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Tyrone Noling was sentenced to death for the murders of Bearnhardt and Cora Hartig, both 81.  Noling was involved in the robberies of two other elderly couples, so he might appear a suspect.  However, 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.  In addition, nothing was stolen from the Hartig's even though the victims had wallets and rings on them.

Following the murders, the Hartig killer rifled through their documents as though he was looking for something.  Some documents were thrown on top of a shell casing.  The night before the murders, Bearnhardt Hartig told his doctor friend he planned to confront an insurance agent friend who had defaulted on a $10,000 loan that Hartig had given him.  Records of the loan were missing from Hartig's house.

The prosecution secured agreements for three alleged accomplices to testify against Noling, although one jumped ship at trial.  The testimony of the alleged accomplices disagreed with each other, known facts, and their earlier statements.  There were hundreds of discrepancies, both trivial and critical.  Noling also suffered from incompetent counsel.

Investigator Ron Craig and the now-disgraced prosecutor David Norris were also involved in the disputed convictions of Bob Gondor and Randy Resh.  A public defender investigator of both cases commented, "I thought something like that could only happen once.  I was wrong."  (http://tyronenoling.com) (Cleveland Scene)  [12/06]

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