Ohio Parole Board Wants Inmate Off Death Row

Tyrone Noling's fate is now up to Ohio's governor. The state Parole Board on Tuesday recommended that Gov. Mike DeWine spare the 54-year-old from execution by commuting his sentence to life with a chance at parole as soon as 2029. NBC News reports one of the eight board members backed a full pardon, which DeWine—who in June called for ending the death penalty in the state—can still grant. Five members voted in favor of commuting his sentence, while two were against. The Akron Beacon Journal reports there is no deadline for DeWine's decision.

Noling, who was sentenced to death in 1996 for the 1990 murders of Cora and Bearnhardt Hartig, has long maintained his innocence; no physical evidence tied him to the crime, and the teen witnesses who implicated him later recanted, saying police pressured them. The Ohio Innocence Project points to suppressed evidence and alternative suspects, including a man later executed for another killing. Noling, for his part, had requested a pardon, and previously said he would not accept a commutation to life without parole.