Ricky Holland Vanished

Ricky Holland’s case will never be completely put to rest until two things are accomplished.

First, Ricky needs to have a proper burial. His remains are still stored with the medical examiner in the event that those remains become evidence once again in another trial.

Second, Lisa Holland’s appeals process needs to be completed and that could take years. A jury of her peers found her guilty this past winter for her part in the murder of her 7-year-old adopted son Ricky. The jury believed her husband, Tim Holland, who testified against her that Lisa Holland not only delivered the fatal blow to Ricky’s head with a tack hammer, but they also believed that she was the one who repeatedly humiliated him and abused him over his short life with the Holland’s.

But Lisa Holland has rights in the state of Michigan to appeal her conviction.

I have always thought she and her husband were both equally as guilty for Ricky’s death and it really frosted me when the prosecution gave Tim Holland a plea deal in exchange for his truthful testimony in Lisa’s trial. Tim Holland was eventually sentence to 30 – 60 years in prison for his role in not helping Ricky and for dumping his body in a marsh. At least Tim Holland has cried over Ricky’s death and expressed some remorse.

I have also thought that Lisa Holland’s attorney, Andrew Abood, put on a really poor defense for his client who was fighting against a charge of first-degree murder. In the end when it was his turn to present witnesses in his client’s defense he brought 3 or 4 witnesses to the stand. One was the detective working the case. His testimony was solid regarding Lisa Holland’s culpability in Ricky’s death. He brought Lisa’s sister to the witness stand. The only thing she had to offer was that Lisa was a good mother and that she loved all of her children. She offered that Tim Holland was a controlling spouse and the main disciplinarian in the home. He then brought Lisa’s elderly father to the stand. After much discussion in the courtroom and upon advise of an attorney he invoked his 5th amendment right to self-incrimination. Lisa Holland’s father was in the home on the day Ricky died and some earlier testimony placed him in the home when Tim discovered Ricky’s head taped to the refrigerator. Lisa’s elderly mother was the last witness for the defense and there was some discussion about perjury regarding her testimony. The defense rested it’s case without calling Lisa to testify on her own behalf. I believe it was very important for Lisa to take the stand.

After the jury rendered it’s verdict – guilty on all charges, the one piece of evidence that sealed Lisa’s fate in the minds of the jurors was not Tim Holland’s testimony. The one piece of evidence was a note Lisa Holland had written to a fellow inmate while she was awaiting trial. She indicated in that note that she had hit Ricky with the hammer and that she was sorry – Ricky’s death was an accident. That is what convicted Lisa Holland – her own admission of guilt written on a piece of paper.

One would think that Mr. Abood reads the newspapers regarding the trial to see what the juror’s comments were after the verdict. One would think he could come up with a better reason for requesting a new trial for his client.

Mr. Abood’s reason for requesting a new trial:

“…Defense attorney Andrew Abood had filed the motion stating that the trial was really the prosecution of Holland as a person and not about whether she had committed any crime…” [Source]

I have to ask, if Mr. Abood really believes that the prosecution of his client was based on her as a person then why is it the only people he brought to the stand in her defense were basically character witnesses? If he believed his client was innocent of the charges then he needed to bring Lisa Holland to the stand and have her state her innocence. If he really knew his client was innocent then he needed to bring Lisa Holland to the stand so that she could state who really murdered Ricky.

In my opinion it was truly a waste of the court’s time and frankly the paper the motion was written on to submit this motion to the court. I would expect a better motion for a new trial would be new evidence pointing to the innocence of his client and to the guilt of another person. But, Mr. Abood cannot deliver a motion to the court based on that premise because the are no facts to support that claim – just as there are no facts to support the motion submitted to Judge Manderfield.

I am not well-versed in the way the appeals process works. I don’t know what the next step is in the process but I am going to guess that this is just the first step in a long process to exhaust Lisa Holland’s appeals. I am going to guess the next step will be to submit an appeal for a new trial to the local Appellate Court. If Mr. Abood uses the same argument for that motion at the Appellate Court my guess is he will get the same answer.

I have already stated that I believe Tim and Lisa Holland are both guilty regarding Ricky’s murder. I can’t think of a better way to rapidly move this appeals process to it’s conclusion than to have Andrew Abood handle all of the appeals. If he is the only attorney to handle the appeals it is a sure bet those efforts will all fail.

However, if an appellate attorney takes over in the appeals process I can see an open door for a new trial based on a lack of Andrew Abood to provide his client with a good defense.

I haven’t read any new information about other’s being charged in Ricky’s death and I wonder where that investigation has led prosecutors.

Until that investigation is completed and if another trial is on the horizon Ricky’s remains will stay where they are – somewhere in an evidence locker in Lansing, Michigan.
Ingham County Prosecutor, Stuart Dunnings, III, mentioned after the conviction that he was going to file a motion with the court that would allow Ricky’s remains to be buried. I have also found nothing to indicate that motion was ever filed. Maybe it is time for some of you who read my blog to send an email to Stuart Dunnings, III or make a phone call and inquire about what has happened with the motion to have Ricky buried.

[Source]