Convicted of a double murder 30 years ago, former Portage County resident Tyrone Noling has sat on Ohio’s death row ever since. Earlier this month, a parole board saved his life.
In court filing after court filing in state and federal courts, Noling insists he is innocent of the April 5, 1990, murders of Cora and Bearnhardt Hartig, found...
Read moreA quick side comment: Noling will be eligible for parole as early as 2029 according to other sources.
I was curious about the Noling case after reading about it because of first-person connection to another case that had received national attention. The other case arises out of Florida. Leo Schofield was convicted in the 1987 murder of his 18 year old wife, Michelle. Schofield was The case is the subject of Seasons 1 and 2 of a very well known podcast, Bone Valley. There is a book about the case of the same name as the podcast (the podcast continues but discusses other cases).
The case against Schofield was always problematic. He was finally paroled in 2024 and has been seeking an exoneration determination. Another convicted murderer actually confessed to the crime in 2016 - the same guy whose fingerprints were identified in the car back in 2004! The question of innocence seems clear. So, what is the holdup? Apparently, a determination of exoneration would trigger $50,000 per year of wrongful incarceration along with add ons. Likely, the amount Schofield would be entitled to would cap out at $2,000,000. Not an insignificant sum.
Schofield became affiliated with my father’s church on Tierra Verde Island south of Saint Petersburg, FL. I have met him while visiting my father a couple of times. We spoke informally about perhaps doing an Innocence Project event if he ever made it to the NE Ohio.
Noling’s case is problematic on both sides. But the circumstances appear clearly to warrant having the death penalty removed. See here for a ChatGPT conversation concerning the case.
Are there members of the Innocence Project or Re-entry communities of interest that would like to see an event locally with Leo Schofield to promote local interest and fundraising?