A federal appeals court has tossed an Amarillo woman’s death sentence after it found that local prosecutors had failed to reveal that their primary trial witness was a paid informant.

With a 2-1 decision, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals last week sent Brittany Marlowe Holberg’s 1998 murder conviction back down to the trial court to decide how to proceed.

Holberg has been on death row for 27 years. In securing her conviction in 1998, Randall County prosecutors heavily relied on testimony from a jail inmate who was working as a confidential informant for the City of Amarillo police. That informant recanted her testimony in 2011, but neither a Texas Court of Criminal Appeals or a federal district court found that prosecutors had violated Holberg’s constitutional right to a fair trial.

  • Sculptus Poe@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    This is why the death penalty or even prison sentences longer than a decade should be eliminated…

    • goldfish_brain@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      I agree that there shouldn’t be a death penalty. I also think that any life sentence should always have the opportunity for parole.

      But some people need to be removed from society for the sake of the community. Releasing serial offenders just guarantees more victims.

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        There are plenty of countries with a 20 year max doing just fine. They usually have an exception for the criminally insane. Anyone else should be getting out at some point.

      • Lemminary@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        I also think that any life sentence should always have the opportunity for parole.

        Oh god, no. I’ve seen too many true crime shows to know that some people would go back to killing as soon as they get out.

    • Tedesche@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      Right, because the system occasionally gets things wrong and displays corruption, we should never ever sentence serial rapists and murders to anything more than 10 years in prison.

      Fucking reactionary morons.

        • Tedesche@lemmy.world
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          3 days ago

          No, I’m using it properly. You’re just not used to hearing it used to criticize leftist positions, but it can be. I understand new things can be hard for some people though.

          • dylanmorgan@slrpnk.net
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            3 days ago

            Reactionary means reverting to previous norms rather than “conserving” the status quo. Name a historical period where punishment of crime was less harsh than now. The death penalty used to be given for much less severe crimes, and enacted with a full complement of torture. People were given effective life sentences for minor infractions.

          • catloaf@lemm.ee
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            3 days ago

            Please explain to me how said leftist positions are extreme conservative or rightism, or how being for political and social change (abolishing the death penalty) is opposing political and social change.