Post by Anja on Jun 11, 2006 16:51:45 GMT -5
2, including female, face death penalty
Death penalty trial of couple set to start
Jury selection is scheduled to start Monday in the death penalty trial of
David Edens and Jennifer Holloway.
The pair have been charged with the 2004 kidnapping and murder of Upstate
businessman Jim thingyman, 71, and are scheduled to be tried together. They
are being prosecuted by 13th Circuit Solicitor Bob Ariail because thingyman
is believed to have been abducted from a Greenville County location near
his Gowensville home.
Authorities found thingyman's body in a freezer in Sevierville, Tenn., in
September 2004 after he had been missing for 9 days.
thingyman died of suffocation, according to an autopsy by the Greenville
County Coroner's Office.
Shortly after the couple's arrest, Holloway, 28, told investigators she
and her common-law husband, Edens, 35, had wanted to steal a GMC Suburban
that thingyman had for sale, according to an affidavit filed by federal
agents who participated in the investigation.
When Edens and Holloway met the Greenville County businessman to look at
the vehicle, they forced him into the back of the car, put duct tape on
his mouth and drove to their home in Tennessee.
When Edens and Holloway discovered that thingyman was dead, they put his
body in a freezer, the affidavit stated. They later moved the freezer to a
storage facility where investigators eventually found the body.
FBI Agent Robert Scott said Edens and Holloway had contacted several other
people who were selling cars before allegedly carjacking thingyman. He also
said that Holloway claimed to have heard voices in her head.
Edens and Holloway's capital murder trial will consist of 2 phases. In the
guilt phase, the jury will hear evidence and decide whether the couple are
responsible for thingyman's death.
If the jury finds the defendants guilty, then the trial will shift to the
penalty phase, where jurors decide on a sentence of death or life in
prison.
Capital trials typically take about 2 weeks.
(source: Spartanburg Herald Journal)
Death penalty trial of couple set to start
Jury selection is scheduled to start Monday in the death penalty trial of
David Edens and Jennifer Holloway.
The pair have been charged with the 2004 kidnapping and murder of Upstate
businessman Jim thingyman, 71, and are scheduled to be tried together. They
are being prosecuted by 13th Circuit Solicitor Bob Ariail because thingyman
is believed to have been abducted from a Greenville County location near
his Gowensville home.
Authorities found thingyman's body in a freezer in Sevierville, Tenn., in
September 2004 after he had been missing for 9 days.
thingyman died of suffocation, according to an autopsy by the Greenville
County Coroner's Office.
Shortly after the couple's arrest, Holloway, 28, told investigators she
and her common-law husband, Edens, 35, had wanted to steal a GMC Suburban
that thingyman had for sale, according to an affidavit filed by federal
agents who participated in the investigation.
When Edens and Holloway met the Greenville County businessman to look at
the vehicle, they forced him into the back of the car, put duct tape on
his mouth and drove to their home in Tennessee.
When Edens and Holloway discovered that thingyman was dead, they put his
body in a freezer, the affidavit stated. They later moved the freezer to a
storage facility where investigators eventually found the body.
FBI Agent Robert Scott said Edens and Holloway had contacted several other
people who were selling cars before allegedly carjacking thingyman. He also
said that Holloway claimed to have heard voices in her head.
Edens and Holloway's capital murder trial will consist of 2 phases. In the
guilt phase, the jury will hear evidence and decide whether the couple are
responsible for thingyman's death.
If the jury finds the defendants guilty, then the trial will shift to the
penalty phase, where jurors decide on a sentence of death or life in
prison.
Capital trials typically take about 2 weeks.
(source: Spartanburg Herald Journal)
