Russell Holt, the man accused of killing his girlfriend last
year, appeared in court Monday. His attorney, Frank Hogue, was seeking a change
of venue along with multiple other motions made for his client.
Holt is charged in the shooting death of 27-year-old Jessica
Wolfe.
At the end of the two and a half hour hearing, Judge Tillman
Self left the issue of venue change on the table after agreeing with the
prosecution that it is premature to decide on whether or not a fair jury can be
picked in Houston County.
Self did entertain the idea of changing the location
from the Houston County Superior Court building to the Houston County State
Court building.
Hogue presented the idea to the court and said that he felt
it wouldn’t be fair to have the jury enter a building in which both Wolfe and
Holt worked and it be a hostile environment.
Hogue also asked the court to not allow any of the
statements Holt gave police the night of Wolfe’s murder to be used.
Hogue
argued that his client’s Fifth Amendment rights were violated because he asked
for an attorney, but that interrogation by police continued without any attempt
to let Holt contact an attorney.
The prosecuting attorney, Pete Skandalakis, said he understood
the grounds of not using the interrogation footage, but asked the court to
allow statements Holt made to himself while in the interrogation room alone.
Self did not rule on that issue either; he gave both
attorneys more time to look at case law.
The trial is scheduled to begin on April 29.
HHJ News
