The federal court of appeals has nullified the conviction and death sentence of a woman who spent 27 years on death row inmates.
In its 2-1 decision, the US Fifth Circuit found that Texas violated Brittany Holberg’s rights to the legitimate process by failing to disclose that their primary court witnesses were paid informants.
Why is it important?
Holberg, 52, was convicted and sentenced to death for murder in 1998, when he was 25 years old, as he attempted to commit a robbery or attempt to commit a robbery.
Sex worker and drug addict Holberg testified that she acted in self-defense when she stabbed her like an 80-year-old Ab Tower in his Amarillo apartment in 1996, when she said she was afraid of her life after attacking her.
To ensure confidence, prosecutors relied on the testimony of Holberg’s prison cellmate Vicki Kirkpatrick, but did not reveal that he was working as a confidential informant for the Amarillo Police Station. She cut her testimony in 2011, saying the state used her pending robbery charges as leverage to ensure she testified against Holberg.
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What do you know
Kirkpatrick testified that Holberg admitted to killing Towery in order to get drug money.
Prosecutors refused to reveal that Kirkpatrick was working as a secret informant for the Amarillo police, but Judge Patrick E. Higginbotham, appointee of Ronald Reagan, presented her to the ju judge at Holberg’s trial on Friday, saying she “want to do the right thing” and “do the right thing.”
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and the Federal Regional Court held that the prosecutor did not violate Holberg’s rights by failing to disclose Kirkpatrick’s position as a secret informant.
However, Higgin Botham wrote that Kirkpatrick’s testimony was “significant to the state’s case, providing supportive evidence of the robbery, lowering Holberg’s account of self-defense, portraying him as a hostile addict who poses an ongoing threat to society.”
The Supreme Court recognized that the witness wrote “there is an acute incentive for those who are compensated for their testimony to lie.”
He added that the court concluded that such testimony can be presented during trial only if the status as paid information is disclosed. This means that the ju judge can “compare the credibility of the witness” and its position is “to be subject to strict cross-examination, and the ju judge has been explicitly instructed to be cautious when considering such testimony.”
Higginbotham added: “In light of Kirkpatrick’s role as a key prosecutor’s witness, those who provided the state’s only testimony of violent encounters and “direct evidence” of robbery, “There is no sound theory to support the promotion of the enforcement of the holfort facility, considering the entire record, to support the conclusion of the ‘record’. The Court’s discovery of immateriality is an irrational application of clearly established Supreme Court law. ”
What people are saying
In his ruling, Higginbotham wrote: “I will pause just to admit that 27 years on death row inmates are a reality that dims the light to attend in lawsuits where life is at stake. Death Penalty jurisprudence remains an ongoing job.
“There is a reason that Brittany Marlow Holberg has been on death row for over 27 years. The state denied her right to justice by protecting the evidence of the ju judge in favour of the defendant, and this oppression biased her case.”
President Donald Trump’s appointee Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan wrote in dissent:
Duncan said the evidence about Kirkpatrick was not “material” and “they are rich in other strong evidence and have nothing to do with Kirkpatrick, which underscored Holberg’s claims of self-defense, proving that she stole the tower after killing him.”
What will happen next
The court has voided Holberg’s murder conviction and death sentence, and decided how the case could be sent back to the district court to proceed.
