Tyrone Noling has been on death row for 30 years, convicted for the double murder of an elderly couple in Ohio, a crime he insists he did not commit. On Tuesday, Noling, aged 54 and residing in Alliance, presented his case for a full pardon to the Ohio Parole Board.
With support from the Ohio Innocence Project, Noling assembled evidence for his clemency hearing. This includes recanted witness statements, altered opinions by the sheriff and a juror from his trial, and leads suggesting another executed killer might be responsible.
Noling’s case has garnered attention from documentaries and true-crime podcasts, as well as support from celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Hilarie Burton, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who advocate for his exoneration.
The parole board’s recommendation to Governor Mike DeWine will follow Tuesday’s hearing. DeWine, a Republican, recently shifted his views in favor of abolishing the death penalty, citing its inefficacy as a crime deterrent.
Tyrone Noling. Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction / via AP file
Clemency hearings for Ohio death row inmates are rare unless execution dates loom; however, Noling’s successful bid for a hearing marks a significant step. He aims for release, rejecting any commutation to life without parole for a crime he asserts he did not commit.
Noling’s conviction dated April 5, 1990, pertains to the murder of Bearnhardt and Cora Hartig, both aged 81, in their home in Portage County. Their bodies lay on the kitchen floor, discovered by a neighbor who noted their unmoved lawn mower. Bearnhardt was shot three times, and Cora five times, with a .25-caliber automatic handgun. Their home appeared ransacked.
Authorities accused Noling, who had turned 18, of joining a group targeting elderly couples for robberies. Three other group members, aged 14 to 16, implicated Noling in the Hartigs’ murders, later retracting their claims, citing police coercion.
Initial burglary charges against Noling were dropped in 1992, yet he was reindicted in 1995, convicted, and sentenced to death in 1996. No physical evidence linked him to the crime, and the murder weapon was never found. Advocates highlight other evidence, including police notes and a cigarette butt on the Hartigs’ driveway, pointing to alternate suspects. One of these suspects, Dan Wilson, received lethal injection in 2009 for another offense.
Noling’s attorneys referred to a man’s account where his foster brother, Wilson, allegedly boasted about committing the murders.
Former Sheriff Ken Howe, now 83, testified for Noling at the hearing, stating that red flags from the investigation and subsequent evidence have convinced him of Noling’s innocence. “I believe that these boys were, and are, innocent,” Howe asserted.
Portage County Prosecutor Connie Lewandowski and attorney Caitlin Flanagan were unavailable for immediate comment. After the hearing, the board will deliberate in executive session, expectedly offering a recommendation to the governor by August 25.
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