“In 1997, a year after Tyrone Noling was sentenced to death for gunning down an elderly couple in their home, Butch Wolcott and two other men who placed Noling at the crime scene signed affidavits saying their confessions were false. Ron Craig, the Portage County prosecutor’s investigator, had put words in their mouths and pressured them, they claimed. Noling is innocent, they said.”
The Case
Tyrone Noling was sentenced to death for the murders of Bearnhardt and Cora Hartig, both 81. The crime occurred in Atwater Township, Portage County, Ohio on April 5, 1990.
According to the series of articles in The Plain Dealer, Noling was involved in the robberies of two other elderly couples, so he might appear a suspect. However, his defense asserts: Noling, 18, was an amateur robber, who had fled from a robbery “like a scared rabbit” when his gun accidentally discharged into a victim’s hardwood floor; the robberies occurred in Noling’s neighborhood while the Hartig murders occurred in a secluded area 15 miles away; no physical evidence connects Noling; nothing was stolen from the Hartig’s. (from www.wikipedia.com)
…
Tyrone Noling and an accomplice robbed two elderly couples, the Hugheses and the Murphys, in the town of Alliance in northeastern Stark County on April 4 and 5, 1990. According to prosecution evidence, the Hartigs were murdered in their Atwater home in rural southeastern Portage County on April 5, 1990. This coincidence led the Portage County Sheriff to immediately suspect Tyrone Noling and his alleged accomplices in the Hartig murders. The Portage County Sheriff’s Office, then headed by Sheriff Ken Howe, began investigating Tyrone Noling and his accomplices. The investigation was led by then Chief Detective, now Sheriff Duane Kaley. However, after an extensive two-year investigation, the Portage County Sheriff did not refer the case to the Portage County Prosecuting Attorney for prosecution due to a lack of evidence. The Prosecuting Attorney, and his investigator Ron Craig, then took over the investigation. Coincidentally, the Portage County Prosecutor was up for election in 1992, the year Tyrone was first indicted; that original indictment was dismissed by the prosecution in June of 1993. The Prosecutor was also facing election in 1996, the year that Tyrone was ultimately tried. (from tyronenoling.com)
Links to related sites
www.myspace.com/freetyronenoling
Articles from Cleveland’s Plain Dealer