A woman who was on death row for 27 years finally had her conviction overturned after new evidence came to light.
Brittany Holberg was sentenced to death for the brutal 1996 murder of 80-year-old A.B. Towery.
At just 23, Holberg was accused of attacking the elderly man with a hammer, stabbing him 58 times with various utensils, and even forcing a foot-long lamp pole down his throat, per the Mirror.
In 1998, she was convicted of capital murder during the course of a robbery and has remained on death row ever since. But now, after 27 years, the conviction has been overturned due to a major prosecutorial failure.
A panel of judges in the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Holberg’s conviction must be quashed after it was revealed that Randall County prosecutors failed to disclose that their primary trial witness was a paid informant.
Judge Patrick E. Higginbotham, who presided over the decision, called the case a “stark reminder” of the flaws within the death penalty system.
"We pause only to acknowledge that 27 years on death row is a reality dimming the light that ought to attend proceedings where a life is at stake, a stark reminder that the jurisprudence of capital punishment remains a work in progress.
"Ms Holberg's 27 years on death row is a showcase of the State's failure to abide by a core structure of prosecution: the Brady Doctrine," Higginbotham stated.
The Brady Doctrine requires prosecutors to turn over all exculpatory evidence to the defense. The court found that in Holberg’s case, this fundamental legal requirement was ignored.
At Holberg’s original trial, the prosecution relied on testimony from Vicky Kirkpatrick, an informant for the Amarillo Police Department who had shared a cell with Holberg.
Kirkpatrick claimed that Holberg had openly discussed the murder and showed no remorse.
But what the jury never knew was that Kirkpatrick was being paid for her testimony—a fact that Randall County prosecutors failed to disclose.
The appeals court determined that this omission violated Holberg’s right to a fair trial, leading to the conviction being overturned.
Following the court’s decision, Randall County District Attorney James Farron defended the original case, downplaying the significance of Kirkpatrick’s testimony.
"We went ahead and used her (Kirkpatrick), but she was not critical to our case. It was just one more piece of information that portrayed what I think is true about Brittany Holberg and that she can be a vicious, violent person if you are between her and something she wants badly enough," Farron told KFDA News.
He added that the Texas Attorney General's Office will now work to overturn the appellate court’s ruling.
Despite her conviction being overturned, Holberg’s fate remains uncertain. The state could choose to retry the case, seek a plea deal, or even push for another death sentence.
For now, she remains in legal limbo as prosecutors determine their next move.