Ohio Parole Board Urges Clemency for Death Row Inmate Noling
After 30 years on death row, Tyrone Noling could see his sentence commuted to life with parole possible in 2029, as Gov. Mike DeWine weighs his fate.
The Ohio Parole Board recommended Tuesday that death row prisoner Tyrone Noling have his sentence commuted to life in prison with the possibility of parole as early as 2029, a week after he asked the board for a full pardon.
The decision now rests with Gov. Mike DeWine, an outgoing Republican who co-sponsored the 1981 legislation reinstating capital punishment in Ohio as a state senator but who in June called on lawmakers to abolish the death penalty, saying "the moral justification I had for voting for the death penalty simply no longer exists."
Of the eight parole board members involved, one — former prosecutor Shontell Walker — favored a full pardon, five favored commuting the sentence, and two were opposed. Noling, now 54, has said he will not accept a commutation to life without parole.
"We are encouraged that the Parole Board has taken a step towards recognizing the gross injustice Tyrone Noling has endured for decades," said Brian Howe of the Ohio Innocence Project, one of Noling's attorneys. "We hope Gov. DeWine will pardon Tyrone and allow an innocent man to go home at last."
Noling was convicted of killing Bearnhardt and Cora Hartig, both 81, in their Atwater Township home on April 5, 1990, based on testimony from three teenage gang members who later retracted their statements, saying police pressured them. No physical evidence tied Noling to the crime and no murder weapon was ever recovered.
Innocence Project lawyers later uncovered law enforcement notes pointing to other suspects, including Dan Wilson, executed in 2009 for an unrelated 1991 murder, whose foster brother told police Wilson had bragged about killing the Hartigs. A 1991 blood-typing report also suggested a cigarette butt found at the scene could have been smoked by someone like Wilson.
Former Portage County Sheriff Ken Howe, now 83, said his department reviewed the case for over two years but refused to hand it to prosecutors, citing a lack of physical evidence. "I believe that these boys were, and are, innocent," he told The Associated Press.
DeWine can pardon Noling, commute his sentence, or stay any execution to allow further legal proceedings. Noling has no scheduled execution date.
This article was produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI), in accordance with our editorial policy.
