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Thread: Terrell Nowlin Sentenced to LWOP in 2010 OH Murder of Tyler Hardin

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    Terrell Nowlin Sentenced to LWOP in 2010 OH Murder of Tyler Hardin

    Terrell Nowlin indicted in murder; faces death penalty

    A Columbus man is facing the death penalty after being indicted on 1 count of conspiracy to aggravated murder, 1 count of conspiracy to kidnapping, 1 count of kidnapping with a gun specification, 1 count of aggravated murder with a gun and death specification, 4 counts of tampering with evidence and 1 count of gross abuse of a corpse.

    Terrell Nowlin, 24, was indicted on the charges by a Muskingum County Grand jury this morning will be arraigned on the charges next week.

    Nowlin is accused of killing Tyler Hardin July 10, according to Muskingum County Prosecutor Michael Haddox.

    Haddox said the 1 count of aggravated murder with a gun and death specification carries the possibility of a death sentence.

    (Source: The Zanesville Times-Recorder)

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    Heather Nowlin talks about what happened to Tyler Hardin

    Nowlin recounts the days surrounding Hardin's death

    If she could, Heather Nowlin would go back in time.

    She wouldn't drive Tyler Hardin to a wooded area in southwest Muskingum County, knowing her husband, Terrell Nowlin, 24, of Columbus, was waiting there to kill the father of her first child.

    That's the spot where the 19-year-old Zanesville woman led Muskingum County investigators on July 18 and pointed them to Tyler Hardin's body in a shallow grave, leading to her arrest and indictment for conspiracy to commit aggravated murder, among other felonies. Terrell faces a possible death penalty if convicted for aggravated murder and other charges.

    Sitting in the Muskingum County Jail on a $1 million bond after pleading not guilty, Nowlin spoke exclusively with the Times Recorder in a meeting proposed by her parents.

    This is Heather's story of the killing and cover-up that began at least a week before she went to law enforcement and told them where to find Tyler's body and about her husband's role in his death. Her claims are consistent with both indictments and confirm a visitation dispute about her 2-year-old daughter motivated the crimes.
    THE BEGINNING

    Heather and Terrell applied for a marriage license in August 2009. The two, however, started dating about five years ago.

    "At first, for about a year, he was really nice to me," she said. "But once I got pregnant, he started hitting me."

    Heather was pregnant with Tyler's baby, although she said at the time neither she nor Terrell knew that.

    The child, Markia, is 2.

    Heather suspected Tyler, 19, might have been the father, and he was contacted about the baby.

    "We got hold of Tyler, but he never showed up at the hospital when she was born. Terrell said he was going to step up and be the baby's daddy. We did have a DNA test done a little later, but when I got the results, Terrell said to just throw them away. He wouldn't even let me look at them. Just said to tear them up. He was the father and would be there regardless," Heather said.

    Terrell put his name on Markia's birth certificate.

    Then, months later, Heather said Tyler came back into their lives and wanted not only DNA testing, but visitation rights.

    "Terrell felt like that was OK," Heather said. "He said fine, let him play daddy. But Terrell felt like he was really Markia's dad and would be the one there for her always."

    Heather said Tyler again dropped out of the picture for a few months, leading Terrell to seek the adoption of Markia.

    Homemade adoption papers were drawn up.

    "We made up a contract that we thought would be OK," Heather said. "I signed it, Terrell signed it and Tyler signed it giving up his parental rights and not having to pay any child support."

    Muskingum County court records show Tyler felt "tricked" into the signing the papers, which were vacated by the court in January of this year. Records also show on July 22, 2009, Tyler wanted to be legally considered the father of Markia and a new birth certificate was ordered.

    Then in March of this year, Tyler petitioned the Muskingum County Domestic Court to grant temporary visitation, a parenting plan and to change the last name of the baby to Hardin.

    "That's when Terrell felt like we was really losing the battle," Heather said. "Terrell wanted Tyler to come to our house to visit the baby. That way, Terrell said he felt like he could tell if Tyler really wanted to be the baby's father or not."

    But the court ordered visits would be in Tyler's home on Indiana Street three times a week.

    "That's what really made Terrell mad," Heather said. "Especially when Markia would clutch to Terrell and not seem to want to go to Tyler. Terrell said we just couldn't do that to the baby."

    Heather said Terrell then started asking people to beat up Tyler.

    Then the threats became worse.

    "He wanted Tyler dead," Heather said.

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    Part 2

    THE PLAN

    About a week before Tyler disappeared, Heather said Terrell put a gun to her head and told her he would kill her and her entire family if she ever told anyone what he was planning.

    "I was so scared," Heather said. "I watched him put the bullets in the gun, so I knew he was serious. He just kept saying he didn't want the baby to have two dads."

    Her husband told her to get someone to watch the baby as they went to a remote area in Muskingum County where Tyler's body eventually was found.

    Once at "the spot" in Newton Township, as Terrell called it, Heather said Terrell asked her if she thought it was a good spot.

    As the couple sat by some water located on the property, Heather said they discussed the murder. "I told him I didn't want to do this," she said.

    Heather said her husband threatened her repeatedly and told her not to bring anyone else out there or tell anyone where it was.

    Several days went by and Heather said Terrell continued to talk about how he was losing the baby to Tyler. He continued to threaten her.

    "He told me he would put a bullet in me," Heather said. "He said I just didn't realize how serious he was. He told me I knew how to get Tyler out there and I was going to do it."

    THE DAY

    On July 10, Terrell told Heather the day had arrived. She was to lure Tyler out of his home and take him to "the spot." Heather said Terrell kept telling her: "You can get him there. ... You're going to do this."

    Heather said she and a friend went by Tyler's home that Saturday and Tyler got into her car.

    "He was walking with Markia, and when I stopped and talked to him, he asked me where I was going and I told him 'swimming,' " Heather said. "He asked if he could come along, and I said yes."

    Heather said she didn't know exactly what to do next.

    "I had him and my baby in the car and I sure didn't want my baby near anything bad. I went to my house and the whole time Terrell is texting me. 'Where are you?' 'Do you have Tyler? Meet me.'"

    Heather said she started getting really scared and left her apartment with Tyler and Markia staying behind.

    "Now Terrell's really texting me and telling me what to do," Heather said. "He tells me to get Tyler, go to the top of the bridge and he'll follow me to the spot. He warned me not to make any mistakes and said he had everything ready -- the gun and stuff."

    Going back to the apartment, Heather said she honked the car horn and Tyler came out with their baby. Tyler got into the back seat of the car and strapped the baby in her car seat. A friend of Heather's was in the front passenger seat of the car, she said.

    "I was really scared now," Heather said. "We're driving out there and suddenly Terrell is behind us and Tyler sees him. I couldn't say anything I was so scared."

    Heather said she was nervous and turned the wrong way. She had to turn around and go back to the spot where Terrell was waiting.

    "Terrell came walking up with a bucket," Heather said. "Tyler wanted out of the car. Terrell came up to my side and reached in, grabbed my keys, turned the car off and opened the trunk."

    Terrell pulled a shovel out of the trunk, she said. Tyler got out of the car and Terrell told him to sit down and not move.

    Tyler started to run, Heather said, and Terrell tackled him.

    Heather's friend started to panic and yelled for her to leave. Heather said she was scared and in a panic. The last thing she saw was Tyler and her husband fighting as she sped down the road.

    FINDING OUT

    Heather said she went back to her apartment and waited hours for her husband to come home.

    "I kept calling his phone and getting no answer," Heather said, so she decided to go to the home of one of Terrell's relatives in Zanesville. As she was driving there, Terrell called and said he was driving right behind her.

    The pair went to the relative's home. When Terrell got out of his car she immediately noticed a huge scratch on the top of his stomach, a large bruise on his forehead and grass in his hair.

    "When I asked how he got the scratch, he said Tyler did it while they were fighting," she said.

    Heather said she thought it was odd that Terrell was wearing different clothes. Instead of tennis shoes, Terrell had on flip-flops and a sweatshirt he had not been wearing earlier.

    After leaving the relative's home, the couple went to Heather's apartment, where Terrell made her sit in a kitchen chair and put a gun to her head.

    "He told me if I told anybody anything, he would kill me," Heather said. "He said it wouldn't be hard to find me."

    Terrell, who also lived in Columbus, then took the clothes he had on earlier that day out of the closet, and put them in bleach. Heather said he also took the bloody tennis shoes he'd been wearing earlier and covered them in bleach in the bathtub.

    "Then he sat at the kitchen table and told me he shot Tyler," Heather said. "He told me Tyler and him had been talking about me and Tyler was blaming me for everything."

    Heather said Terrell told her Tyler wouldn't shut up, so Terrell then shot him in the face. Tyler got up and tried to run so Terrell shot him again.

    "I don't know how many times he shot him," Heather said. "Terrell just said he emptied the clip."

    Terrell told Heather he had to suffocate Tyler by walking him down to the water and holding his head down.

    "I couldn't believe it," Heather said. "I asked him where Tyler was, and Terrell said he left him out there."

    Terrell threatened her, Heather said, then left.

    HIDING THE BODY

    The next day, Terrell called Heather and told her to pick him up at a relative's home. She said she was too scared not to, so she put Markia in the car and went to pick up Terrell.

    They returned to the spot where Tyler had been left. Terrell started walking around and then disappeared over a little hill.

    "Then he comes running back screaming 'there's no body,' " Heather said. "But he was just kidding."

    Terrell dug a hole, Heather said, then helped her put garbage bags on her hands and feet. Terrell also placed garbage bags on his hands and feet, secured all the bags with tape.

    Heather said Terrell was wearing a pair of her tennis shoes, which she thought was odd.

    "I still don't know why he did that," she said.

    They walked down to the water and that's when she saw Tyler lying there, face down in the water.

    "Terrell said he needed help getting him out of the water and up the hill so we could bury him. But when I touched his leg, it was just so stiff, I couldn't do it."

    Heather said she was in shock. "I just couldn't touch him. I just couldn't do it."

    The garbage bags became a hindrance, Heather said, so Terrell took them off.

    Terrell then started dragging Tyler up a little hill to the shallow grave.

    "I did grab one of Tyler's legs and tried to help," Heather said. "But I fell and Terrell was cussing me out and threatening to shoot me. My daughter was right up in the car, and I didn't want her to get upset."

    Again, Heather said, she started to help her husband drag Tyler and even grabbed his belt to help pull him toward the grave.

    "But now I could hear the baby crying and I knew I needed to go to her," Heather said. "So Terrell told me to go on, and I waited for him by the car."

    When Terrell returned to the car carrying a shovel, he took off the shoes he had been wearing and threw them into the back of the car. He then put on a pair of slippers he had in the back seat, Heather said.

    Once back at Heather's apartment, Terrell got a trash bag. The first thing he put in it was Tyler's shoes.

    "Terrell told me he would have taken all of Tyler's clothes, but couldn't get them off," Heather said.

    Then Terrell put the clothes Heather had been wearing in the bag, and she and Terrell drove to an apartment complex and put the bag in the Dumpster.

    When the couple returned to her apartment, Heather said Terrell continued being verbally abusive and threatened her again.

    "He said he would shoot me, shoot up my family's house and that he was taking the baby so I wouldn't tell anyone," she said. "He told the baby to tell me good-bye and put her in the back of his car. Then he got the shovel, put it in his car and told me he wasn't playing. If anything goes on, he said to make sure to call him."

    Nothing was said about Tyler's disappearance until a couple of days later when Heather got a call from Tyler's mother, Kim Saunders. She talked to Heather regarding her son not having come home or anyone hearing from him.

    "I told Terrell, and he just told me to cool out," Heather said. "He said he'd get a lawyer and to remember that we didn't do nothing. He said to hold out and not to say a word about it. Then he starts acting like he doesn't know what I'm talking about."

    A week went by and Heather said she became increasingly nervous and scared, so she told her father, Richard McCoy, what had happened. Terrell was not returning her phone calls or texts, she said, and she needed to make sure her daughter was OK.

    McCoy told Heather if she knew anything about Tyler, she needed to tell law enforcement. Heather said her father convinced her to do the right thing.

    "We went to the police and they had me take them where Tyler was," she said. "I was scared the entire time. I mean, Terrell had my baby. What was I suppose to do."

    Tyler's body was found July 18.

    Heather said if she could take back what happened to Tyler, she would.

    "I just never thought Terrell would go through with it," Heather said. "Now I wish I had never met Terrell."

    http://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/article/20100802/NEWS01/8010305/1002/rss01

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    Slew of motions heard surrounding in Terrell Nowlin's death penalty case

    Terrell Nowlin sat quietly in a Muskingum County Common Pleas court Friday while attorneys argued motions regarding the death penalty case Nowlin faces.

    Nowlin, 24, of Columbus, was indicted on and entered not guilty pleas to aggravated murder charge with a gun specification and the death specification, one count of conspiracy to commit aggravated murder, one count of conspiracy to kidnapping, one count of kidnapping with a gun specification, four counts of tampering with evidence and one count of gross abuse of a corpse.

    Nowlin is facing the death penalty.

    The charges are in connection with the death of Tyler Hardin, whose body was discovered last July after he had been reported missing by his mother days before his death.

    Hardin’s body was discovered by Zanesville police detectives and Muskingum County Sheriff’s detectives after Terrell’s wife, Heather Nowlin, lead them to a shallow grave in a remote part of the county.

    Motions heard Friday included the defense attorneys, Kirk A. McVay and Richard S. Ketcham, of Columbus, asking for Nowlin to be dressed in street clothes during all proceedings instead of jail attire, the media being barred from all proceedings except the trial because publicity might taint a jury pool, for all DNA testing to be preserved and shared and to not allow law enforcement to speak to Nowlan without his attorney’s present.

    Judge Mark Fleegle granted the motion for Nowlin to wear street attire, denied the motion for media to be barred, stated if any testing, including DNA, was not shared then he would deal with it at that time and granted the motion that no one be allowed to approach Nowlin without permission.

    McVay and Ketcham also filed motions Friday to suppress statements Nowlin made to law enforcement and asked for an expert in the field of mental retardation. Fleegle has not yet ruled on those motions.

    Assistant Prosecutor Bob Smith, who was in court along with Prosecutor Michael Haddox, said in a case where the death penalty was an issue, motions like the ones heard Friday, are common.

    The most significant motions, dealing with the specific issue of the death penalty if Nowlin is convicted, are still pending. Those motions include how the jury will be instructed, what evidence will be considered and who will be allowed to argue their case to the jury first.

    No trial date has been scheduled.

    Heather Nowlin has been indicted and entered not guilty pleas to one count of conspiracy to aggravated murder, one count of kidnapping, one count of complicity to aggravated murder, two counts of tampering with evidence and one count of gross abuse of a corpse in connection with the case.

    http://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.c...WS01/110401009

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    Local Woman Pleads Guilty in Connection with 2010 Murder

    A South Zanesville woman pleads guilty to charges in connection with the murder of Tyler Hardin.

    20-year-old Heather Nowlin appeared in Muskingum County Common Pleas Court Wednesday where she pled guilty to charges of conspiracy to aggravated murder, kidnapping and tampering with evidence.

    The charges are in connection with the July 2010 death of 19-year-old Tyler Hardin. Hardin's body was found in a shallow grave on property in Newtown Township.

    Judge Mark Fleegle ordered a pre-sentence investigation.

    Nowlin's bond was continued at $1 million

    Nowlin's husband, Terrell Nowlin, is also facing multiple charges in connection with Hardin's death including aggravated murder which carries the possibility of the death penalty.

    He is scheduled to go on trial December 12th.

    http://www.whiznews.com/content/news...th-2010-murder

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    Tyler Hardin's Mother Speaks Out About Heather Nowlin

    A South Zanesville woman pleaded guilty Wednesday in court to charges in connection with the death of an area teenager.

    20-year-old Heather Nowlin appeared in Muskingum County Common Pleas Court Wednesday, where she pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to aggravated murder, kidnapping, and tampering with evidence.

    The charges stem from the July 2010 death of 19-year-old Tyler Hardin, whose body was later found in a shallow grave on a property in Newton Township. The charges against Nowlin carry a twenty-five year sentence.

    Hardin's mother, Kim Saunders, was in court today in support of her son, and says seeing Nowlin was very emotional.

    "Twenty-five years, to me, is no justice for Tyler." said Saunders. "She should have admitted to it from the beginning, instead of waiting all this time. Now I fell like she is pleading guilty to take an easy way out, a plea bargain, to help herself,"

    It's been a little over a year since Tyler Hardin was killed, and Saunders says time hasn't healed the wound.

    "Nothing can ever fix it, I can't even say if a life sentence would be enough." she said. "It's hard, it's been real hard. I think about him every day, every day."

    Heather Nowlin's bond was continued at one million dollars. Her husband, Terrell Nowlin, is also facing multiple charges in connection with Hardin's death, including aggravated murder. If convicted, Terrell Nowlin could face the death penalty. His trial is scheduled for December 12th of this year.

    http://www.whiznews.com/content/news...heather-nowlin

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    Terrell Nowlin murder trial opens; death penalty off the table

    Jury selection began this morning in the murder trial of Terrell Nowlin, who is accused of killing Tyler Hardin.

    Nowlin was facing the death penalty, but that penalty has been removed after psychological tests were completed. The court record regarding the tests has been sealed by Judge Mark Fleegle, but Muskingum County Prosecutor Michael Haddox said the death penalty no longer applies.

    Nowlin has entered not guilty pleas in Muskingum County Common Pleas Court to aggravated murder with a gun specification, conspiracy to commit aggravated murder, kidnapping, kidnapping with a gun specification, four counts of tampering with evidence and one count of gross abuse of a corpse. If convicted, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.

    On Friday, Fleegle rejected an request to suppress statements Nowlin made to Muskingum County Sheriff's Office detectives.

    Nowlin's wife, Heather, is expected to testify for the prosecution.

    Heather Nowlin pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit murder, two counts of tampering with evidence and one count of gross abuse of a corpse.

    Heather Nowlin has not yet been sentenced and faces life in prison.

    Hardin was last seen July 10, 2010. His partly decomposed body was recovered from a shallow grave July 18 after Heather Nowlin led law enforcement to the spot where she said Terrell had placed Hardin's body after shooting him.

    http://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.c...WS01/111212002

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    ZANESVILLE — Terrell Nowlin had absolutely no reaction when jurors found him guilty of killing Tyler Hardin in July 2010.

    Nowlin was convicted Monday in a Muskingum County Common Pleas court. Heather Nowlin, his wife, has pleaded guilty to three felony counts connected to the murder and is facing 25 years in prison. She has not yet been sentenced.

    Hardin’s mother, Kim Saunders, who stoically sat through Nowlin’s trial, said she believes justice has been served for her son.

    “Now this won’t be hovering over my head,” Saunders said after the verdicts were read Monday evening. “I’m satisfied and very happy.”

    It’s a bittersweet victory for Saunders, though.

    “I’ll never be over Tyler’s death,” Saunders said. “I won’t be over it till the day I take my last breath.”

    Nowlin was found guilty of conspiracy to commit aggravated murder, conspiracy to kidnapping, kidnapping with a firearm specification, aggravated murder with a firearm specification, three counts of tampering with evidence and one count of abuse of a corpse. Nowlin was found not guilty on one count of tampering with evidence — a shovel.

    Defense attorney Kirk McVay said one reason Nowlin didn’t react to the verdicts was partly because of the way Nowlin is and partly because of advice from McVay and his co-counsel, Richard Ketcham.

    “Terrell hasn’t had an easy life,” McVay said. “He expects things to happen and accepts it as it is. He’s had no grand ideas and no grand hopes. He’s a realist.”

    McVay said he and Ketcham both knew going into the trial that the verdicts would hinge on testimony by Heather.

    “There really wasn’t any direct evidence against Terrell except for Heather’s testimony,” McVay said. “ The prosecution did have the ballistics tests that showed the gun was Terrell’s, but who shot that gun was testimony from Heather.”

    Muskingum County Prosecutor Michael Haddox said he was very happy with the verdicts and for Hardin’s family, whom he hopes will get at least some legal closure.

    Even though Heather admitted during her testimony that she had lied to detectives in at least four interviews, Haddox said he knew he needed to put her on the stand to fill in the gaps that other witnesses could not testify about.
    Another issue Haddox had to overcome during the trial was spousal privilege.

    “This is the first time I’ve had to deal with that,” Haddox said. “It took a lot of prep work, a little luck, great work by Detectives Brady Hittle and Todd Mahle and the other investigators with the Muskingum County Sheriff’s Office, Zanesville Police Department Officer Jim Devoll and my co-counsel, Bob Smith.”

    Heather told jurors she and her husband had planned the murder several weeks after Hardin began strongly asserting his parental rights to the child he and Heather had in 2009.

    Nowlin wanted Hardin “nowhere near the child,” Haddox told jurors in his closing statement.

    Finding an isolated spot off Tipton Road, Nowlin had Heather lure Hardin there on July 18, 2010, on the pretext of going swimming.

    With Heather was her daughter with Hardin and a friend, Alysia Harris.

    Heather and Harris left the remote area after Hardin and Nowlin began fighting. Nowlin showed up hours later at his father’s home wearing only sweatpants and pink and white flip-flops that belonged to his father’s girlfriend.

    Nowlin did look like he had been in a fight with scratches on his chest and a bruise on his head, according to testimony.

    Heather said Nowlin threatened to kill her by putting the same gun he used on Hardin earlier that day if she told anyone he had shot Hardin twice — once in the face and once in the back, then suffocated him by pushing his head in a small pool of water.

    The next day, Heather and Nowlin were back out at “the spot,” again with the baby, dragging Hardin’s body hundreds of feet and putting it in a shallow grave.

    Saunders immediately became worried when her son was missing for a couple of days. Devoll talked to Heather’s father, who in turn talked Heather into turning herself into police and taking them to Hardin’s shallow grave.

    Nowlin was arrested in Columbus, where he lived with another woman with their child, but not before he gave the gun, a Smith and Wesson 9mm, to her and told her to hide it in her father’s safe.

    Judge Mark Fleegle ordered a presentence investigation, remanded Nowlin to the Muskingum County Sheriff’s Office with no set bond and said a hearing will be held prior to sentencing to see if some of the charges will merge during sentencing.

    http://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.c...-guilty-murder

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    The mother of 19-year-old Tyler Hardin said she hopes each day in prison feels like an eternity for the woman who played a role in the death of her son.

    20-year-old Heather Nowlin appeared before Muskingum County Common Pleas Judge Mark Fleegle Monday morning and received the sentence of 25 years in the death of Hardin in July 2010.

    Hardin's mother Kim Saunders said Nowlin's apology in court gives little closure.

    "Her apology does little for me right now," said Saunders. "I pray all the time that God can put it in my hear to forgive her because I know if I don't she's still in control and I don't want her controlling my life."

    Nowlin was charged with conspiracy to aggravated murder, kidnapping and tampering with evidence for her role last summer - where she lured Hardin to an isolated location and her husband, Terrell, shot Hardin twice.

    In a letter to Nowlin, Saunders expresses in detail the pain she has caused.

    "I started the letter off by saying, how can you love Marqueea, which is her and Tyler's daughter, when you took a tremendous part of her life from her and how she has destroyed a lot of people lives, some of which is permanent damage it can never be undone," said Saunders.

    Terrell Nowlin was convicted of aggravated murder in Hardin's death last December.

    http://www.whiznews.com/content/news...-on-sentencing

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    Nowlin plans to appeal life sentence for Hardin murder

    Kim Saunders wants Terrell Nowlin to forever remember her son Tyler Hardin was the father of Markia -- the child who Nowlin killed Hardin over.

    Nowlin was sentenced to life in prison without parole Monday as applause broke out in a Muskingum County Common Pleas court.

    "Markia Hardin, Markia Hardin, Markia Hardin," Saunders wrote in a letter that was read to the court. "Get it stamped in that empty brain of yours, she's a Hardin."

    Hardin had been working to assert his parental rights of Markia, whom he had with Heather Nowlin, Terrell's wife.

    This action spurred Heather Nowlin to lure Hardin to a spot off Tipton Road where Terrell Nowlin waited to kill him in July 2010. He shot Hardin twice and held his head under water to ensure he died, according to authorities.

    Nowlin was convicted in December of one count each of conspiracy to commit aggravated murder, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, kidnapping with a firearm specification, aggravated murder with a firearm specification and abuse of a corpse and three counts of tampering with evidence.

    He stood silently between his two defense attorneys, Kirk McVay and Richard Ketcham, with what the prosecutor defined as a "smirk" on his face as Judge Mark Fleegle sentenced him. Nowlin, while telling Fleegle he had nothing to say in his defense, said he would appeal his conviction.

    Saunders loudly praised Jesus when the verdict was read. Saunders, who had tears pouring down her face, said she was full of joy after hearing Nowlin never will have the chance to walk out of prison.

    "This is what I've been waiting to hear," Saunders said. "The justice system worked and God worked today. I believed God would get us through this and he did."

    In her letter, Saunders unleashed her hatred for Nowlin and her never-ending grief about losing her son. She told Nowlin in the letter that he's "too selfish and stupid" to know that two fathers were taken from their children. Terrell Nowlin has two children in Columbus and one with Heather Nowlin.

    "You killed my joy and half the purpose of my life," Saunders told Nowlin. "It can never be fixed. You don't really love Markia. You took Tyler out of her life forever. Now you're out of her life forever. You deserve to spend the rest of your life in prison."

    McVay tried to convince Fleegle that Nowlin only deserved to go to prison for 20 years or 28 years to life before the sentencing. McVay said while it always is difficult to find the right words to say when a life has been lost and expressed deep sympathy for Saunders and her family, Nowlin's thought process was abnormal.

    Nowlin had faced the death penalty until two physicians determined he did not have an IQ of at least 70, which is what is required by the state to allow someone to stand trial with the death penalty.

    McVay said Nowlin withstood more than two hours of interrogation by Muskingum County Sheriff's detectives. While never admitting his role in Hardin's death, Nowlin was concerned about his children, including Markia, McVay said.

    "He's not a hardened criminal," McVay said. "He made bad choices, decisions that have impacted everyone here in this courtroom for the duration of their lives. We ask that you consider mercy."

    McVay said he and Ketcham were pleased that Nowlin didn't get the death penalty and were not surprised by the life sentence.

    Nowlin's wife testified against him during the trial. She was sentenced earlier this month to 25 years for one count each of conspiracy to commit murder, kidnapping and tampering with evidence and was ordered to pay more than $7,000 in restitution for Hardin's funeral expenses.

    Heather Nowlin had told the Times Recorder in an August 2010 interview that she had lured Hardin to the spot knowing Terrell Nowlin was there to kill him. She said Nowlin had threatened her before and after Hardin's death.

    Muskingum County Prosecutor Michael Haddox said he was extremely pleased with the sentence for the murder of a "very unsuspecting victim."

    "And after seeing Mr. Nowlin's lack of remorse, his total lack of respect for the court and lack of taking responsibility for his actions, the sentence was very deserving," Haddox said.

    Haddox said he was in disbelief at Nowlin's lack of respect for the justice system and Fleegle.

    "I just don't think I've ever seen a defendant stand in court and smirk like that when a letter is read from the victim's family," Haddox said. "Unbelievable."

    http://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.c...yssey=nav|head

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