Topics: Crime, True Crime, US News, News
On 27 March 1998, Brittany Holberg was sentenced to death for the robbery, torture and murder of 80-year-old Texas-local, A. B. Towery Sr.
This week, however, after almost three decades on death row, the convicted killer has had her lethal sentence overturned in a shock twist of fate.
Holberg was 23-years-old when she committed her heinous atrocities - which included striking the OAP over the head with a hammer, stabbing him 58 times with a variety of different utensils, and pushing a lamp pole down his throat.
While being tried for attempting to commit robbery two years after Towery Sr's death, 251st state District Judge Patrick Pirtle condemned her for capital murder and sentenced her to death.
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As we say, however, new information uncovered this week has since determined that the prosecution at the time of Holberg's trial did not disclose that their central witness was actually being paid to take the stand.
Amarillo Police Department paid Vicky Kirkpatrick to say she'd previously shared a prison cell with the alleged killer.
In court, she claimed she'd overheard Holberg discussing her crimes, and implied she was a drug addict with 'absolutely no remorse'.
Randal County's prosecutors failed to mention at the time that Kirkpatrick had been paid.
According to The Mirror, Judges at US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals have therefore declared this week that the killer's conviction be quashed after 27 years awaiting death. The appeals court described Kilpatrick's payments as vital information that violated Holberg's right to a fair trial.
In a statement made by Judge Patrick E. Higginbotham since the shock ruling hit global headlines, he emphasised that the overturning serves as a 'stark reminder' that capital punishment very much remains a 'work in progress'.
The death penalty is currently permitted in 27 of the 50 States of America.
"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," Higginbotham told press this week.
"A stark reminder that the jurisprudence of capital punishment remains a work in progress."
The Judge continued: "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."
The latter piece of legislation requires prosecutors to share all evidence which might be used in order to prove a defendant's innocence with the team defending them. The court referred to the Brady Doctrine when ruling Holberg's overturning.
Speaking on behalf of Randall County District, attorney James Farron told KFDA this week that, though the prosecution 'went ahead and used' Kilpatrick, 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," Farron explained.
