Andrew Cohen posts, "Is Ohio Keeping Another Innocent Man on Death Row?" at the Atlantic. It's an indepth examination of an arson case with a list of problems. Here's the beginning of this must-read:
Last year, the execution of Troy Davis captured most of the attention, and generated most of the debate, on the topic of capital punishment in America. Davis was put to death by lethal injection in Georgia three quarters of the way through a year that saw a general decline in support for (and implementation of) the death penalty. This year, just a few weeks in, there's an early candidate for such a spotlight: a death row inmate in Ohio whose case raises many of the same questions about fair trials and justice that surrounded the Davis case.
In fact, you could argue that the capital murder case against Tyrone Noling is even weaker than the one against Troy Davis. And you could argue that the capital punishment regime in Ohio is just as arbitrary and capricious as it is most anywhere else. In 1996, Noling was convicted of murdering Cora and Bearnhardt Hartig, an elderly couple, at their home in 1990. At first, though, there was no physical evidence linking Noling to the crime. Not a gun. Not any blood. Not any money or loot. And at first, there were no witnesses against him, either.
Frustrated prosecutors then gave the case to an investigator named Ron Craig and everything changed. Noling was indicted in 1992, but prosecutors soon had to drop the charges against him after he passed a polygraph case -- and after his co-defendant at the time changed his mind and refused to incriminate him. Just so we are straight, in 1992, there was no physical evidence linking Noling to the crime, he had passed a lie detector test, and witnesses were already turning on the investigator.
But a few years later -- under threat from Craig, they now say -- a few folks stepped forward to testify against Noling. They placed him at the crime scene and they testified that he had confessed to killing the Hartigs. Noling's jury deliberated for about day before returning guilty verdicts. Noling was quickly sentenced to death. The state's website duly notes that Noling arrived at its death row on February 21, 1996. He has maintained his innocence ever since.
There are several legitimate reasons why Noling deserves a new trial, especially in a state with a long history of wrongful capital convictions. There are a lot of flawed capital convictions all over the country -- pick a state, any state, where the death penalty is still a priority for prosecutors and you'll find such a case. But a closer look at this case reveals virtually all of the system's main flaws at one time and in one place. The only thing missing from the story is racial bias, which likely would have only made things worse. (As of September 30, 2011, there were 148 inmates on Ohio's death row, 65 of them white males like Noling.)
And:
Congress harshly tipped the balance against defendants like Noling when it passed the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act in 1996. "Effective," it turns out, meant rejecting meaningful appeals like Noling's on procedural grounds. For example, without the AEDPA and the way it has been interpreted by the Supreme Court, the 6th Circuit last June might have given Noling the new trial he's been asking for. So is the Clinton-era AEDPA constitutional when applied in cases like this? How can that be?
Ohio, Texas, Louisiana, it doesn't matter: when it comes to states defending soiled capital convictions, the arguments are always the same. Serious prosecutorial errors are excused. Hypothetical jurors, the ones from whom material exculpatory evidence was hidden at trial, are assumed to vote guilty. Witnesses who recant are said to be lying now, not at trial. The impact of poor defense work is minimized. Ohio thinks it is defending the honor of the 1996 conviction. Instead, it's defending what's been revealed to be a sham. Why? And at what cost?
Thomson Reuters notes the Cohen post in, "An Ohio prisoner could rally death penalty opponents," by Carlyn Kolker.
This year's cause célèbre, says The Atlantic's Andrew Cohen, should be Tyrone Noling, an Ohio man who was convicted of murder and who is one of 148 inmantes on death row in that state. "A closer look at this case reveals virtually all of the [criminal justice] system's main flaws at one time and in one place," writes Cohen. Noling's attorneys last week petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their case challenging his sentence. Here are some of the flaws that Cohen says exist in Ohio's capital case against Noling:
-All of the major witnesses who testified in Noling's case have since recanted, says Cohen.
-Prosecutors, 13 years after Noling's original trial, handed over exculpatory evidence.
-There is a lack of DNA evidence linking Noling to the crime.
-The state of Ohio will not agree to a new trial, despite Nolting's claims that he has discovered new evidence.
Cohen sums up the case this way: "Ohio things it is defending the honor of the 1996 conviction. Instead, it's defending what's been revealed to be a sham. Why? And at what cost?"
Another Ohio capital arson case had a February 22nd execution date. It has been cancelled due to problems with Ohio's lethal injection protocol; earlier coverage of the two stories at the links.
You can also find more on the site from Andrew Cohen.
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