Injustice in Ohio

By LEONARD PITTS JR.

So I read in the paper where another man is about to be lied to death.

The first such story I am aware of was published last year in the Houston Chronicle. It concerned a street punk named Ruben Cantu, who was executed in 1993 for shooting two men, killing one. Cantu was sentenced based on the word of a single witness, the shooting survivor. That man now says it wasn't Cantu who shot him and that he was pressured to say otherwise by police. The Chronicle concluded that Cantu almost certainly did not commit the crime for which he was killed.

The Office of the Attorney General defends death penalty appeals and streamlines the death penalty appeals process by utilizing every resource available to stop delays and restore common sense to the criminal justice system. Upon request, this team of career prosecutors assists county prosecutors with every phase of death penalty prosecutions - from the indictment and trial through every stage of appeal. The Office also compiles a "brief bank" of sample responses to the most common death penalty appeal petitions.

Prisons frequently are said to be full of innocent men - a claim
usually made by those with numbers stenciled on their uniforms.

But in the case of inmate Tyrone Noling, who was sentenced to death in
1996 for a double homicide, there's disturbing evidence that the state
maybe preparing to execute the wrong man. The case of inmate A222599
deserves another official look.

Three claim Portage investigator used coaching, threats to get confessions, men say
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Andrea Simakis; Cleveland Plain Dealer Reporter

Ten years ago, Butch Wolcott told a packed courtroom a gripping story. Wolcott was one of a group of young punks led by a hellion named Tyrone Noling. One day as Wolcott waited outside, Noling forced his way into the home of an elderly couple in Atwater Township, then shot them dead. Wolcott even described for the jury the smoking gun Noling carried as he fled the house.