Home --> Christina Holt's Story --> Christina Holt's Story: Newspaper Articles --> 1996 Page 18

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.

Thank you!

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.

Judge Releases Reporter In Zile Case (10/22/96)
Reporter Jailed For His Silence Is Freed By Federal Judge (10/22/96)
Reporter Out Of Jail; Don't Send Him Back (10/23/96)
Lawyer: Medical Examiner Said Zile Didn't Mean To Kill (10/24/96)
Witness Has Fodder For Zile Defense (10/24/96)
Jury Seated To Try John Zile (10/25/96)
Jurors Chosen, Zile Retrial To Start Today (10/25/96)
County Wins Judgment Against Zile's Wife (10/25/96)
Testimony Set To Start in Retrial of Accused Child Killer (10/25/96)
Zile Judge Blocks Witness To Doctor's Alleged Doubts (10/26/96)


JUDGE RELEASES REPORTER IN ZILE CASE
ATTORNEYS HOPE MAN WILL STICK TO REFUSAL TO DISCUSS JAILHOUSE INTERVIEW
Sun-Sentinel
October 22, 1996
Author: STEPHANIE SMITH Staff Writer

A federal judge on Monday freed a newspaper reporter who had been in jail for 15 days for refusing to testify as a state witness at John Zile's retrial in the September 1994 death of his stepdaughter.

U.S. District Court Judge Wilke Ferguson ordered the Palm Beach County Jail to release David Kidwell, 35, a reporter for The Miami Herald, on his promise to return to court while he appeals his contempt of court conviction in state court. He was released from jail late Monday.

"I'm happy that we finally got to a judge who understands what the law is," said Kidwell's attorney, Sandy Bohrer of Miami.
On Oct. 7, Kidwell was sentenced to 70 days in jail and fined $500 by Palm Beach County Circuit Court Judge Roger Colton after he refused to answer questions regarding his jailhouse interview with Zile about the death of Christina Holt, 7.

Kidwell said he would rather be jailed than be forced to become a witness against someone he interviewed for a news story.

Zile's court-appointed attorneys, Craig Wilson and Ed O'Hara, said on Monday they hope Kidwell will stick to his refusal despite his release.

"He may not want to go back in," Wilson said. "But then again, if he felt so strongly about his principles and his role as a newspaper reporter, he refused the first time, he may bite the bullet again."

Zile's attorneys are opposed to Kidwell's story being used as evidence in the case, and the interview cannot be introduced without verification from Kidwell that Zile made the statements.

Kidwell's attorney said the next step is a decision by the 4th District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach about whether Kidwell was properly held in contempt of court.

Also on Monday, after five days, attorneys in Zile's retrial completed screening prospective jurors on their knowledge of the case and whether serving as a juror would be a severe hardship.

The pool of 71 potential jurors will return on Wednesday for more detailed questioning. Opening statements are expected on Thursday.

Attorneys today will review written questionnaires filled out by the potential jurors.

Questions on the 15-page form include whether the prospective jurors have lost a child or written to a newspaper. It asks their favorite movie, whether they are active in victims' rights and whether they have encountered physical or sexual abuse as a child.

Zile is accused of beating his stepdaughter until she collapsed into convulsions and died. Zile and his wife, Pauline, tried to cover up the child's death by claiming the girl had been abducted at a flea market in Broward County.

Back To Top


REPORTER JAILED FOR HIS SILENCE IS FREED BY FEDERAL JUDGE
Miami Herald, The (FL)
October 22, 1996
Author: DAVID LYONS Herald Staff Writer

After questioning why state prosecutors need the testimony of Herald reporter David Kidwell in the John Zile murder case, a Miami federal judge Monday ordered the journalist released from a West Palm Beach jail after 14 days behind bars.

U.S. District Judge Wilkie Ferguson Jr. issued the decision after hearing an emergency request for a writ of habeas corpus from Kidwell's attorney, Sanford Bohrer. The judge signed a four-paragraph order after learning that the Fourth District Court of Appeal denied a request to stay Kidwell's 70-day sentence pending an appeal.
Kidwell, 35, was freed Monday night from the Palm Beach County Detention Center. He had spent his term housed with nonviolent offenders, namely deadbeat dads and former husbands who are behind on their alimony.

``I can't wait to get home to my wife, play with my son, and sleep in my own bed and get back to work tomorrow,'' Kidwell said by telephone before his release. ``I'm glad there is somebody out there with robes on that believes in

the First Amendment.''

Said Herald Executive Editor Doug Clifton: ``This is a great day for David Kidwell, the cause he so fervently believes in and for journalists everywhere.''

Early this month, Circuit Judge Roger Colton ruled Kidwell in contempt of court for refusing to answer questions about his 1994 jailhouse interview with Zile, charged with first-degree murder in the death of his 7-year-old stepdaughter, Christina Holt.

Kidwell said he feared his acquiescence would effectively make him a government agent, and strip him of his independence as a journalist.

What Zile told him

During the interview, Zile told Kidwell that he was ``furious'' with his stepdaughter before the killing took place. He also provided details of the girl's death that later appeared in a Herald article.

At Monday's hearing before Ferguson, Bohrer argued that the state never raised the subject during Zile's first trial in May, which ended when the jury deadlocked 11-1 over whether Zile was guilty of first- or second-degree murder.

``This big difference didn't seem to exist at the first trial,'' Bohrer said.

Assistant Attorney General Don Rogers countered that Kidwell had no say in what evidence should or should not be sought by the government.

The second trial resumed last Tuesday in Bartow after a lengthy delay in jury selection.

``Let's let the state attorney prosecute the case in a way he chooses,'' Rogers said. ``We can't sit here in a federal court in Miami and decide how he should try his case.''

But the judge questioned why the state needed a reporter to testify in a case in which the prosecution already had the defendant in custody, and possessed an array of evidence, including a confession. In the past, prosecutors have gone to court to demand that reporters relinquish information about unsolved crimes, or about suspects still on the loose.

Need for testimony questioned

Ferguson indicated that he saw no parallel with Kidwell's case.

``Why do you need the reporter?'' the judge asked Rogers. ``What is the relevant information? This defendant has never denied committing the offense, has he?''

Rogers conceded that Zile had not denied his role in the murder. But he reiterated that his description of the crime to Kidwell was critical to the state's case.

Rogers, who had departed his West Palm Beach office late Monday, was unavailable for comment, a secretary said. Prosecutors Scott Cupp and Ed O'Hara also could not be reached.

Kidwell's release does not mean that his legal clash with the state is over. The issues are likely to be argued soon in a state appellate court.

A request for an expedited appeal has been entered with the Fourth District, Ferguson said in his order, ``suggesting that the state appellate court could consider the matter within 15 days.''

Back To Top


REPORTER OUT OF JAIL; DON'T SEND HIM BACK
The Palm Beach Post
October 23, 1996

A federal judge has given state appellate judges and the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office a chance to acknowledge their abuse of the First Amendment. They should take the hint.

Miami Herald reporter David Kidwell was in the Palm Beach County Jail for two weeks. He was there only because prosecutors needlessly subpoenaed him to testify in the John Zile murder case. When Mr. Kidwell refused, Circuit Judge Roger Colton wrongly found him in contempt of court and wrongly sentenced him to 70 days. Then the 4th District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach mistakenly sanctioned Judge Colton's water-carrying for the state.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Wilkie Ferguson ordered Mr. Kidwell released and told the DCA to review the case. If the system is working, that order will carry the not-so-subtle message that the state courts forgot the part of the First Amendment that says "government shall make no law" restricting freedom of the press.

Ideally, the state appeals court will realize - after a second look and a little prodding - that Judge Colton was wrong. Judge Colton has a reputation for being overly lenient with lawyers, and in this case he ignored the Constitution to accommodate the prosecution. But the state attorney's office could make things even easier by just dropping the subpoena, since Mr. Kidwell's testimony means nothing.

In 1994, shortly after Zile was charged with murdering his 7-year-old stepdaughter, Christina Holt, Mr. Kidwell interviewed Zile in the county jail. To gain access, Mr. Kidwell identified himself as Zile's friend, not a reporter. During the interview, Zile talked about his role in the crime. Since Zile had confessed to investigators before his arrest, however, Mr. Kidwell learned nothing that could be considered new evidence for the state.

For that reason, prosecutors didn't subpoena Mr. Kidwell for Zile's first trial. But it ended in a mistrial, when one juror held out against a conviction of first-degree murder. So State Attorney Barry Krischer called on a reporter to do his prosecutors' work. Mr. Kidwell's attorney will argue before the state appellate court that federal law supersedes any state provision that might compel a reporter to testify.

If that fails, the case will return to the federal court. Judge Ferguson would then have to tell the state of Florida to start making its case and stop using the Bill of Rights as a floor mat.

Back To Top


LAWYER: MEDICAL EXAMINER SAID ZILE DIDN'T MEAN TO KILL
The Palm Beach Post
October 24, 1996
Author: VAL ELLICOTT
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Dr. James Benz, former Medical Examiner for Palm Beach County, told an attorney in casual conversation he believes John Zile should not be facing a first-degree murder charge because he did not intentionally kill his stepdaughter, the attorney said Wednesday.

Attorney Gregg Lerman said he gave a statement to prosecutors in the Zile case Wednesday in which he recalled chatting with Benz at the Jamestown Cigar Bar in downtown West Palm Beach sometime after Zile's first murder trial ended with a hung jury.
"He was saying that no one ever asked him if he came to the opinion, based on his medical examination, as to whether it was a premeditated, intentional homicide," Lerman said. "His opinion was that it was not."

Benz said Wednesday that he did not recall the conversation. He declined to comment on his opinions regarding the charges against Zile, whose retrial is in the jury selection phase in Bartow.

Craig Wilson, one of Zile's attorneys, said Benz's revelation to Lerman "is crucial" to Zile's defense. "It goes to our theory of the case, which is that it was an accident," Wilson said Wednesday.

He said the defense will almost certainly grill Benz about his conversation with Lerman.

Prosecutors, though, have not relied on premeditation as their primary theory in the case. They also argue that Zile is guilty of felony murder because he was committing aggravated child abuse, a felony, at the time his 7-year-old stepdaughter, Christina Holt, died. Felony murder refers to a death that occurs during the commission of a felony.

Christina died at Zile's Singer Island apartment Sept. 16, 1994. Prosecutors say Zile, 34, was abusing her and asphyxiated her by covering her mouth when she cried out. The defense says she died as the result of a seizure.

Staff writer Christine Stapleton contributed to this story.

Back To Top


WITNESS HAS FODDER FOR ZILE DEFENSE
ATTORNEY: FORMER MEDICAL EXAMINER THINKS GIRL'S DEATH WAS NOT HOMICIDE
Sun-Sentinel
October 24, 1996
Author: STEPHANIE SMITH Staff Writer

The prosecution's coroner thinks Christina Holt's death was not premeditated and prosecutors went overboard by filing first-degree murder charges, a defense witness said on Wednesday.
Gregg Lerman, a West Palm Beach criminal defense attorney, outlined a conversation he said he had with Dr. James Benz, former Palm Beach County medical examiner, in a deposition on Wednesday as a preview to his testimony in John Zile's murder trial.

Lerman, who was not associated with the case, said that during a casual conversation at Jamestown Cigar Bar in West Palm Beach, Benz told him that no one has asked him the right questions about the 7-year-old girl's September 1994 death.

"In his opinion, it wasn't intentional homicide," Lerman said after the deposition. "He thought the state overcharged in the case."

The conversation took place after Zile's first trial in May ended in a deadlocked jury but before the second mistrial in August, Lerman said.

Scott Cupp, assistant state attorney and chief prosecutor in the Zile case, said on Wednesday it is not the medical examiner's job to decide what criminal charges should be filed.

"The medical examiner determines the cause and manner of death, not the degree of the felony," Cupp said. "I don't remember ever asking the medical examiner what to charge."

Benz could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

He resigned his 13-year career as Palm Beach County's medical examiner on June 4 under criticism from prosecutors and police. Prosecutors dismissed two other child murder cases because of questionable homicide rulings by Benz and his staff, and defense attorneys had taken to demanding second autopsies before Benz's resignation.

The revelation about Benz's comments was made with attorneys at the brink of seating a 12-member jury for the trial after 1 1/2 weeks.

On Wednesday, prosecutors questioned the pool of 71 prospective jurors on their views about disciplining children and whether religious or moral beliefs prevent them from sitting in judgment of another. Five of the people said only God could judge.

Today, it will be the defense's turn to query potential jurors on their beliefs. Opening statements are expected on Friday and the prosecution already has its first witness in Bartow, ready to testify.

At Zile's first trial, prosecutors claimed Zile, 34, committed first-degree murder of his stepdaughter under premeditated and felony murder theories.

For premeditated murder, the state had to show Zile intended to kill his stepdaughter. Under felony murder, the state must show the death occurred while Zile was committing the felony of aggravated child abuse.

Zile told police he was spanking his stepdaughter when she collapsed into a seizure and died. After attempts to revive her failed, he hid the body in a closet for four days then secretly buried her in a sandy lot in Tequesta.

He and his wife, Pauline, tried to cover up the death by saying Christina was abducted, police said. Pauline Zile is serving a life prison term for her failure to step in to protect her daughter.

John Zile's lead attorney, Craig Wilson, said Benz's comments support defense contentions that the death was an accident, although the state still can try to convict Zile under the felony murder theory.

"We've always argued and maintained it was not premeditated," Wilson said. "They just threw [everything) on the wall just to see what would stick."

Back To Top

JURY SEATED TO TRY JOHN ZILE
The Palm Beach Post
October 25, 1996
Author: VAL ELLICOTT
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Attorneys in the John Zile murder case selected a jury Thursday and will present opening statements today in Bartow.

The retrial of Zile, charged with murder in the death of his 7-year-old stepdaughter, is expected to last about three weeks.
An earlier trial in West Palm Beach ended with a hung jury when one juror refused to vote for a conviction on first-degree murder. The trial was then moved to Bartow, the seat of Polk County, because of extensive publicity in Palm Beach County.

Defense attorneys and prosecutors have said they expect no major changes in their strategies for the retrial.

Zile, who faces the death penalty if convicted of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse, is accused of killing stepdaughter Christina Holt in 1994. Prosecutors Scott Cupp and Jill Estey will tell jurors that Zile, 34, was striking and spanking the girl when she began to cry out. They say Zile covered her mouth to stifle her screams, causing the girl to asphyxiate.

Defense attorneys Craig Wilson and Ed O'Hara say Christina died from a seizure or from Zile's frantic but clumsy attempts to revive her after the seizure.

Pauline Zile, John Zile's wife and Christina's mother, is serving a life prison sentence for convictions on first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse in the case.

On Thursday, a judge awarded Palm Beach County a judgment against Pauline Zile for $17,633.90 in costs the county covered for her trial last year.

Back To Top


JURORS CHOSEN, ZILE RETRIAL TO START TODAY
Sun-Sentinel
October 25, 1996
Author: STEPHANIE SMITH Staff Writer

Opening statements in John Zile's retrial on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse of his stepdaughter begin today after the case was moved more than 150 miles to ensure an impartial jury.

After seven days of interviews of potential jurors, four women and eight men were seated on the panel on Thursday, along with two alternate jurors.

If convicted as charged of killing his stepdaughter, Christina Holt, 7, the prosecution is seeking the death penalty.

During jury selection, potential jurors were told they would only decide the verdict; the punishment would be left to Palm Beach County Circuit Court Judge Roger Colton, as it was in Zile's first trial.

At Zile's first trial in May, a Palm Beach County jury deadlocked on a first-degree murder conviction after a lone juror held out because of her knowledge of the controversy surrounding autopsy findings by Palm Beach County's former chief medical examiner James Benz.
Benz is poised to be a key figure in the retrial as well because of a new defense witness' claim that the coroner told the witness he thought the girl's death could have been an accident and the prosecution overcharged Zile, 34, and his wife, Pauline Zile, with first-degree murder.

Pauline Zile, 25, is serving a life sentence for failing to stop the beating of her daughter.

Zile's court-appointed attorneys plan to call West Palm Beach lawyer Gregg Lerman, who said he had the conversation with Benz this summer, after the first trial.

Prosecutors are expected to demand that Lerman not be allowed to testify on the grounds that rules requiring both sides to timely disclose evidence and witnesses were not followed. The prosecution did not learn of Lerman's statements until a deposition on Wednesday.

Zile's attorneys concede their client disciplined the girl in September 1994, but say her death was an accident. The child died as a result of either an undiagnosed seizure condition or improper attempts at artificial respiration, the defense claimed at the first trial.

Prosecutors say Holt either suffocated on her own vomit because of a hand held over her mouth to muffle her screams, or she was beaten into a seizure.

If the death was an accident, prosecutors have said, the Ziles would have called for medical help instead of hiding the body and faking an abduction from the Swap Shop west of Fort Lauderdale.

Even if Zile did not intend for the girl to die, he is still guilty of first-degree murder if Holt died during an act of aggravated child abuse, prosecutors argued.

Testimony in the trial is expected to last two to three weeks.

Back To Top


COUNTY WINS JUDGMENT AGAINST ZILE'S WIFE
Sun-Sentinel
October 25, 1996
Author: MIKE FOLKS

Palm Beach County was granted a judgment on Thursday that requires Pauline Zile to repay $17,600 for costs associated with her defense, should she ever get any money.

While her husband, John Zile, is being retried in Bartow, visiting Polk County Circuit Judge William Norris issued the judgment during a brief hearing in Palm Beach County Circuit Court.

Pauline Zile, 26, was declared partially indigent for the costs of her defense, which allowed her to retain private attorneys, Ellis and Guy Rubin, and bill the county for costs such as hiring experts, depositions and investigators.
Assistant county attorney Dan Hyndman said the $17,633 bill was reasonable. Should Pauline Zile ever get money, she is responsible for repaying the bill.

Pauline Zile is serving a life sentence for her April 1995 conviction on first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse in the September 1994 death of her daughter, Christina Holt.

Back To Top


TESTIMONY SET TO START IN RETRIAL OF ACCUSED CHILD KILLER
Miami Herald, The (FL)
October 25, 1996
Author: Herald Staff Report

Attorneys in the retrial of accused murderer John Zile selected a 12-member jury Thursday to decide whether the Palm Beach County man is guilty of killing his 7-year-old stepdaughter, Christina Holt.

Testimony, which is expected to last three weeks, will begin today in the first-degree murder case. Zile's first trial ended in May with a deadlock -- 11 jurors voted for a first-degree murder conviction, but one held out for second-degree.
The retrial was moved to Bartow, about 150 miles northwestof West Palm Beach, after Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Roger Colton ruled that heavy publicity in the case could prevent the accused child killer from receiving a fair trial.

Zile was charged in the beating death along with his wife, Pauline, who is serving a life sentence for her role in the murder. If convicted, John Zile, 34, could be sent to the electric chair.

Back To Top


ZILE JUDGE BLOCKS WITNESS TO DOCTOR'S ALLEGED DOUBTS
The Palm Beach Post
October 26, 1996
Author: VAL ELLICOTT
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

A judge barred John Zile's defense team Friday from calling a witness who says the doctor who performed the autopsy on Zile's stepdaughter once characterized the girl's death as unintentional.

Circuit Judge Roger Colton also ruled that Zile's two attorneys, Craig Wilson and Ed O'Hara, violated procedural rules by failing to immediately tell prosecutors about the witness, West Palm Beach attorney Gregg Lerman.
In a statement Wednesday, Lerman said Dr. James Benz, Palm Beach County's former medical examiner, told him sometime during the summer that he believed the death of 7-year-old Christina Holt "wasn't an intentional homicide" and Zile should be charged with a less serious crime than first-degree murder.

O'Hara said Benz once told him much the same thing in a phone conversation.

"He said, `I think the case has been overcharged - it's manslaughter if anything and I think it's become a political tool,' " O'Hara testified Friday during a hearing before opening statements at Zile's murder trial in Bartow.

But Benz also told O'Hara, "If you inform anyone of this conversation, I will emphatically deny ever speaking with you," O'Hara recalled.

O'Hara and Wilson fervently hope Benz will testify that Christina's death was unintentional when he takes the witness stand at Zile's trial.

But Benz has a history of doing the unexpected in court, attorneys on both sides said Friday.

"If this stuff comes up, it comes up," prosecutor Scott Cupp told Colton. "If I have to treat him as a hostile witness, I will do that."

Zile's attorneys had intended, in the event Benz does not characterize Christina's death as unintentional, to call Lerman or even O'Hara to the witness stand as rebuttal witnesses.

Colton's ruling Friday precludes that option, at least for now.

"This is the worst predicament I think we can be in," Wilson said.

But the judge qualified his ruling to allow the defense to re-argue the request, depending on what happens when Benz testifies.

Zile, 34, is on trial for the third time on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse in Christina's death in 1994 at the Ziles' Singer Island apartment. His first trial ended with a hung jury in Palm Beach County, and the second was stopped because of something the Polk County clerk of the court said during jury selection. Zile faces a possible death sentence if convicted.

Cupp opened testimony in the state's case Friday by focusing quickly on a statement Zile gave in October 1994 about the night his stepdaughter died. At the first trial, Cupp waited until the conclusion of his case to introduce the statement.

In the taped statement, which may be played for jurors next week, Zile recalls slapping and spanking Christina to discipline her at around midnight on Sept. 16, 1994, moments before she died. The girl seemed to suffer a seizure, Zile told police. When she began to scream, he said, he covered her mouth. Benz concluded that Christina died from asphyxiation.

"Christina was verbally chastised, yelled at, beaten and murdered at the hands of the defendant," Cupp told jurors in opening statements.

In his opening statement, Wilson told jurors "There is no doubt Mr. Zile accepts responsibility for the death of Christina Holt."

But he said medical testimony will show Christina died as the result of a seizure disorder, which caused her to breathe food into her lungs while her stepfather was disciplining her, or from Zile's clumsy attempt to resuscitate her after the seizure.

Back To Top