STORY: "Man on Death Row Seeks DNA Tests of Evidence from 1990 Murders in Portage County," by reporter Kathleen Maloney, published by Court News Ohio on June 13, 2017.
GIST: "Tyrone
Noling, who is sentenced to death for the murder of a Portage County
couple, hopes the Supreme Court will allow further DNA testing of
evidence. The man convicted
for the 1990 murders of an Atwater couple is asking the Ohio Supreme
Court to grant a number of requests related to DNA testing of evidence from the crime scene in an effort to overturn his convictions and death sentence. Tyrone Noling will have his post-conviction appeal
considered next week before the Supreme Court following a December
Court ruling that eligible offenders on death row must have the same
right as non-capital offenders to have their post-conviction DNA testing appeals considered. On April 7, 1990, Bearnhardt and Cora Hartig were found shot to
death in their Atwater home. Two years later, police questioned five
men who had been arrested for robberies in the nearby city of Alliance
about the Hartig murders. Three of the men implicated Tyrone Noling,
who had been sentenced to prison for the robberies. Noling was convicted and sentenced to death for the Hartig murders. Before and during Noling’s 1996 trial
for the Hartig murders, one of the men recanted his statement. The two
other men later provided statements that they had been pressured by
police to incriminate Noling. Noling filed a direct appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court, which
upheld his convictions and death sentence. Noling also filed
applications for further DNA testing of crime scene evidence, including
a cigarette butt found in the Hartigs’ driveway, shell casings found
in their house, and ring boxes from a bedroom drawer. The gun used in
the murders never has been located. The trial court denied Noling’s second application for DNA testing
in March 2011. The Ohio Supreme Court returned the case to the trial
court in March 2013, where the trial court ordered further testing of
the cigarette butt and an evaluation whether there was enough
biological material on the shell casings and ring boxes to allow for
DNA testing. The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) found that
the DNA found on the cigarette butt didn’t match anyone in the FBI’s
national database, and the shell casings and ring boxes weren’t suitable
for DNA testing. Since the Supreme Court’s December 2016 ruling in the constitutional challenge filed
by Noling that he and all capital offenders have the right to have
their appeals of denied post-conviction DNA testing requests
considered, Noling has submitted arguments about the DNA testing of
evidence in his case to the Court. Noting that he received only a one-page summary of BCI’s DNA
testing of the cigarette butt, Noling, who is represented by the Ohio
Innocence Project, contends he is entitled to the complete quantitative
results of the scientific tests. He also argues that the trial court
had to explain in its order reasons for choosing BCI and that the court
was required by law to rescind his DNA application when he objected to
BCI as the DNA testing authority. Noling wanted to send the items to
an out-of-state testing facility with more advanced DNA technology.
Also, BCI performed only a visual observation, rather than actual
testing, to decide whether the shell casings and ring boxes had been
contaminated and were unsuitable for DNA testing, he argues. He further
contests the trial court’s refusal to send the shell casings to a
federal network that analyzes shell casings, arguing this testing is
allowed because the results could alter the outcome of his case.........State v. Noling
is scheduled as the first of four cases before the Court on Tuesday,
June 20. The Court will consider four cases on Wednesday, June 21. The
Court’s session begins at 9 a.m. each day at the Thomas J. Moyer Ohio
Judicial Center in Columbus. All arguments are streamed live online at sc.ohio.gov and broadcast live on The Ohio Channel."
http://www.courtnewsohio.gov/cases/2017/SCO/previews/0620-21/0620-21.asp#.WUCbe8mQz-YPUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/c
