Woman who’s been on death row for 27 years has conviction overturned as new information emerges
A woman who has been sat on death row for more than a quarter of a century has had her conviction overturned in a bombshell discovery.
Brittany Marlow Holberg from Texas was sentenced to death for the murder of a pensioner, A.B. Towery, in 1996 in Amarillo, and has been sat on death row for the past 27 years - up until now.
Holberg, then 23, allegedly had turned to sex work to fund a crack cocaine habit when she got into an argument with Towery, her customer, at his home.
The 80-year-old was discovered dead with as many as 58 stab wounds from various utensils and 'part of a lamp' shoved down his throat, court records at the time stated.
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The now 52-year-old has always protested she killed Towery in self-defense after he started attacking her.
Yet Holberg was convicted of capital murder while in the course of committing or attempting to commit robbery two years after the man's death.
Now, judges at US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals have quashed her murder conviction after finding Holberg was unjustly sentenced based on a tainted testimony from a secret paid jailhouse informant.
During the trial, prosecutors brought Vickie Marie Kirkpatrick, her cellmate, to the stand, who claimed Holberg had confessed to slaying Towery for money.
Holberg denied having ever spoken to Kirkpatrick about the murder, but the prosecution's key witness managed to make Holberg out to be a drug addict who 'showed absolutely no remorse' for the slaying.
It has since transpired that Randal County prosecutors failed to disclose Kirkpatrick as an informant to Holberg, defense lawyers, and the jury, which the federal appeals court has determined hampered Holberg's right to a fair trial.
The court referenced the Brady Doctrine, which requires prosecutors to make all material and crucial information known to the defense, in its decision to clear the death sentence.
In the ruling published on Friday, Judge Patrick E. Higginbotham said Kirkpatrick's 'confidential informant work' was known to Amarillo police, but concealed during the trial proceedings, reports NBC News.
Instead, the judge said the informant was presented to the Amarillo jury 'as a disinterested individual' who 'wanted to do the right thing' and was attempting to be 'as truthful ... and complete as [she] could be'.
Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan, however, said even if the informant had been impeached, 'there’s zero chance that a jury would have credited Holberg’s laughable claim of self-defense or spared her the death penalty for slaughtering a sick old man'.
Randall County District Attorney James Farron also told KFDA that Kirkpatrick's testimony was used but 'was not critical to our case'.
"It was just one more piece of information that portrayed what I think is true about Brittany Holberg and that she can be a vicious, violent person if you are between her and something she wants badly enough."
Still, Higginbotham says the case is a 'stark reminder' that capital punishment is a 'work in progress', as per The Mirror.
"We pause only to acknowledge that 27 years on death row is a reality dimming the light that ought to attend proceedings where a life is at stake, a stark reminder that the jurisprudence of capital punishment remains a work in progress," he added. "Ms Holberg's 27 years on death row is a showcase of the State's failure to abide by a core structure of prosecution: the Brady Doctrine."
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