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Hollaway v. State8/23/2000
Appellant Roy Hollaway strangled his wife, Carolyn Whiting, on January 27, 1996. The couple had been arguing for days and drinking heavily when Hollaway strangled Whiting, first with his hands and then with an electrical cord. Hollaway then called 911 and reported the crime. He admitted the crime to the 911 operator and to police after they arrived. Whiting was in a coma and died about two weeks later. The State charged Hollaway with first-degree murder and sought the death penalty. Hollaway chose to represent himself, and at trial he offered no defense. After the jury found him guilty, he offered no mitigating evidence and asked for and received a death sentence.
Pursuant to this court's order, the district court appointed counsel to represent Hollaway on appeal. Counsel challenges Hollaway's death sentence on a number of grounds. We conclude that these grounds are meritless, but pursuant to our mandatory review of the death sentence, we conclude that Hollaway's sentence was imposed under the influence of prejudicial and arbitrary factors. We therefore vacate the sentence and remand for a new penalty hearing.
FACTS
On March 22, 1996, the State filed an information charging Hollaway with murder. Hollaway pleaded not guilty at his arraignment on March 26, 1996. On April 15, 1996, the State filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty, alleging as a single aggravating circumstance that Hollaway was convicted of second-degree armed robbery and false imprisonment in California in 1990.
On August 13, 1996, Hollaway's counsel moved the district court for a competency hearing. In an attached affidavit, counsel informed the court that Hollaway consistently "expressed a desire to receive the death penalty" and had been severely depressed and despondent.
On October 11, 1996, several defense motions were filed. One moved to allow Hollaway to represent himself and to allow the public defender to withdraw. Another moved to withdraw his plea of not guilty and to plead guilty to first-degree murder. Attached was an affidavit by Hollaway, stating that he did not want a trial and wanted to proceed directly to sentencing. Defense counsel also filed a motion to set a hearing to determine Hollaway's competency. Attached were, among other things, evaluations of Hollaway by psychiatrist William O'Gorman, M.D., and psychologist Lewis Etcoff, Ph.D.; a transcript of a police interview of Hollaway after his arrest; a transcript of his call to 911; and copies of letters from Hollaway to family and friends after the crime. In the letters, Hollaway expressed regret over killing Whiting. For example, in a letter to his mother, he told how he and Whiting had been drinking all day and arguing, that he "lost it" and "came completely unglued" and killed her, that there was no excuse for it, and that he would regret it the rest of his life; he also asked his mother to call and try to comfort Whiting's mother. Hollaway also exchanged letters with Whiting's mother and expressed his regret.
Dr. O'Gorman concluded that Hollaway was clinically depressed and "should be more carefully evaluated with an Electroencephalogram (EEG) that may show evidence of disturbance of stream of consciousness, under the influence of alcohol." O'Gorman concluded, however, that Hollaway's depression did not render him incompetent to stand trial. Dr. Etcoff, while recognizing Hollaway's desire to die as a part of Hollaway's clinical depression, agreed that Hollaway was competent to stand trial.
O'Gorman and Etcoff both testified before the district court at a hearing on October 30, 1996. After their testimony, Hollaway told the court that he preferred the death penalty t
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