Free Tyrone Noling

A Legal Twist That Chokes Justice

Political Opinion

Thursday, September 14, 2006

A strange quirk in Ohio's public records law needs to be fixed. It's a legal wrinkle that prevents criminal defendants or their lawyers from obtaining public records, such as police reports, that could possibly help prove their innocence.

This law has several glaring problems, among them the fact that the same public records generally are made available to any other, disinterested party. Attorneys for death-row inmate Tyrone Noling last week asked a federal judge to force The Plain Dealer to turn over public records the newspaper obtained before publishing stories that called into question Noling's actual guilt.

Noling was convicted and sentenced to death in 1996 for the murders of an elderly Portage County couple. His attorneys chose to pursue this newspaper because it has records that they could not obtain from the Portage County prosecutor's office - records that the defense says could have helped exonerate their client.

Noling's attorneys will have access to the previously unseen records because The Plain Dealer has voluntarily posted them on a publicly accessible Web site. But this does nothing to address the fact that the law will continue to create an unnecessary and indefensible hurdle for those fighting to prove their innocence.

The law was created in 1994 when the Ohio Supreme Court ruled 5-2 that defendants and their attorneys could not use public record laws to gather information that prosecutors did not turn over in discovery. The court's rationale was curious, to say the least. Writing for the majority, former Justice Andy Douglas opined:

"We recognize that our decision will not be met with universal approval, but those who criticize do not see the daily bombardment on our criminal justice system that we see."

This "bombardment" for public records by those whose freedom is on the line is simply the cost of justice. It's inexcusable that disinterested parties can have unfettered access to potentially useful public records denied to the accused. The Ohio legislature must amend a public records law that has been distorted and turned against those most in need of it.

Used with permission.