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The Dreams of Ada

by Robert Mayer (Goodreads Author)

3.81 · rating details · 137 ratings · 25 reviews

The true, bewildering story of a young woman’s disappearance, the nightmare of a small town obsessed with delivering justice, and the bizarre dream of a poor, uneducated man accused of murder—a case that chillingly parallels the one, occurring in the very same town, chronicled by John Grisham in The Innocent Man.

On April 28, 1984, Denice Haraway disappeared from her job at...more

Paperback, 512 pages

Published October 24th 2006 by Broadway (first published 1987)

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Jan 05, 2009

Matt rated it

"Logic may indeed be unshakeable, but it cannot withstand a man who is determined to live. Where was the judge he had never seen? Where was the High Court he had never reached? He raised his hands and spread out all his fingers. But the hands of one of the men closed round his throat, just as the other drove the knife deep into his heart and turned it twice."
-- Franz Kafka, The Trial

When you first get into law school, people are always asking: "what kind of law d...more"Logic may indeed be unshakeable, but it cannot withstand a man who is determined to live. Where was the judge he had never seen? Where was the High Court he had never reached? He raised his hands and spread out all his fingers. But the hands of one of the men closed round his throat, just as the other drove the knife deep into his heart and turned it twice."
-- Franz Kafka, The Trial

When you first get into law school, people are always asking: "what kind of law do you want to do?" Just spitballing, I'd often tell people I wanted to be a public defender. The shock! I might as well have said I want to sodomize puppies. Cute puppies. The invariable response: "How can you defend a guilty person?" My response, honed over time and delivered smuggly is to say: "How do you know they're guilty? Can you look into their heart and see the evil there? Maybe we should just replace the jury system with you." Needless to say, I have a hard time making friends.

The Dreams of Ada is Exhibit A for why there needs to be competent public defenders. In 1984, a young, just-married woman named Denice Haraway disappeared. Two young men, Karl Fontenot and Tommy Ward, were accused of her rape and murder, despite the fact her body had not been found. Karl and Tommy were not the brightest bulbs. They were brought into the police station and interrogated for hours and hours and hours. They never said the magic word (hint: it starts with "L" and ends with LAWYER). At the end of the ceasless badgering, both men copped to the crime, despite the fact that their stories were contradictory, implausible, and unsupported by physical evidence. The confession was extracted after one of the young, not-so-bright men told of a dream he had. As crazy as the "dream confession" sounds, it was also the basis of another conviction in Ada, that of Ron Williams, whose conviction and death sentence were later overturned (see the marvelous The Innocent Man for that story).

The lesson: stay out of Oklahoma, specifically, Ada.

This is a sad, tragic book. There are no winners, just a string of losers: a young, missing woman; two men with stunted futures convicted by an overzealous prosecutor, with incompetent defense counsel; the multiple families mourning the losses of their sons and daughter; and justice (as the saying goes: look for justice in heaven; here on earth, all we have is the law). The book is incredibly evocative of this time and place. There's a real feel for the town and its small-time dreamers. It's like Friday Night Lights filtered through Kafka and mixed with CSI, if every cast-member of CSI was a constitution-shredding boob.

In the end, it's pretty clear Tommy and Karl are innocent. The story they told was ridiculous, and it kept changing. The cops kept searching the area they "confessed" they buried the body and found nothing. They said they burned her. They said they stabbed her. Years later, Denice's body was found by hunters. Single gunshot. No bone-scarring. No signs of burning. The confession was a dream, not just of Tommy and Kirk, but of the cops. Not a miscarriage of justice, but an abortion.

Tommy and Kirk are rotting in prison to this day. (less)

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Apr 21, 2011

Elise rated it

This case is very close to my heart as I am related to the victim. I can appreciate the detail spent describing the trials that the Ward family has gone through, but it consumes the entire book. Not once did the author even ask to interview the Haraway family and continually portrayed them throughout the book as uncaring and as "high-society" snobs. Why would two men give seperate and similar accounts of what happened to Denice if they were not involved? These two sickos definately...more

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Jan 26, 2012

Kelly rated it

Shelves: non-fiction, true-crime-non-fiction, legal-non-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This story was related to the Innocent Man by John Grisham that I previously reviewed. Its about another set of men that the same prosecutors and detectives decided were guilty of rape and murder despite a lack of evidence AND evidence to the contrary. Like the "confession" in the Innocent man, the detectives convinced two poor men with less than average intelligence that a crime had been committed the way that they apparently believed. Initially the detectives got the two men to im...moreThis story was related to the Innocent Man by John Grisham that I previously reviewed. Its about another set of men that the same prosecutors and detectives decided were guilty of rape and murder despite a lack of evidence AND evidence to the contrary. Like the "confession" in the Innocent man, the detectives convinced two poor men with less than average intelligence that a crime had been committed the way that they apparently believed. Initially the detectives got the two men to implicate a third, but it was literally impossible that the third man was involved in the rape and murder because he had broken his arm in a fight with Ada's finest only two dates before the crime occurred. The detectives were undeterred by that inaccuracy-despite the fact that the third gentlemen was purportedly the aggressor who actually killed the woman. The detectives left the third man in jail claiming he had been arrested on an unrelated charge.

The detectives refused to follow up on any other leads. The crime itself was a kidnapping and murder of a convenience story clerk. The detectives literally ignored the string of kidnapping/murders of other convenience story clerks and the evidence that indicated that the defendants could not have done it. In the end, not a SINGLE part of the dream confessions were true..the woman had been shot in the head and left in the woods-not stabbed and left in the field, as the defendants "confessed." Neither the prosecutors nor the detectives cared.

There are so many disturbing aspects of this story, I had to wait awhile before I could review it. It scares me that the detectives and prosecution want a certain set of people to be guilty, they ignore the truth and valid evidence and let a SERIAL KILLER roam free. Just like in the Innocent Man, the mob mentality of people who refused to think for themselves prevailed.

The main difference between this book and the Innocent Man is that this really is an epic failure of the system. The defendants are still in jail, despite the fact that it is abundantly obvious that neither of the defendants could have committed this crime. The difference? THese defendants were sentenced to life, not to be executed. They dont get the automatic appeals and extra review processes that those on death row get. Who would ever think it's actually better to be sentenced to death, then to life in prison, if you are an innocent man.

After I finished the book, I started pondering if the death penalty SHOULD be abolished given all the checks and balances in place. I truly believed that the defendants would walk free if they were afforded more appeals. THere is just too much evidence that they could not have committed this crime. But I guess the greater question I have now is-should it matter how the court system ends a life before you are afforded the appeals that those on death row are afforded? Isnt your life over whether you live it out in prison or are eventually executed after at least a decade, and maybe more, on death row? Shouldnt we have the same checks and balances in place for an innocent man sentenced to life in prison in his twenties? The abuse of power and mob mentality apparently rampant in Ada, Oklahoma ended these men's lives...just in a different way.

The Innocent Man left me angry. The Dreams of Ada left me feeling feeling sad and hopeless and like our system really doesnt work.(less)

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Jan 01, 2010

Miranda rated it

DNA fingerprinting or profiling was first used around 1985. At that time, the technology wasn't developed enough to replicate a small (or degraded) evidence sample into a larger size that could be more thoroughly analyzed, which means that sometimes evidence was collected (and saved) but couldn't be analyzed. That's the situation with most prisoners who you read about being exonerated by the Innocence Project or other groups: there was evidence from which DNA could be extracted and analyzed in t...moreDNA fingerprinting or profiling was first used around 1985. At that time, the technology wasn't developed enough to replicate a small (or degraded) evidence sample into a larger size that could be more thoroughly analyzed, which means that sometimes evidence was collected (and saved) but couldn't be analyzed. That's the situation with most prisoners who you read about being exonerated by the Innocence Project or other groups: there was evidence from which DNA could be extracted and analyzed in theory (hair, semen), but the techology wasn't there yet. Once the technology caught up, DNA testing became more routine and now we're in the CSI era. It seems unlikely that people suspected of crimes that involve DNA evidence will be wrongly convicted in the future. In the meantime, there remains a narrow (and shrinking) subset of people convicted at the time of the old technology who can now prove, after the fact, that they didn't do it. That gives us the opportunity to look at how those people were convicted in the first place. One example is the emerging consensus that eyewitness identification is highly fallible, which has led to studies on more effective techniques (such as double blind identifications or sequential line-ups - see http://www.law.yale.edu/news/2727.htm; http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200708u/i...). Personally, I think interrogation techniques, particularly the freedom the police have to lie to suspects, deserve a harder look. In any event, on to the description of the book.

This book serves as about the most direct case study of this phenomenon that you could think of. Mayer details the investigation into the disappearance of a young woman in Ada, Oklahoma, and the subsequent trial of the two suspects who were identified. When I say detailed, I mean detailed - I now know a lot more about eastern Oklahoma than I ever expected to (pecans are apparently a big thing there), and perhaps more than was strictly necessary to move the story forward. There was also a ton of personal information, intended, I imagine, to make the reader more invested in the characters, particularly the suspects and their families. It probably could have used a stronger editor, but the details worked - I cared about the characters and I enjoyed the read for the most part.

** slight spoiler alert **

The reason this book is so interesting has to do in part with another book, this one written by John Grisham. I haven't read the Grisham book, but it describes another Ada crime, the investigation, and conviction of two local suspects. Those suspects were later exonerated by DNA evidence. In the Mayer book, there was no body recovered by the time the suspects went to trial (itself an interesting fact, at least from a lawyer's perspective), so there was no DNA. However, because the two crimes took place very close in time, many of the characters, including the lead local investigator and the prosecutor, were the same. Knowing that those same people got it wrong in the Grisham book, Mayer explores whether they also got it wrong here.

** bigger spoiler alert **

The guys Mayer writes about are still in jail, one without possibility of parole. There's a lot in the book that suggests they are innocent, and a lot to suggest that they're not. For example, both suspects confessed. As an intelligent adult with legal training, it's hard for me to imagine any reason why a person would confess to a crime he didn't commit. But on the other hand, DNA has proven that it happens, and I think there's plenty of material in the book that hints that these men were mentally not quite right, and not very bright to boot.

To sum up this foolishly long review, I think this book is unique in that it examines a crime that has all the trappings of the now-familiar wrongful conviction theme, except that we don't know the answer for sure. It's much more difficult to consider police techniques and prosecutorial choices without the security of 20/20 hindsight. It's also going to be more difficult to pay attention to these issues at all, as the number of provable wrongful convictions dwindle over the next few years. (less)

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Jan 23, 2010

Mel Tungate rated it

I have already reviewed The Innocent Man by Grisham. There is one more book about wrongful convictions in Ada OK, and it is this book.

Not interesting to read, but prosecutorial misconduct is evident.

All you have to do to be convicted in Ada is to be poor, have a public defender, and have Bill Peterson as the prosecutor.

This book tells about the two men ( wrongfully, IMO ) convicted of killing Denice Haraway in Ada.

Read The Innocent Man instead, ...more

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Jan 07, 2012

Roberta Spain rated it

I am not a fan of true crime, but since I have spent the last few years living in Ada, I chose to read about it. This book is a sad commentary on our justice system, and the predujices between classes of people. Even after having said that, I could not put the book down until I had finished it. And, I had the mistaken notion thst it would be more on the lines of Innocent Man, by John Grisham; another book about Ada. I recommend this book for everyone.

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Feb 20, 2011

matt sakaguchi rated it

riveting story, sad ending since it seems unjust, but compelling all the same. this true crime story, about a woman who seemingly disappears, strains credulity at times. at several moments i kept thinking "how could this actually happen?" the same tiny town in Oklahoma, Ada, is also the setting for John Grisham's "An Innocent Man" -- and i must confess i'm not convinced the police got the right men in this book.

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Oct 14, 2008

Vickie rated it

I read this book before "the Innocent Man" by John Grisham came out. Mayer actually wrote the Dreams of Ada quite a while ago (the 80s I think), but it took Grisham's work of popular non-fiction to draw attention to Mayer's book. (Describing a different wrongful conviction in the SAME SMALL OKLAHOMA TOWN!!) And Mayer's book is an intense book indeed. Mayer describes the disappearance of a young girl, and the wrongful convictions of two Ada outcatsts for her "murder." His w...more

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Apr 27, 2010

Marni rated it

I loved reading this book about my hometown because the case of characters are all people that I knew growing up and still know today. The victim, Denise Haraway, was the student teacher in the second grade classroom next door to me. The judge in the case performed my wedding ceremony. And my mother was a paralegal on the defense team.

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Oct 07, 2008

Julie rated it

Recommended to Julie by: I found this book through reading The Innocent Man

Although I disliked this book, my review might be biased because I had read The Innocent Man by John Grisham less than two months earlier, so The Dreams of Ada seemed very repetitive and boring to me (since it's essentially the same story, just featuring different characters). I probably would have enjoyed this book much more if I had never read The Innocent Man, but I would still strongly suggest reading The Innocent Man over The Dreams of Ada--I preferred John Grisham's writing style and how h...more

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Aug 06, 2009

Rebecca rated it

Shelves: non-fiction

I decided to read this after reading 'An Innocent Man,' by John Grisham, which repeatedly references and praises this book. I was a bit disapointed in 'The Dreams of Ada." The research is good, and the points are there, but there are too many side trips into life histories the participants - sometimes going back three generations. It;s too distracting from the main story. Sometimes by the time Mayer finally got back to the main thread, I had to go back and re-read because I had forgotten ...more

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Jul 07, 2009

Tom Mueller rated it

Shelves: true-crime

Refer to Grisham's Innocent Man.
See http://www.innocenceproject.org and http://www.wardandfontenot.com

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Jun 06, 2010

Jess added it

Really well written, tragic, depressing, intense ...

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Jan 09, 2012

Denise added it

Hard to read, real life.

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Jul 09, 2010

Kristen Doherty rated it

I wonder what happen to Tommy or Karl?? I think they are innocent. What does everyone else think?

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Apr 23, 2011

Jane rated it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Mar 10, 2009

Jessica rated it

Shelves: other-non-fiction

Hard to believe this is nonfiction... reads like a fiction book and the story should be fiction. It's very shocking.

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Feb 06, 2008

Monica marked it as to-read

I put this one on hold at the moment. It was getting a little hard to read in the sense that it's based on a true story, and to see how bad our system turned out to be with handling this man. It's frustrating and scary if in fact he's inoccent and the real killer is still out there.

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Sep 10, 2009

KristiJ Jennings rated it

Recommends it for: Non-fiction, true crime

Totally engrossing story

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Feb 02, 2012

Joyce rated it

I was angry the entire time I read it but, I hung on every word. It is a must read for everyone who believes that American justice is truly just and that our legal system needs no improvement.

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Aug 07, 2008

Trisha rated it

Recommended to Trisha by: Mom

I liked this book, it was based on a true story. It wasn't very fast paced, but overall it was good. It was interesting. John Grisham wrote a book on a similar crime in the same time.

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Feb 25, 2008

Sundey rated it

This is also about the corruption of the Ada, Oklahoma police department. It's a true story about two men who confessed to a killing they didn't commit.

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Jul 23, 2008

Alison rated it

Recommends it for: everyone

Wow! Everyone should read this book. Our justice system has got to pull itself together.

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May 10, 2008

Cherie rated it

Shelves: non-fiction, true-stories

John Grishims novel innocent man is based on this same true story.

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Jan 03, 2008

Tara rated it

Recommends it for: Boys and girls

Very detailed. Gets a little slow for a while, but good story.

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Feb 06, 2012

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