Tyrone Noling, aged 54 from Alliance, Ohio, has spent three decades on death row for the alleged double murder of an elderly couple. He maintains his innocence in the case. On Tuesday, he presented his argument for a full pardon to the Ohio Parole Board.
Supported by the Ohio Innocence Project, Noling gathered compelling evidence for his clemency hearing. This includes recanted witness testimony and the changed positions of both the sheriff and a juror from his trial. Additionally, clues suggest that an already executed killer may be the true perpetrator.
Noling’s case has drawn attention through documentaries and true-crime podcasts. Celebrities like Kim Kardashian and actors Hilarie Burton and Jeffrey Dean Morgan have shown their support for his exoneration.
Following this hearing, the first for a death row inmate in Ohio since 2020, the parole board will recommend a course of action to Governor Mike DeWine. Governor DeWine, a Republican, advocates for abolishing the death penalty, viewing it as ineffective in deterring crime.
Noling’s chance to argue his case was significant as death row inmates typically only have clemency hearings once an execution date is set. He seeks release from prison and refuses a commuted sentence to life without parole for a crime he insists he did not commit.
Convicted for the April 5, 1990, slayings of Bearnhardt and Cora Hartig, both 81, at their Portage County residence, Noling was accused of the shooting during a burglary. The crime scene showed the couple had been shot with a .25-caliber handgun.
Initially charged with aggravated burglary, Noling’s charges were dropped in 1992, only to be refiled by a grand jury in 1995. By 1996, he received a death sentence. However, no physical evidence links him to the crime, and the murder weapon remains undiscovered.
His advocates argue that other evidence, like law enforcement notes and a cigarette butt at the crime scene, implicates alternative suspects. One such suspect, Dan Wilson, was executed for a separate crime in 2009. Court documents reveal that a man reported that Wilson’s foster brother boasted about committing the Hartig murders.
Former Portage County Sheriff Ken Howe, 83, spoke in support of Noling, highlighting red flags and evidence that now lead him to believe in Noling’s innocence.
The parole board is expected to present their recommendation to the governor by August 25.