Oklahoma District Attorney Bill Peterson to retire

Bill Peterson, the lead prosecutor in the trials that sent two innocent Oklahoma men to prison – one to death row – in 1988, announced yesterday that he plans to retire after January 1, 2008.

Peterson, who has been the district attorney for Pontotoc, Seminole and Hughes Counties in Oklahoma since 1980, will not finish his term, which had three years remaining. He was the lead prosecutor in the convictions of

Dennis Fritz

and

Ron Williamson

, who were wrongfully convicted in 1988 of the 1982 murder of Debra Sue Carter in Ada, Oklahoma. Two other men convicted by Peterson’s office, Thomas Ward and Karl Fontenot, are serving life in prison for a murder they say they didn’t commit.

Read the news coverage of Peterson’s announcement

. (Ada Evening News, 11/05/07)

The cases of Fritz and Williamson are the subject of John Grisham’s recent book, “

The Innocent Man

,” and Fritz’s own book, “

Journey Toward Justice

.”

Read more about the cases of Thomas Ward and Karl Fontenot

.