Police Say Man Imprisoned Likely Innocent

[The Straight Story]

Police Say Man Imprisoned Likely Innocent


MANSFIELD, Ohio - A central Ohio police department has taken the unusual step of asking a group that works to free convicted inmates to look into the case of a man who confessed to murder.

The Ohio Innocence Project has filed a motion on behalf of 47-year-old Glen Tinney, asking a Richland County judge to allow Tinney to withdraw his guilty plea in the 1988 death of 33-year-old Ted White. The county prosecutor’s office is opposed.

But Mansfield police Lt. John Wendling said he has believed for years that another man committed the crime and convinced Tinney to plead guilty after the two became friends while serving time in the same facility.

“In 1992, nearly four years after the murder, Glen Tinney, through prison officials, indicated that he wanted to plead guilty to the murder of Ted White in exchange for a radio and the return of some money he claimed was his,“ Wendling says in court documents.

The Innocence Project receives about 800 to 1,100 requests for help each year.

“This is the only case of any of Ohio Innocence Project cases that I am aware of where the police have approached us instead of the incarcerated person,“ Project attorney Karla Markley Hall. Court filings show White’s widow also supports the motion.

http://www2.nbc4i.com/cmh/news/local/article/police_say_man_imprisoned_likely_innocent/27826/

[tularetom]

1. Well, if he didn't murder that guy, he probably committed some other crime

so he belongs in jail anyway.

My late mom once made that statement in response to a similar story that appeared on the evening news about 20 years ago.

She was nuts. But I loved her anyway.

[Peace Patriot]

2. I'm glad to see an honest cop fighting the "system"! BRAVO, LT. JOHN WENDLING!!!

That takes a lot of courage and integrity!