willrobinson47.com

By Payton Towns III – The Union-Recorder

The state habeas hearing for a man found guilty of killing a Baldwin County sheriff’s deputy will conclude in September following three days of testimony from those seeking the man’s release from death row.

The hearing for Robert Wayne Holsey, 38, was supposed to include testimony from the petitioner (Holsey) and the respondent (the state), said Fred Bright, district attorney of the Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit.

Holsey was convicted of malice and felony murder in the Dec. 17, 1995, death of William E. Robinson IV and the armed robbery of a convenience store that same day.

For three days, Neal Dickett, a superior court judge from the Augusta Judicial Circuit, heard from Holsey’s witnesses but did not hear any from the respondent. The appeals hearing began Monday in Jackson.

Bright did not know if Holsey’s attorneys finished presenting all of their witnesses.

At the end of the hearing Wednesday, the dates of Sept. 3 and Sept. 4 were selected for the hearing to begin again, said Bright, who will be a witness.

“I’m definitely testifying myself and the attorney general’s office says that I’ll be the first witness testifying for the state,” Bright said.

Bright also said Bill Massee, Baldwin County sheriff, Putnam Sheriff Howard Sills, Ricky Horne and Russell Blenk of the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, BCSO Det. Bobby Langford, Jimmy Josey (BCSO chief of detectives) and DA investigator Mark Robinson will be called to testify for the state.

At the time of the shooting, Sills was a chief deputy at the BCSO and the chief investigator in the case, Horne and Blenk both worked for the BCSO and Josey was chief of detectives with the Milledgeville Police Department.

Mitchell Watkins, assistant attorney general from the State Attorneys General Office, is representing the state in the case.

“We have met numerous times, and I have been working extremely close with him over the last several months to get the habeas appeal ready,” Bright said.

Holsey’s lawyers – Thomas Dunn from the Georgia Resource Center in Atlanta and volunteer lawyer James Harrington from New York – are arguing just about everything they can, more than 100 different claims, Bright said.

“It is apparent that the defense is focusing most of its energy on two arguments. One, a claim that Holsey is mildly mentally retarded, and two, another claim that his original defense lawyers were ineffective in their representation.”

Bright said he has kept in touch with the Robinsons, adding they attended the hearings Tuesday and Wednesday.

Payton Towns III covers law enforcement, the court system and Baldwin County education for The Union-Recorder. He can be reached at (478) 453-1456 or by e-mail.

Popularity: 6% [?]