Convicted of murder in 1998, new evidence could set Bedford man free

A Bedford man convicted of murder in 1998 could be freed from prison on Tuesday because of new evidence in his case, his attorneys said.

John Earl Nolley, 42, could be released by state District Judge Louis Sturns while his innocence claims are reconsidered.

“Typically what will happen in these types of cases is that the defendant will be released under his own recognizance,” said Gary Medlin, who was Nolley’s attorney at his criminal trial but is not representing him now.

Nolley was convicted of killing Sharon McLane, a woman who was found dead — with 57 stab wounds — in her Bedford apartment on Dec. 14, 1996.

He was sentenced to life in prison on May 27, 1998, based largely on testimony from a jailhouse snitch and a bloody palm print left at the crime scene.

According to a brief filed with the court, the inmate who testified against Nolley lied and new tests results show that the print belongs to an unidentified third party who was at the crime scene.

Forensic experts at the time of Nolley’s trial concluded they could not tell who left the bloody palm print at the scene of the murder, according to the court brief, or application for writ of habeas corpus, which was filed by Nolley’s attorneys, including Nina Morrison and Barry Scheck with the Innocence Project.

Subsequent testing found that print did not belong to Nolley or the victim and indicated the presence of another person at the crime scene, the brief states.

The state’s reply, written by Dawn A. Moore Boswell, assistant district attorney chief with the Conviction Integrity Unit, said that Nolley’s “actual innocence claim should be designated for future resolution” and ask that the state be allowed to file a reply “after further investigation has been completed.”

Attorneys with the Innocence Project who worked on the Nolley case after his conviction declined to comment.

Nolley’s brief to the court details the following events:

Nolley went to McLane’s apartment on Dec. 11, 1996, where they smoked some marijuana and drank some beers. But when he was questioned by police, Nolley lied, saying he was not at the apartment. Nolley did not want to tell police he had been smoking marijuana because he was on probation for a weapons charge from 1993. He was arrested in 1997 was jailed until his trial began the following year.

John O’Brien, a man accused of planning to rob three trucks filled with welding and farm equipment valued at $75,000, was also in the Tarrant County Jail at the same time as Nolley.

O’Brien told investigators with the Tarrant County district attorney’s office that Nolley confessed to him that he killed McLane after she resisted his attempts at robbing her and because he saw her blood on his shoes.

One month after that alleged confession, O’Brien received a plea deal that resulted in a sentence of 10 years’ deferred adjudication probation.

O’Brien, who has an extensive criminal record, told authorities that he had developed a relationship with Nolley while they both worked in the jail library in the fall of 1997.

Nolley’s attorneys write that O’Brien’s testimony about the robbery, bloody shoes — and about not receiving anything for testifying — are all lies.

Police never recovered any bloody shoes, money was found inside McLane’s purse and no property was ever found missing.

This story was originally published May 16, 2016 at 3:40 PM with the headline "Convicted of murder in 1998, new evidence could set Bedford man free."