Why Is a Florida Man Facing Life in Prison For Lending a Friend His Car and Going to Sleep?
http://www.thenation.com/article/178984/how-florida-man-received-life-sentence-without-even-appearing-scene-crime?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=email_nation&utm_campaign=Email%20Nation%20-%2020140325&newsletter=email_nation_tuesdaySeveral years ago I read a piece in The New York Times by Adam Liptak about Ryan Holle. Ryan, who had no prior record, is serving a life sentence with no chance of parole in Florida. He was convicted of pre-meditated murder, even though no one, including the prosecutor, disputes that Ryan was asleep in his bed at home at the time of the crime. This could only happen in America, because we are the only country that retains the Felony Murder Rule. What the Felony Murder Rule essentially says is if anyone has anything to do with a felony in which a murder takes place, such as a robbery, that person is as guilty as the person who has committed the murder. Every other country including England, India and Canada has gotten rid of it because of its unintended consequences. In America, Michigan, Kentucky and Hawaii no longer have the law. The Canadian Supreme Court ruled, when they discarded the Felony Murder Rule, that a person should be held responsible for his own actions not the actions of others.
Exactly what did Ryan Holle do? At a party in his apartment over ten years ago, he lent his car to his roommate and went to sleep. He had lent his car to his roommate many times before with no negative consequences. This time the roommate and others went to a house where they knew a woman was selling marijuana from a safe. They planned to get the marijuana, but in the course of their break-in a teenage girl was killed. Those at the scene all received appropriately harsh sentences, but so did Ryan Holle. I got involved with the case shortly after I read Adam Liptak’s piece. I have been advocating on behalf of clemency for Ryan, who was first offered a plea deal of ten years but chose to go to trial. I’m sure it was difficult for a young man, who had never been arrested, and who believed he had done nothing to accept that he should go to prison for ten years, so he went to trial, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole. He is now in his eleventh year of incarceration. Again, this is a young man who was home asleep in bed at the time of the crime. I personally know of no other felony murder conviction where the person was not even present, and the pre-meditated part of the conviction suggests that Ryan knew his car was going to be used in the course of a murder, which to me, isn’t credible. To the best of my knowledge, in the entire history of the criminal justice system in America, no one has ever been convicted and sentenced to life in prison for loaning a car and going to sleep.
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Last edited Tue Sep 19, 2023, 10:50 PM - Edit history (21)
At some point, the prosecutor believed that either Holle wasn’t as guilty as the others; could be turned into a snitch; or that felony murder would be overcharging -- hence the 10-year plea deal offer.
According to an interview he gave Fox News, Holle's lawyer was so confident of a complete acquittal, she instructed his parents to bring along street clothes to wear home. But it didn’t occur to ANYONE on the defense team that the jury might not believe Holle’s story of being too drunk to really know what was going on? Not that it saves him -- Holle was more than six months away from being of legal drinking age, so he had no business BEING drunk!
The defense might have generated sympathy from the jury if they had countered the prosecution’s “No car, no robbery, no death” strategy with “No underage drinking, no DECISION to supply the car, no robbery.” Instead, the defense gambled on a complete acquittal and lost, the prosecution gambled on an excessive charge and won -- and between them, Holle looks into snake eyes for rest of his life.
rocktivity
Last edited Thu Aug 31, 2023, 06:43 PM - Edit history (4)
But Mr. Holle did testify that he had been told it might be necessary to “knock out” Jessica Snyder...he said that he had not taken the talk of a burglary seriously. “I honestly thought they were going to get food,” he said of the men who used his car, all of whom had attended the nightlong party at Mr. Holle’s house, as had Jessica Snyder.
“When they actually mentioned what was going on, I thought it was a joke,” Mr. Holle added, referring to the plan to steal the Snyders’ safe. “I thought they were just playing around. I was just very naive. Plus from being drinking that night, I just didn’t understand what was going on.”
...Mr. Holle was the only one...who was offered a plea bargain, one that might have led to 10 years in prison. “I did so because he was not as culpable as the others,” said Mr. Rimmer, the prosecutor...
Jessica had left the party, and they discussed having to incapacitate her? VERY damning -- that suggests that the robbers had good reason to believe that she would be home alone.
If that's what the jury heard, it's no wonder that they convicted Holle. But he should not have been charged with felony murder -- he was an accessory at best; a co-conspirator at worst. Reduce the charge, reactivate the plea deal, and deduct the time already served.
rocktivity
Last edited Thu Jun 24, 2021, 01:14 PM - Edit history (4)
It says Ryan went to bed at 5:30AM, and that he was awakened a few hours later by his roommate Allen's request for his car keys. Holle says they discussed the robbery in a joking way, and he went back to sleep when they left.
After waking up "a short time later," he called Allen when he realized they hadn't returned, who told him they were outside the victim's house. They eventually returned (by driving over a gate in his back yard) with the safe, and bloody clothes that they burned.
It appeared that the robbery was inspired by the victim's bragging that her home contained a safe filled with marijuana and money. It also appeared that the victim had dated Allen, and the victim's father claimed that Holle supplied the gang with the bandanas.
So now I'm wondering about the distance between Holle and Synder's homes, and if all three of the men who woke Holle had been at the party.
link
rocktivity
Last edited Mon Oct 23, 2023, 01:37 PM - Edit history (6)
"At some point, the prosecutor believed either that (Ryan) Holle wasn’t as guilty as the others; could be turned into a snitch; or that felony murder would be overcharging -- hence the 10-year plea deal offer...
"The defense might have generated sympathy from the jury if they had countered the prosecution’s 'No car, no robbery, no death' strategy with 'No underage drinking, no DECISION to supply the car, no robbery.' Instead, the defense gambled on a complete acquittal and lost, the prosecution gambled on an excessive charge and won -- and between them, Holle looks into snake eyes for rest of his life.
"...(He)...should not have been charged with felony murder -- he was an accessory at best; a co-conspirator at worst. Reduce the charge, reactivate the plea deal, and deduct the time already served."
"I move to commute Ryan Holle's life sentence to 25 years' imprisonment, followed by 10 years' probation," said Florida Gov. Rick Scott.
"It's a blessing in the sense that I know I'm not going to have to spend the rest of my life in prison, but it still hurts that I'm going to have to do another seven years, and I will have spent 21 years and three months of my life incarcerated."
Unless he's granted a new hearing, Ryan Holle's family won't be welcoming him home until 2024.
Rocknation