Brittany Holberg, inmate on Texas death row for 27 years, has her conviction tossed by federal appeals court
The Federal Court of Appeals abandoned Amarillo women’s death penalty After discovering that the local prosecutor failed to reveal that his main trial witness was a paid informant.
and 2-1 DecisionThe U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit sent Brittany Marlowe Holberg’s 1998 murder conviction back to the trial court last week to decide how to proceed.
Holberg has been on death row for 27 years. Randall County prosecutors rely heavily on testimony from prison inmates, a confidential informant of the Amarillo City Police Department, after securing their conviction. The informant withdrew her testimony in 2011, but neither the Texas Criminal Appeal Court nor the Federal District Court found that prosecutors violated Holberg’s right to just trial.
this The Court of Appeal disagreessaying the informant was vital to the guilt of the jury, prosecutors violated Holberg’s due process rights, according to a landmark message from the U.S. Supreme Court Brady’s Theorymust be disclosed. Judge Patrick E.
“Just to admit that 27 years of death row is a reality that dimmes the lights that should be involved in a lawsuit at which life is threatened is a clear reminder that the jurisprudence of death penalty remains an ongoing work,” wrote Higginbotham, a man appointed by Ronald Reagan.
Holberg was sentenced to death by Amarillo jury at the age of 23. A jury found her guilty of murdering an 80-year-old man, Ab Towery, a former client of sex worker Holberg. During the trial, Holberg asserted that he was acting in self-defense and stabbed Tari because she was worried about her life and tried to protect herself after he hit the back of the head and refused to endure it.
However, prosecutors have filed testimony from Holberg’s prison roommate Vickie Marie Kirkpatrick, who claimed Holberg admitted to killing Tari “to make money” and said she “will do more drugs again.”
Kirkpatrick was a confidential informant at the Amarillo police department at the time, and the prosecutor did not disclose it. They use Kirkpatrick as a “selfless person” who wants to do the right thing.
“Ms. Holberg’s 27 years on death row are a showcase of the state’s failure to comply with the core structure of prosecution: Brady’s doctrine,” Higginbotum wrote.
Holberg suffered severe and repeated sexual abuse during his childhood and fell into cocaine addiction. She turned to sex to support her addiction, according to court documents.
On November 13, 1996, she had a minor traffic accident and then sought shelter in her apartment in Tari. A fierce argument turned into violence, leaving the tower dead, and part of the lamp laying in his throat. Holberg left the apartment to cut, hitting her head with bruises and bleeding from the tower.
While in prison, the Randall County District Attorney’s Office contacted several inmates to ask them about Holberg, providing them with a deal in exchange for testimony. Kirkpatrick, who was placed in the same cell as Holberg, issued a statement detailing the alleged admission to Holberg. On the same day, Kirkpatrick was released.
Stuart Kyle Duncan, a circuit judge appointed by Donald Trump, wrote in a lonely dissent that the jury did not rely solely on Kirkpatrick’s testimony to make guilty decisions.
“The jury received graphical physical evidence that Holberg sadistically slaughtered a sickly old man, and his throat hit a coup when the light hit his throat,” Duncan wrote. “This evidence destined Holberg’s theory of self-defense, and no chance to blast Kirkpatrick would resurrect it.”
Randall County District Attorney Robert Love, the assistant district attorney when Holberg’s first prosecution, said in an emailed statement that he was “disappointed” by the Fifth Circuit ruling. He declined to comment further on the case until the Attorney General’s office decided how to proceed. “They are currently discussing available legal options,” Love said.
Holberg’s lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Texas Tribune on Monday. A Texas Criminal Justice Department spokesman said the agency had no comment on Holberg’s case. Holberg is currently in custody at the Patrick L. O’Daniel unit, a Gatesville prison that is held among death row prisoners and other inmates and other inmates.
Texas leads the country’s executions and becomes one of the top three sentences to death. However, the use of the death penalty in the state has weakened, with death row counts falling by more than half over the past 25 years. There are 174 death row in Texas, seven of which are female.
according to CBS Member KFDA-TVHolberg is currently in custody in the Patrick L. O’Daniel unit, a Gatesville prison that lives on death row.
One of these prisoners is Melissa LucioHer 2-year-old daughter Mariah has been on death row in Texas since 2008. Last November, the judge who presided over Lucio’s murder trial ruled that there was clear and compelling evidence that Maria died of an accidental fall, and “In fact, it’s innocent,” Lucio said.
