Attorney seeks change of venue in Russell Holt case

kriner@sunmulti.com

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