State seeks death penalty In Holly murder trial

Benton County prosecutors claim to have a confession in hand, and they want the death penalty for the Bentonville man accused of raping and strangling 6-year-old Jersey Bridgeman.

Defense attorneys will try to convince jurors Zachary Holly is innocent. If he's convicted, they will ask jurors to spare his life. They've been working to develop evidence for a potential penalty phase of the trial that might build jurors' sympathy.

The trial began with jury selection Friday in Bentonville. It could last up to three weeks.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys will begin questioning prospective jurors this morning. They need to select 12 jurors and three alternates.

Little is known about the state's evidence in the case. The judge sealed key DNA results and the specifics of what Holly told police. Court documents say he initially denied having anything to do with Jersey's disappearance or death.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys have mentioned Holly's confession in pretrial hearings, but Holly's interviews were never played in open court.

Holly, 30, is charged with capital murder, rape, kidnapping and residential burglary in Jersey's Nov. 20, 2012, death. Holly was arrested six days later. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Kim Weber, an attorney in private practice in Rogers, said the defense has to make sure the case is about Holly, not the victim.

"A little girl has been killed in a horrible, horrible way, but this is not technically her trial," Weber said. "The trial is about the accused and whether or not he committed the crime and what punishment is available."

Keeping the focus on Holly may be difficult.

More than 100 people gathered the night of Nov. 21, 2012, at the Children's Advocacy Center of Benton County for a candlelight vigil in Jersey's memory.

Hundreds of people, many who never met Jersey, attended her memorial service Nov. 27, 2012. Jersey's white casket was surrounded by pink and purple flowers, her favorite colors. Some mourners brought pink carnations tied with purple ribbons.

A photo slide show during the service showed a smiling Jersey wearing a tiara, perched on a four-wheeler, dancing in a yellow tutu with glittery wings and posing with her mother and other family and friends. Jersey, who attended Sugar Creek Elementary School, was remembered as a happy child.

Ultimate Penalty

Former Washington County Prosecuting Attorney John Threet, who sought the death penalty four times and secured it twice for convicted murderers, said no prosecutor takes lightly the decision to ask for the ultimate punishment.

Threet is now a circuit judge in Washington County. His comments came shortly before Holly's trial was to begin in November. The trial was postponed because of an issue with one of Holly's then attorneys. Threet was prosecuting attorney last November.

"The death penalty is heavily weighted against the state through the whole process -- and it should be," Threet said. "The death penalty should be reserved for certain cases where you feel the citizens of the community should decide if the death penalty is appropriate. In Arkansas, we've got 31 people on death row and that goes back to 1989. So, it's not used that often."

Threet said he considered the laundry lists of aggravating and mitigating factors in state law and consulted with the victims' families in each case before deciding to seek the death penalty.

Benton County prosecutors have cited three aggravating factors for seeking the death penalty against Holly. First, they allege the murder was cruel and depraved; second, they claim the murder was committed for the purpose of avoiding arrest for another crime, and the last factor is the age of the victim.

Defense attorneys have not yet disclosed any mitigating factors, but abuse allegations surrounding Holly's childhood is certain to be on the list. The defense has not disclosed any specific details concerning the abuse.

Mitigating factors can be almost unlimited, but prosecutors are limited to a list of 10 aggravating circumstances. A jury must find at least one aggravating circumstance exists before it can return a death verdict, Threet said. A few aggravating factors can trump multiple mitigating factors.

"The jury ultimately decides whether those mitigating circumstances outweigh what this person did," Threet said. "You have to look at what a jury is going to think of the situation."

Threet said the character and lifestyle of the victim always comes into play, and he thinks juries tend to be more sympathetic to a victim with "clean hands" like a child.

Families of some murder victims push for the death penalty, but others will accept a plea bargain of a life sentence in order to avoid the trial, Threet said.

"A lot of these families don't want to have to go through that, it's excruciating," Threet said. "I've had multiple times when families decided they did not want to pursue it because they'd have to relive the whole thing, dwell on it and have to talk about it every day. That's terrible for them."

The process does not end with a death sentence. The appeals process in Arkansas averages well over a decade and, because of legal challenges to the lethal injection protocols, Arkansas has not executed anyone since 2005.

It's also difficult and time-consuming to empanel a jury in a death penalty case, Threet said.

"You can't sit if you believe the death penalty should be automatic. You can't sit if you believe the death penalty is never appropriate," Threet said. "You want objective jurors who will follow the law. If you have a preconceived notion, you can't be seated."

Weber, a former deputy prosecutor and assistant U.S. attorney, noted there has been very little information released about the case by prosecutors.

"I expect difficult hurdles for the prosecution. I anticipate it's not going to be as black and white as it's seemed in the paper," Weber said. "We don't know the facts yet. The state has to prove who did what beyond a reasonable doubt."

Weber said she expects jurors will find it is much harder to make a decision in a court of law than in the court of public opinion.

"It doesn't matter what's said in the barber shop or the doughnut shop in mornings. It's easy to make that quick call," Weber said. "It's a lot different when you're on the hot seat, and a man's life is on the line."

Jersey's Death

Holly lived in a trailer house next to Jersey's family on Southwest A Street. Holly and his wife sometimes babysat Jersey and her younger sister. The night before Jersey's death, the couple watched the girls as their mother, DesaRae Bridgeman, worked. When mom got off work, Holly carried a sleeping Jersey back to her house and placed her in her bed, according to an affidavit filed in the case.

In one interview, Holly told police he awoke at 3:35 a.m. Nov. 20 with an upset stomach and walked to the E-Z Mart at Southwest Eighth and A streets to get medication, according to court documents. Police obtained video from the store and a sales tape showing Holly did make the purchase. Brandon Crouch, the boyfriend of Jersey's mom, worked the overnight shift at the E-Z Mart during that time, according to court documents.

DesaRae Bridgeman awoke that morning and found Jersey missing from their home. Bentonville police got a call at 6:43 a.m. Two officers found Jersey's body within 15 minutes while searching an empty house at 704 S.E. A St., two doors south of her home and on the other side of Holly's residence.

A swab obtained from Jersey's body was tested and revealed some sperm cells, according to court documents. The state crime lab developed a DNA profile and begin making comparisons from known samples. Detectives took cheek swabs from Holly for DNA comparison. Holly also gave detectives the clothing he said he had been wearing since he went to bed the night of Nov. 19.

The results of the DNA testing remain under seal.

The defense team was dealt a blow in August when Circuit Judge Brad Karren ruled statements Holly made to police can be used at trial. Holly's defense team argued police coerced a confession from him during a Nov. 26, 2012, interview at the Bentonville Police Department. Karren found the statements were given voluntarily.

The judge also denied a second motion to suppress the statements, and he recently denied an attempt by Holly's attorneys to exclude the DNA sample collected from Holly from being used as evidence.

Childhood Abuse

Jersey was the victim in another criminal case about a year before her death. She was found Dec. 2, 2011, chained to a dresser in the Rogers home where she lived with her father and stepmother, David Bridgeman and Jana Slinkard.

David Bridgeman admitted chaining Jersey to the dresser for three days. He claimed he was trying to protect her because she sleepwalked. He pleaded guilty to felony charges and was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Bridgeman is serving his sentence at the Arkansas Department of Correction's Pine Bluff Unit. His expected parole date is Nov. 1.

Slinkard was sentenced to 12 years in prison, but has since been released. She was paroled Sept. 25.

David Bridgeman wasn't allowed to attend Jersey's funeral.

The jury will not hear testimony regarding Jersey's prior abuse. The defense filed a motion to prevent prosecutors from presenting evidence of the child's injuries and Nathan Smith, Benton County prosecuting attorney, told the court they were not planning to introduce the information concerning Jersey's abuse during the trial.

The defense has been working to paint a picture of Holly's troubled childhood as mitigating evidence for a potential penalty phase of the trial.

"You normally think of death penalty cases as trying to save their life," Weber said. "I have a lot of respect for people in the defense community who can do these kinds of cases."

Holly spent much of his childhood in Bakersfield and Oildale, Calif. He and his siblings were the subjects of numerous abuse and neglect referrals between 1993 and 1997. The Kern County, Calif., Department of Human Services has supplied more than 300 pages of reports, summaries and other documents generated by at least 12 caseworkers and supervisors in connection with at least 14 referrals involving Holly.

Two case workers, Margarita Soza and Jana Davis, are on the defense witness list. The defense lists 15 possible witnesses, which includes several of Holly's family members.

The prosecution lists 48, but some are the same as the defense's.

The Arkansas State Hospital did intelligence testing and a mental evaluation to determine if Holly was fit to stand trial. The defense had additional testing done by its own expert. The results of the tests remain under seal, but defense lawyers and prosecutors said Holly is fit to stand trial.

NW News on 05/11/2015