Ricky Holland Vanished

Judge Manderfield ruled today in Lansing Superior Court that the jail house informant who testified in the preliminary hearing will be allowed to testify in the murder trial.

During the preliminary hearing Ms. Mountain testified that Lisa Holland had confessed to her that she killed her adoptive son Ricky Holland by striking him in the head with a hammer.

Lisa Holland’s attorneys tried to have this testimony suppressed from the murder trial. They claim that the information she has came from documents she stole from Lisa Holland’s cell. Although Ms. Mountain indicated during today’s testimony that she indeed did have the documents, she further explained that she never read them. Any information she is privy to regarding Ricky’s murder came directly from Lisa Holland during conversations between the two cellmates.

What we now have for testimony indicating Lisa’s responsibility for hitting Ricky with a hammer is two people. One, Tim Holland claims he saw Lisa hit Ricky with the hammer. Two, we now have a stranger who claims that Lisa confessed to hitting Ricky on the head with the hammer.

I wonder how the jury will look at these two witnesses. One witness, Tim Holland has a reason to point the finger at Lisa as being the only one guilty for Ricky’s death. He only implicates himself in disposal of the body. The other witness has a past criminal record and according to the Defense, she also has a memory disorder for which she is being treated with medication. Are these two witnesses reliable enough to convince the jury?

Even if the jury decides that the testimony is truthful and reliable regarding Ricky being struck with a hammer by Lisa Holland there is still a problem. There is no evidence as to the cause of death. Pathology reports cannot determine the cause of death because of the condition of the body when it was found. The only proof with these two witnesses is that Lisa struck Ricky with a hammer. I believe the defense attorneys will be able to prove reasonable doubt that the injuries inflicted to Ricky with the hammer may not have been enough to cause death. In a criminal case like this it is up to the prosecution to prove the case and take away that reasonable doubt. It is up to the defense to provide enough reasonable doubt. Certainly it is not helpful to have yet another witness that will testify pointing to Lisa’s jailhouse confession but I think the defense will be able to work around this problem.

As far as Tim Holland is concerned, he has provided more evidence in his own words to detectives pointing to his guilt of supposedly witnessing a murder, disposing of the body and concealing the murder from law enforcement. He lied from the beginning by making that 9-1-1 call and reporting his son as a runaway. He also had that interview on the local radio station further making him look bad by claiming Ricky ranaway even telling the public that Ricky had been an aggressor towards his baby sister earlier in the evening of his disappearance, causing Tim to have to punish Ricky for the act.

Sometimes when people lie there is usually a bit of truth mixed in with the lie. Suppose that the incident really did happen that night where Ricky hit or pushed his baby sister. Suppose that is when the violence occurred while Tim was punishing Ricky for his bad behavior. Remember, the baby sister is Tim and Lisa Holland’s biological child. There is already enough evidence from neighbors that the Holland’s looked at Ricky as a problem child. Tim even referred to him to one neighbor as having “Ted Bundy disease”. Would an act of aggression no matter how small against Tim and Lisa Holland’s baby have been enough for Tim Holland to lose control when punishing him for that act of agression.

Lisa Holland claims that she believes Tim snapped while he was in the bedroom with Ricky. She thinks Tim may have strangled or suffocated Ricky.

I would like to know what time Tim called his mother to find out if Ricky could come and stay with her for a couple of weeks. Tim claims that is when Lisa “lost it”, when he was making those arrangements. They claim they put Ricky to bed at approximately 9:30 p.m. Tim also claims that the incident with the baby occurred just prior to viewing the movie that was rented for Ricky, Tim and Lisa to watch together. I would like to know what time Lisa was at the video store renting the movie.

I think it will be imperative for the prosecution to prove their case to have more evidence than what has been released in the media. I am sure they have more evidence, I just hope it is more substantial.

At this point all they can prove so far judging from the media reports is:

• Ricky died
• Someone murdered him
• Tim Holland hid the body
• Tim and Lisa Holland both lied about Ricky’s disappearance
• Lisa Holland was a verbally and psychologically abusive parent

At this point they do not have the murderer identified. Lisa Holland may be convicted of child abuse. Maybe that is why the defense is trying so hard to have the child abuse charges dropped. The prosecution can prove child abuse at the hands of Lisa Holland but they will have a hard time proving murder beyond a reasonable doubt. As for Tim Holland they can prove he hid the body and that is a crime in and of itself. They could have proven filing a false police report but the prosecution dropped those charges.

I am glad I am not on this jury. It would be a hard case to help decide. I think the prosecution needs to look closer at Tim Holland and that interview with the radio station. It may be true that Lisa hit Ricky on the head with the hammer; however, it may also be true that Tim Holland, in a fit of rage over his baby daughter being hit by Ricky lost his temper and strangled Ricky.

• Lansing State Journal
  

Ingham County Circuit Judge Paula Manderfield has made the following pre-trial rulings in the murder trial of Tim and Lisa Holland:

• Statements made to detectives by Lisa Holland during an interrogation are not going to be allowed into evidence.

“Under questioning, Lisa Holland told Ingham County sheriff’s detectives her husband might have strangled or suffocated Ricky the night of July 1, 2005. She also said Tim Holland went into the boy’s room and later emerged carrying garbage bags.”

The reason the statements will not be allowed is that during the interrogation Lisa Holland’s attorney, Mr. Abood, was at the jail looking for her. When detectives found out that Mr. Abood was in the building they continued to question her after letting her know that her attorney was present in the building. The judge ruled that the detectives should have stopped all questioning when they were made aware of Mr. Abood’s presence even though Lisa Holland gave her permission to continue the questioning.

• Statements made to detectives by Tim Holland during an interrogation will be allowed into evidence and can be used against Tim Holland.

Tim Holland told detectives that Lisa Holland had hit Ricky with a hammer. He also told detectives during that interview that under Lisa’s direction he transported Ricky’s body to the location Tim Holland led detectives to in January.

Even though during the Preliminary examination Judge Aquina ruled that statements made during that interview were only to be used to judge Tim Holland’s credibility and not his participation, this will not be the case during the murder trial. The judge for the murder trial has ruled that Tim Holland’s statements under a supposed plea agreement is a moot point because Tim Holland was not entirely truthful during the interview. The plea agreement was revoked so the statements can be used against him in the murder trial. However, the statements made by Tim Holland cannot be used against Lisa Holland because they are co-defendants.

Today the Lansing State Journal reported that supoened witness Crystal Mountain was a no-show in court today. She was supoened by Lisa Holland’s attorney, Andrew Abood, because he wants to prevent her testimony from being entered into the record.

Crystal Mountain is the person who testified in the Preliminary examination that she became friends with Lisa Holland during their incarceration and Lisa Holland confessed to her that she murdered Ricky by hitting him with the hammer. Mr. Abood told the court today that he not only served Crystal Mountain with the supoena on Monday, he also gave her a check to cover the mileage to the courthouse.

The judge issued an order for her to appear on July 20 or face arrest.

Judge Manderfield told the court today that jury selection will begin on September 11 with the first jury pool of 300 potential jurors. The second jury selection will begin on September 18 with the same number of prospective jurors.

I am thinking at this point that Lisa Holland will walk on the murder charge and Tim Holland will be found guilty of murder. I hope it is a unanimous verdict for guilty for both defendants but Tim Holland has dirtier hands according to the allowed evidence.

• Lansing State Journal
• Lansing State Journal