Justice in question

Noling was convicted of killing an elderly Portage County couple on the
strength of testimony from two alleged accomplices, who cut deals with
prosecutors. Both have since recounted their testimony, claiming to
have been coerced and coached by an investigator with the Portage County
Prosecutor's Office.

It is not unheard of for crime accomplices to change their stories once
they have been safely insulated from the crimes of which they are
suspected. But what is even more compelling about the Noling case is
the crucial and favorable evidence that the prosecution withheld from the
defense that might have vindicated him.

The prosecution, for instance, never told the defense that another man
was questioned as a suspect in the murders, refused to take a polygraph and
owned a .25-caliber Titan, 1 of 4 makes of the gun that could have been
used to kill the couple.

Nor did prosecutors share the fact that a search of one of the
accomplices' cars failed to turn up the murder weapon that Noling
allegedly had used and then stashed in a glove compartment. An
accomplice later admitted to lying about the gun. No gun, no hair, no fibers ever
connected the chief suspect to the crime. Yet he now sits on death row.

The Noling case appears to be steeped in a web of distortions,
unreliable- perhaps coerced - confessions and a public defense team that was
unable to uncover the favorable evidence that Plain Dealer reporter Andrea
Simakis found in her recent pursuit of this case.

The case is now before U.S. District Judge Donald Nugent, who is to
decide shortly whether Noling received a fair trial, or whether the case
should be sent back to the trial court. It seems that more than reasonable
doubt has been raised, at the very least about the way the prosecution tried
this case.

(source: Opinion, Cleveland Plain Dealer)

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