could not convict him.  Since there was no reasonable probability of convicting Vaught and Bates of murder, the charges against them were dismissed.

Despite the acquittal and dropped charges, the defendants, particularly Bates, were incensed and began an unremitting search for Terry.  The search never yielded a result, but fate would eventually intervene.  A man named R. E. McClelland of Los Angeles, California, had two brothers in Le Flore County, Oklahoma, who had informed him of the disappearance of Bud Terry and of the trials of Vaught, Stiles, and Bates for his murder.  Years later, in July 1917, McClelland became an inmate at Los Angeles County Hospital where he met Bud Terry, also an inmate.  McClelland told Terry of the events that transpired in Oklahoma.  Terry immediately wrote to McClelland’s brothers and others in Oklahoma, giving an account of his wanderings after leaving Oklahoma.  Bates learned of these letters, located Terry, and arranged for his return to Le Flore County.

Because Swider and McKibben had been absent from Oklahoma for much of the time since giving their testimony, the statute of limitations for their perjury had not expired.  When both were confronted by Terry, the two confessed that all their testimony was fabricated.  Both pleaded guilty to perjury and each was sentenced to 25 years of imprisonment.  (CTI)  [12/07]

McCarty was convicted in 1986 for the 1982 stabbing and strangling of teenager Pamela Kaye Willis.  He was sentenced to death.  The conviction was overturned because an appeals court ruled that DA Robert H. Macy Sr. had acted deplorably during the trial and that police chemist Joyce Gilchrist had omitted key information from her forensic reports.  McCarty was retried in 1989, convicted, and again sentenced to death.  The death sentence was reversed on appeal, but after a new penalty trial in 1996, McCarty was sentenced to death for a third time.

Gilchrist was fired in Sept. 2001 for performing shoddy work and giving false or misleading testimony in other cases.  She was involved in more than 1100 cases.  She helped to send 23 men to death row, 11 of whom have been executed.  In May 2007, a judge hearing McCarty’s appeal ruled that Gilchrist had acted in "bad faith" and "most likely did destroy or intentionally lose" hair evidence that was crucial at McCarty’s trial.  Because potentially exculpatory evidence had been destroyed, McCarty could never get a fair trial.  Citing the 1988 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Arizona v. Youngblood, the judge released McCarty and dismissed charges against him.  (LA Times)  [6/07]

Pierce was convicted of rape and robbery.  Pierce was part of a landscaping crew that had been working around the victim's apartment complex.  The initial description of the perpetrator did not match Pierce and, when the victim was asked if he was the perpetrator she replied, "I don't think so."  Months later, police arrested Pierce and placed his picture in a photo lineup wearing a tan shirt, which was an item in the victim's initial description.  The victim identified him from this lineup.  At trial the victim told jurors, "I will never forget his face."

Pierce's innocence was proven during the investigation of Joyce Gilchrist, a former scientist at the Oklahoma City Police Laboratory.  Gilchrist was investigated for giving false testimony and for presenting shoddy forensic work.  Pierce's case was one of over a thousand involving Gilchrist's testimony.  Gilchrist claimed that hairs from the victim's apartment, the scene of the rape, matched Pierce's hair.  These findings were disputed in 2001 by the FBI's laboratory.  DNA testing exonerated Pierce and provided a preliminary match to another man.  Pierce served 15 years of a 65-year sentence.  (IP096)  [6/05]

Tommy Ward and Karl Fontenot were convicted of murdering Denice Haraway.  Haraway, 24, worked part-time at McAnally’s convenience store.  She was last seen leaving the store with a man who had his arm around her waist.  The two appeared to be a pair of lovers.  The store was found deserted with the cash register drawer opened and emptied.  Haraway’s purse and driver’s license were found inside, and her car nearby.

Months later, after Haraway still remained missing, police questioned Tommy Ward, who resembled the man accompanying Haraway from the store.  After days of interrogation, Ward confessed to the crime.  He also implicated his friend, Karl Fontenot, and Odell Titsworth, a man he never met.  During the videotaped confession, Ward frequently forgot Titsworth’s name and called him “Titsdale.”  Ward said the three gang-raped Haraway, murdered her with Titsworth’s knife, and dumped her body near Sandy Creek.  Fontenot was soon arrested and confessed after only two hours of interrogation.  His confession was similar to Ward’s but contradicted it many details, like the order in which the three raped Haraway, or the location and number of stab wounds on her.  Fontenot said the three brought Haraway into an abandoned house where Titsworth poured gasoline over her body and burned down the house.  Ward had mentioned a burned down house in an earlier unrecorded confession, and police knew it existed.

Titsworth was arrested, but he had broken his arm two days before the murder in a fight with police.  Medical and police records made him an unlikely suspect, and he was never charged with murder.  While police were sifting through the remains of the burned down house, the owner appeared.  After police told him of Fontenot’s confession, the owner said Fontenot’s story was impossible, as he himself had burned down the house 10 months before the murder.

At trial, the prosecutor presented the confessions and was forced into the position of telling the jury the defendants were lying about details while asking the jury to believe them anyway.  Two jailhouse informants supplemented the confessions.  One said Ward confessed, while the other said he overheard Fontenot talking to himself, saying, “I knew we’d get caught.  I knew we’d get caught.”  The jurors returned with guilty verdicts and death penalties.

Haraway’s body was found four months later in Hughes County, far from anyplace that was searched.  She had not been stabbed or burned, but died from a single gunshot to the head.  The case attracted the attention of a New York journalist, Robert Mayer, who published a book about the case entitled The Dreams of Ada.  (Source:  The Innocent Man by John Grisham)  (www.wardandfontenot.com)  [1/07]

E. L. “Lefty” Fowler was convicted of the murder of Helen Beavers.  Fowler was a Duncan policeman and had been with her a short time before she was killed.  Following Beaver’s murder, Fowler quit his job, failed to pick up his last check, and engaged in conversation indicating that he was considering suicide.  He also began an excessive round of drinking.

Less than two months after Beavers' murder, Fowler was arrested in Waurika and imprisoned for drunkenness in the Jefferson County Jail.  Three Crime Bureau Agents then fraudulently conspired to transport Fowler to Stephens County for interrogation.  They freed Fowler (by paying his fine) on condition he drive a supposedly drunk cellmate, who was actually an agent, to Stephens County.  Once in Stephens County, Fowler was arrested on bogus charges that were never filed.  He was then denied access to a magistrate and a lawyer, and interrogated under coercive conditions for 12 days.

Fowler eventually confessed to the murder of Beavers, but the County Attorney thought the confession was inconsistent with the facts.  Beavers was then required to give another confession, which was signed at 5 a.m., apparently after an all night grilling.  Even this confession was not regarded as sufficient and Beavers had to give two more before authorities were satisfied.

Fowler’s case was featured in Argosy’s Magazine’s “The Court of Last Resort,” in Oct. 1952 under the article title, “Who Really Killed Helen Beavers?”  In 1960, Fowler was granted habeas corpus relief due to his coerced and illegal interrogation.  He presumably was released.  (Source:  Habeas Corpus Court Opinion)  [4/08]

James Scott Bauhaus was convicting of the murder of Jefferson Dee Hunt.  According to the state, the victim and his wife returned home and found Bauhaus in the process of burglarizing their home. Bauhaus then shot and killed the victim. The victim's wife positively identified Bauhaus. In addition, a bystander outside the home identified Bauhaus as the individual running away from the direction of the victim's home shortly after the crime.

Bauhaus alleges that the testimony of the two eyewitnesses was procured by police misconduct, and that blood and fingerprint evidence retrieved from the crime scene could reveal the real killer if it was analyzed by modern forensic technology. The state has refused to test this evidence and the courts have refused to order such testing.  A police sketch of the perpetrator does not match Bauhaus.  (www.jamesbauhaus.org)  [5/08]