A state appeals court panel found in an October 2009 ruling upholding Hardin’s conviction that there was “substantial and compelling evidence of appellant’s guilt,” including “DNA from 11 bloodstains collected inside and outside the home was at least partially matched to appellant,” and seven bloodstains that were “definite DNA matches.”
The 2009 ruling noted that there was “no evidence appellant knew the victims or had any legitimate reason to be on their property and in their home” and “no innocent or legitimate reason for his trail of blood leading from inside their home, through their yard, and over a back wall.”
In 2023, a state appeals court panel agreed with a Superior Court judge’s finding that Hardin was ineligible to have his murder conviction vacated and be re-sentenced as a result of a change in state law.
One of the couple’s daughters, Allison Renck, said at Hardin’s sentencing, “My parents deserved the right to live and that was taken from them.” She noted then that “life has never been the same” since.
City News Service