Friday, December 9, 2022

Injustice Served: Robert Wayne Holsey Disabled With a Drunk Lawyer Dies By Lethal Injection


December 9, 2014, Robert Wayne Holsey was executed by the State of Georgia While there is no denying the fact that in 1995 Holsey did in fact kill Baldwin County Georgia Deputy Sheriff Will Robinson the question is did Holsey receive the best defense and should that matter if we are seeking justice.

Two things regarding the execution of Holsey are important to note. First, he was intellectually disabled and had been severely abused as a child. During the trial, his sister talked about abuse and did so again in appeals for clemency. Whether this contributed to his development is unknown, what is well documented is that Holsey had never been able to live alone and had problems cooking for himself, handling money, or many other simple everyday life skills. He had also tested on an IQ test to have a borderline score of 70. So while he was able to drive and did have a girlfriend this did not mean he fully understand all of his actions and the consequences.

This in of itself does not warrant a lesser consequence but it is worth examining by a jury, Holsey was not granted this consideration because he was being represented by an alcoholic lawyer Andy Prince. Prince was not in fact a public defender either as Georgia did not actually have such a system until 2003 and relied on each counter to assign lawyers for the defense of indigent and poverty-stricken defendants,

Prince had been circling down the drain due to his alcoholism for a few years and had been making some extremely poor decisions. He was deep in debt, over $50,000, and he was looking at a malpractice case that could lose him his license as he had stolen from an estate, he represented over $100,000.

At the time of Holsey’s defense, Prince was drinking a quart or more of vodka a night. The attorney’s responsibilities in a capital punishment case are more than in a standard guilt trial and it takes n invested lawyer to look for an argue mitigation based on disability or other precedents; at this time Prince was lacking all necessary skill and involvement because he was doused with vodka. Also about six months into the trial process Prince had a domestic incident with his African American neighbor where he used slurs. He struggled to find a co-council as the state required and he did not challenge the selection of a juror whose son was killed in an armed robbery.

Also at the trial, the prosecution took the jury to the store Holsey was alleged to have robbed and talked to the clerk without Holsey or his lawyer present.

The prosecution painted a picture of Holsey as a rabid animal of a perpetrator. The defense mounted no defense in return failing to call witnesses. To cross-examine a DNA specialist with any authority and many other mistakes.

An appeal was made to the Georgia Supreme Court after the conviction in the initial case and they found nothing wrong

Holsey was contrite the night of his death. While his actual guilt might never be in debate the system itself failed to give him the best defense and the courts saw nothing wrong with these failures, this is a .supreme injustice.

Sources:

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/04/alcoholic-lawyer-botched-robert-wayne-holsey-death-penalty-trial/

http://murderpedia.org/male.H/h/holsey-robert-wayne.htm

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/09/us/robert-wayne-holsey-faces-lethal-injection-in-georgia.html



 

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