Bombshell new evidence has given Brittany Holberg, 52, a reprieve – a case which a judge in Texas, US, says serves as a reminder capital punishment is still a “work in progress”
A woman who has been on death row for 27 years has had her murder conviction quashed – after staggering new information came to light.
Brittany Holberg was sentenced to death for the murder of A.B. Towery, 80, as it was said Holberg, then 23, whacked the man with a hammer, stabbed him 58 times with multiple utensils and shoved a foot-long lamp pole down his throat.
Holberg was convicted of capital murder in the course of committing or attempting to commit robbery in 1998, two years after the pensioner’s death, and has been on death row in the decades since then.
But incredibly it now has emerged local prosecutors failed to mention at the time their primary trial witness was a paid informant. Judges at US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the conviction must be quashed, some 27 years after Holberg was sentenced.
Judge Patrick E. Higginbotham said the case is a “stark reminder” capital punishment is still a “work in progress” – despite it being a legal penalty in 27 of the US states for decades.
“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. 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,” Mr Higginbotham said.
The court referenced the Brady Doctrine in their decision to wipe Holberg’s death sentence. The doctrine requires prosecutors to disclose all exculpatory information and material to the defence.
Vicky Kirkpatrick, the paid informant with the Amarillo Police Department, shared a cell with Holberg, and previously said she heard her discussing the murder. The witness painted Holberg as a drug addict who “showed absolutely no remorse” for her crime.
But it emerged recently Randal County prosecutors failed to disclose Kirkpartrick’s role as an informant. The appeals court decided Holberg’s rights for a fair trial were violated as the crucial information about Kirkpatrick was hidden.
Speaking to KFDA news channel, Randall County District Attorney James Farron said: “We went ahead and used her (Kirkpatrick), but she 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.” He told the outlet that the attorney general’s office will now work on overturning the panel that made the decision.