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Christina's Story - Newspaper Articles

The following links take you to various articles in Christina's story as it appeared in the South Florida media.

PLEASE DO NOT COPY THE INFORMATION ON THIS SITE BEFORE ASKING.

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In Loving Memory Of
Christina Diane Holt

May 23, 1987 - September 16, 1994

"Beautiful Child who has found love from the angels...RIP..."


(Not her actual headstone)
These pages contain all of the articles from the Palm Beach Post and The Sun-Sentinel throughout the years.

In Court (6/7/96)
Judge Asked To Move Trial (6/7/96)
Publicity Pushes John Zile's Murder Retrial Out Of County (6/14/96)
Angry Judge Agrees To Move Zile Retrial (6/14/96)
Zile Won't Be Retried In Palm Beach (6/14/96)
In Court (6/15/96)
Search Continues For Zile's Retrial Site (6/15/96)
Zile Retrial May Move To Polk County (6/18/96)
Zile Trial Going To Polk County Pending Supreme Court's OK (6/18/96)
Zile's Trial Venue Can't Alter Facts (6/20/96)


IN COURT
The Palm Beach Post
June 7, 1996

WEST PALM BEACH - Attorneys for John Zile say they will renew their request to move his trial out of Palm Beach County, saying the case has received even more potentially damaging publicity since Zile's first trial ended in a hung jury. Zile is charged with killing his 7-year-old stepdaughter, Christina Holt, in 1994 in their Singer Island apartment. His second trial is scheduled for July 15. One of his two court-appointed attorneys, Craig Wilson, also asked county officials Thursday to say when they will reimburse him for about $10,600 in costs he has paid himself while defending Zile. Wilson has billed the county about $112,000 in fees for representing Zile so far.

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JUDGE ASKED TO MOVE TRIAL
ZILE DEFENSE SEEKS IMPARTIAL JURORS
Sun-Sentinel
June 7, 1996
Author: STEPHANIE SMITH Staff Writer

The publicity of John Zile's murder trial that ended in a hung jury, combined with pretrial news coverage, has made it impossible to pick an impartial jury locally, his attorneys said on Thursday.

Zile's attorneys asked a judge for a change of venue for Zile's second trial, set for July 15, on charges of first-degree murder of his stepdaughter, Christina Holt.

"We request a change of venue not only based on pretrial publicity, but the gavel to gavel coverage of the trial and then the public outrage over the mistrial," said Craig Wilson, one of Zile's court-appointed attorneys
Zile was accused of beating his stepdaughter until she collapsed and suffocated. Zile and his wife, Pauline Zile, concocted an abduction story to explain the girl's disappearance, but that unraveled and led to the their arrests.

Pauline Zile was convicted last year of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse of her first-born daughter because she failed to protect the child.

On Thursday, Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Roger Colton asked Zile's attorneys to file written motions for a hearing on the change of venue issue. Colton said the trial may not proceed on July 15 as scheduled.

Wilson said after the hearing that both sides had difficulty in picking a jury at the first trial, and it should have been moved then. Now, there should be no question, Wilson said.

Jury selection for Zile's trial last month took three weeks. About 200 prospective jurors were interviewed. The jury deadlocked 11-1 for a first-degree murder conviction, and the judge declared a mistrial.

"The public reaction after the mistrial was just incredible. I really feel sorry for that one juror," Wilson said. Wilson said he would consider picking a jury in another jurisdiction and flying them into Palm Beach County instead of moving the entire trial, but only if the jurors are sequestered and the electronic media were banned from the courtroom.

Assistant State Attorney Scott Cupp, one of the prosecutors in the case, said he is not sure whether the prosecution will continue to oppose a change of venue.

His concern is getting to the second trial soon, Cupp said.

"The longer it takes, you have witnesses who have testified ad nauseam at his wife's trial, in depositions, his trial. They're going to move away or just lose interest in testifying again," Cupp said.

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PUBLICITY PUSHES JOHN ZILE'S MURDER RETRIAL OUT OF COUNTY
The Palm Beach Post
June 14, 1996
Author: VAL ELLICOTT
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

The publicity surrounding the case against John Zile - and strong local sentiment that he is guilty - have become so pervasive that his second murder trial must be moved outside Palm Beach County, a judge ruled Thursday.

"This court doesn't live in a vacuum," Circuit Judge Roger Colton told attorneys. "I just don't know that Palm Beach County is ready for another trial on John Zile."
A decision is expected today on where Zile's retrial will take place.

Colton will choose a new location, Chief Judge Richard Oftedal said Thursday. If the court system at the chosen site is able to accommodate the trial, court officials in Palm Beach County will ask the state's Supreme Court to authorize the transfer.

Zile is charged with killing his 7-year-old stepdaughter, Christina Holt, in 1994 while physically abusing her. His first trial ended without resolution a month ago when the jury deadlocked over one juror's refusal to convict Zile of first-degree murder.

On Thursday, prosecutor Scott Cupp told Colton he had no objection to moving Zile's trial out of the county, as long as the trial starts as planned on July 15.

"We need to get the case tried," Cupp said. "The case is getting old."

The last time a trial for a crime committed in Palm Beach County was moved out of the county was apparently in 1987, when the trial of Sean Doutre was moved to Pensacola. Doutre was charged with the contract killing of Anita Spearman, a former West Palm Beach assistant city manager.

So much time has passed since then that local court officials were unsure what they needed to do to move Zile's trial. Colton initially thought the state's Supreme Court would make the decision on a new venue.

A victory for defense

\ Colton's decision to move the trial is a victory for Zile's attorneys, Craig Wilson and Ed O'Hara, who had argued even before Zile's first trial that Zile stands no chance of receiving a fair hearing from a Palm Beach County jury.

As proof, Wilson quoted from a letter written to Cupp by one of the jurors at Zile's first trial. The letter, which is unsigned, says: "Eleven of us tried so hard to put this man where he belongs. Please, please, please get justice for this poor little girl so she can rest in peace."

Wilson and O'Hara also said in court papers that publicity surrounding jury selection at Zile's first trial perpetuated "an atmosphere of hostility" toward Zile.

Prosecutors say Christina died around midnight Sept. 16, 1994, at the family's Singer Island apartment after Zile began spanking and hitting her, then covered her mouth to muffle her screams.

His attorneys say Christina died from a seizure or from Zile's frantic, clumsy efforts to resuscitate her after the seizure.

Zile, 34, faces the death penalty if convicted. His wife, Pauline Zile, Christina's mother, is serving a life sentence in prison after she was convicted of first-degree murder in the case last year when jurors decided she had done nothing to prevent her daughter's death.

Picking jury was difficult

\ Explaining his decision to move Zile's second trial, Colton noted that, of the more than 100 jury candidates questioned before the first trial, only three or four had not heard of the case. And some jury candidates were excused because they overheard a comment vilifying Zile, Colton recalled.

"The court was well-aware that it took longer to pick a jury (at the first trial) than it took to try the case," Colton told attorneys Thursday.

Court officials and an attorney for the county said they don't know whether retrying Zile in another county will cost more.

"Travel and lodging will obviously be more, but we would expect the trial to be finished in a shorter period of time and that might bring the costs down," Assistant County Attorney Dan Hyndman said.

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ANGRY JUDGE AGREES TO MOVE ZILE RETRIAL
Sun-Sentinel
June 14, 1996
Author: MIKE FOLKS Staff Writer

The retrial of John Zile will be moved out of Palm Beach County after a judge on Thursday criticized the media frenzy surrounding the case and the vilification of the hold-out juror who caused a mistrial last month.

"I just don't know if Palm Beach County is ready for another trial for John Zile," Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Roger Colton said in ordering the move
Colton now must find another Florida county that can accommodate a six-week trial, which is scheduled to start July 15.

The location of the trial may be determined as early as today, but Chief Judge Richard Oftedal said it is unlikely to be in South Florida.

Zile is on trial in the September 1994 killing of his stepdaughter, Christina Holt, 7. He faces a possible death sentence if convicted of first-degree murder and three counts of aggravated child abuse.

Colton was forced to declare a mistrial in the case May 16 after the jury announced that it was deadlocked at 11-1 to convict Zile of first-degree murder. In media reports, jurors angrily criticized Alison G. Boyden, of Boca Raton, who refused to go along with the other jurors.

Colton said media coverage of the trial and subsequent mistrial compelled him to honor the defense request to move the trial to ensure that Zile receives a fair and impartial jury.

"We pick jurors to hear the evidence, set aside their biases and render a verdict," Colton said, noting that the public may not always agree with the findings of jurors.

"I don't have any doubt that each and every juror struggled and made their individual decisions. I find it inexcusable that jurors, any of them, are criticized."

In court on Thursday, Assistant State Attorney Scott Cupp told Colton the state was taking no position on the defense request to move the retrial.

"The state's main focus and major point is to get John Zile tried. The case is getting old," Cupp said after the hearing.

Craig Wilson, one of the Zile's defense attorneys, said Colton's ruling was appropriate.

"It should have been done in the first trial," he said, referring to Colton's denial before the first trial to move the case because of pretrial publicity.

Colton's decision marks the first time in nearly a decade that a case has been removed from Palm Beach County because of media publicity.

In 1987, the first-degree murder trial of Sean Doutre was moved to Escambia County after an attempt to pick a local jury in December 1986 failed because potential jurors were familiar with the case.

Doutre was the second of three men convicted of killing Anita Spearman, a former West Palm Beach assistant city manager. Spearman was found bludgeoned to death Nov. 16, 1985, in her Palm Beach Gardens home. Her husband, Robert, was among the three charged in the murder.

As in the Spearman case, the death of Christina Holt captured the media's attention and outraged South Florida.

Zile and his wife, Pauline, were arrested in October 1994 and charged with murdering the girl in their Singer Island home.

Police say John Zile beat the girl Sept. 16, 1994, causing her to collapse into a coma and die. He confessed to hiding the girl's body in a closet for four days before burying it behind a Kmart in Tequesta.

Six weeks after the girl's death, the couple became prime suspects after Pauline Zile reported that Christina had been kidnapped from a bathroom at the Swap Shop in Fort Lauderdale. Days after the reported kidnapping, the ruse quickly unraveled.

Late on Thursday, Oftedal met with Colton to decide the site of John Zile's retrial.

Oftedal said Colton will talk today with chief judges in other jurisdictions to determine whether they can accommodate the trial.

"You want to find out if someone has the space and the staff," Oftedal said, noting that the six-week trial also could conflict with trials in those jurisdictions.

Once a county is selected, the Florida Supreme Court will issue an order giving Colton jurisdiction to conduct the trial in that county.

Oftedal said the move will force the judge to bring a bailiff and a clerk to assist him.

The state will have to put up two prosecutors, a support staff member and an investigator, Palm Beach County State Attorney spokesman Mike Edmondson said.

Oftedal said it's too soon to tell how much it will cost taxpayers to move the trial. Zile's attorneys have submitted bills to the county for legal fees and costs totaling $246,000 for their work in the first trial.

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ZILE WON'T BE RETRIED IN PALM BEACH
Miami Herald, The (FL)
June 14, 1996
Author: Herald Palm Beach Bureau

Convinced that publicity will prevent accused child killer John Zile from getting a fair trial, a judge on Thursday said Zile's next trial -- his first ended in a jury deadlock -- will be somewhere far from Palm Beach County.
Zile is charged with murder and aggravated child abuse in the 1994 death of his stepdaughter, Christina Holt. His wife, Pauline, was convicted on those charges last year, and is serving a life term in prison.

Last month, after three weeks of testimony, a Palm Beach County jury could not reach a verdict, and Circuit Judge Roger Colton declared a mistrial. Jurors later said 11 wanted to convict on the most serious charges, but one held out for second-degree murder.

Jury selection for the first trial took three weeks. Out of hundreds of prospective jurors called, only a few dozen said they hadn't made up their minds about John Zile's guilt, and only a handful said they hadn't heard anything about the case.

Defense attorneys argued for a change of venue before that trial, saying that pretrial publicity in South Florida was so intense, John Zile couldn't expect to get a fair hearing. Colton has not decided where the next trial will be. Among the possible options: Orlando, Gainesville, Jacksonville or Panama City.

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IN COURT
The Palm Beach Post
June 15, 1996

WEST PALM BEACH - Court officials on Monday will continue looking for a place to hold the second murder trial of John Zile, after failing to find one Friday. Circuit Judge Roger Colton ordered the trial moved Thursday because of publicity surrounding the case. Zile is accused of killing his 7-year-old stepdaughter, Christina Holt, in 1994 while abusing her. His first trial ended last month when the jury deadlocked.

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SEARCH CONTINUES FOR ZILE'S RETRIAL SITE
Sun-Sentinel
June 15, 1996
Author: MIKE FOLKS Staff Writer

Just where John Zile's retrial will be held remains unknown, but the search could be completed by Monday, court officials said.

"We're calling around to several circuits trying to find a location," Deputy Palm Beach County Courts Administrator Debra Oats said on Friday
Despite those calls, a location for the retrial had not been found by late Friday.

"They don't have the available space," Oats said, explaining that some counties have said their court dockets are full.

Oats said Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Roger Colton, who on Thursday ordered the trial moved to another county because of the media frenzy surrounding the case, may conclude his search by Monday.

Oats declined to say whether officials are concentrating on any particular section of the state, which has 20 court circuits.

Wherever the retrial is held, prosecutors say they are ready to present the case to a jury and can gain a conviction, even if jurors are not familiar with circumstances surrounding the crime.

"The state has a confession [from Zile), and we believe we have strong evidence. A jury, given the facts, will find John Zile guilty," said Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office spokesman Mike Edmondson.

Colton declared a mistrial in the case on May 16 after the jury announced it was deadlocked 11-1 for first-degree murder after two days of deliberation.

Zile will be tried a second time for first-degree murder and three counts of aggravated child abuse in connection with the death of his stepdaughter, Christina Holt, 7. If convicted, Zile could be sentenced to death.

Zile and his wife, Pauline, 26, were arrested in October 1994 and charged with murdering the girl in their Singer Island apartment.

Police say John Zilebeat the girl on Sept. 16, 1994, causing her to convulse and die. He confessed to hiding the girl's body in a closet for four days before burying it behind a Kmart in Tequesta.

Six weeks after Christina's death, the couple became prime suspects after Pauline Zile reported that her daughter had been kidnapped from a bathroom at the Swap Shop near Fort Lauderdale. The couple was charged days later.

Pauline Zile, who is serving a life sentence, was convicted in April 1995 of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse for failing to protect her daughter.

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ZILE RETRIAL MAY MOVE TO POLK COUNTY
The Palm Beach Post
June 18, 1996
Author: VAL ELLICOTT
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

The summer rerun of the state's murder case against John Zile may take place in Bartow, a conservative, rural community markedly different from much of Palm Beach County.

Court officials in Palm Beach County said Monday that they contacted about 10 judicial circuits around the state searching for one that could accommodate Zile's second trial.
The courthouse in Bartow, in the 10th Judicial Circuit in Polk County, was the only one with enough space, they said.

If Florida's Supreme Court approves the new location, Zile's retrial will begin there on Aug. 12.

Last week, Circuit Judge Roger Colton ordered Zile's second murder trial moved because of extensive pretrial publicity in Palm Beach County.

Zile's first trial last month ended in a hung jury.

Ed O'Hara, one of Zile's two attorneys, said Bartow is clearly preferable to Palm Beach County because of extensive media coverage of the case here.

"To what extent they (Polk County residents) know about this case I don't know, but clearly they would not be as well-versed as the folks here," he said.

O'Hara said speculation that a Bartow jury will be less sympathetic to Zile than a jury in an area perceived as more liberal "is really just theory."

Zile, 34, is charged with killing his 7-year-old stepdaughter, Christina Holt, in September 1994, in an apartment on Singer Island. His wife, Pauline Zile, Christina's mother, was convicted of first-degree murder in the case last year.

Prosecutors say Zile asphyxiated Christina during a beating. Zile says Christina died from a seizure or from his frantic efforts to resuscitate her after she suffered a seizure.

ABOUT THE TRIAL'S LOCATION

%% \ POLK COUNTY PALM BEACH COUNTY

Per Capita Income $12,392 $19,937

Residents with a

Bachelor's Degree 8.6 percent 14.5 percent

Urban Population 70.3 percent 94.7 percent

Rural Population 29.7 percent 5.3 percent

%%

Source: 1990 Census of Population and Housing and 1995 Florida Statistical Abstract

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ZILE TRIAL GOING TO POLK COUNTY PENDING SUPREME COURT'S OK
Sun-Sentinel
June 18, 1996
Author: MIKE FOLKS Staff Writer

John Zile's retrial for first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse likely will be held in rural Polk County, Palm Beach County Circuit Court officials said on Monday.

The trial, which had been scheduled to begin on July 15, will not be until Aug. 12 in the 10th Judicial Circuit in Bartow, near Lakeland
Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Roger Colton, who last week ordered the trial moved because of media frenzy surrounding the case, signed an order on Monday announcing the move.

Colton's order is contingent upon approval by the Florida Supreme Court, which could come about this week.

Polk County court officials could not be reached late Monday for comment.

On May 16, Colton declared a mistrial in Zile's first trial after the jury announced it was deadlocked 11-1 for conviction on first-degree murder following two days of deliberation.

Zile, 34, will be tried a second time for first-degree murder and three counts of aggravated child abuse in connection with the death of his stepdaugher, Christina Holt, 7. If convicted, he faces a possible death sentence.

Craig Wilson, one of Zile's defense attorneys, said on Monday he knows little about Polk County and the people who live there.

"I have no idea of their exposure to the case," Wilson said. "I'm no better off in terms of [jury) selection."

A review of U.S. Census data shows Palm Beach and Polk counties are strikingly different.

In Palm Beach County, the estimated population in 1994 was 937,190, compared with 437,204 in Polk County.

Median household income in Palm Beach County in 1989 was $32,524, while in Polk County it was $25,216.

On Monday, Wilson said local court officials had sought more urban areas, including Jacksonville, St. Petersburg, Tampa or Orlando, but had no luck.

Deputy Palm Beach County Courts Administrator Debra Oats confirmed that several urban circuits had been unable to fit the expected six-week trial onto their busy court dockets.

"We were looking for someone who was able to accommodate us," Oats said. "[Polk County) was able to accommodate us, but not on the original date of July 15."

Zile and his wife, Pauline, 26, were arrested in October 1994 and charged with murdering Christina in their Singer Island apartment.

Police say John Zile beat the girl on Sept. 16, 1994, causing her to convulse and die. He confessed to hiding the girl's body in a closet for four days before burying it behind a Kmart in Tequesta.

Six weeks after Christina's death, the Ziles became prime suspects when Pauline Zile reported her daughter had been kidnapped from a bathroom at the Swap Shop near Fort Lauderdale. Within days of the report, they were charged.

Pauline Zile, who is serving a life sentence, was convicted in April 1995 of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse for failing to protect her daughter.

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ZILE'S TRIAL VENUE CAN'T ALTER FACTS
Sun-Sentinel
June 20, 1996

John Zile's first trial for the 1994 murder of his stepdaughter ended in a hung jury last month when a single Palm Beach County juror disagreed with her ll peers on the extent of his guilt.

Zile is scheduled to face the same charges of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse again in August, but this time the dateline on news stories of the trial probably will be Bartow, not West Palm Beach
Circuit Judge Roger Colton granted a defense motion for a change of venue last week, primarily because of the massive publicity surrounding the death of seven-year-old Christina Holt. The new courthouse in Bartow, seat of Polk County in west central Florida, has been deemed the only suitable facility available in mid-August.

If the Florida Supreme Court approves the relocation this week, the second trial could begin on Aug. 12.

It is surely debatable that intensive news-media coverage of the case has made it impossible for Zile to receive a fair trial in Palm Beach County, especially in view of the outcome of his first trial. It also is regrettable that the trial will not take place in the county where the alleged crime occurred and that the jury pool will not be chosen from among Zile's 1 million neighbors.

Judge Colton apparently chose to come down on the side of caution in moving the trial to a rural county that bears little resemblance to Palm Beach either physically or demographically.

The change of scenery should not deter prosecutors from once again seeking an unequivocal conviction and the maximum penalty of death in the electric chair. The facts in the case and Zile's own confession tell a sordid story of a helpless child who was terrorized, beaten and driven to fatal convulsions by an abusive stepfather who then hid the body for several days before burying it in a wooded area and concocting a tale of abduction with Christina's mother Pauline.

Pauline Zile was convicted of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse in a separate trial last year and is currently serving a life sentence in prison with no possibility of parole.

Her husband's own day of reckoning may have been delayed, but it cannot be indefinitely denied.

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