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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.
Thank you!
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In Loving Memory Of 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. |
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It Might Take A Village
To Help Children (4/14/96)
Medical Examiner's Contract On Hold (4/16/96)
Juror Search Continues (4/17/96)
Prospective Jurors Let Go (4/18/96)
Jury Selection Bogs Down Zile Case (4/22/96)
J. Zile, Mother To Visit (4/23/96)
Jury Picked In Zile Murder Trial (4/25/96)
Jurors Chosen For Zile Trial (4/25/96)
Jurors Seated in Zile Murder Trial (4/25/96)
Excused Juror Sets Off Furor (4/26/96)
IT MIGHT TAKE THIS
VILLAGE TO HELP CHILDREN
The Palm Beach Post
April 14, 1996
Author: FRAN HATHAWAY
How does it feel to be a 12-year-old locked out by your parents? I can't
imagine. It hurts to think about it.
But we have to think about it.
Hundreds of Palm Beach County kids are ``thrown away'' every year. Others
are removed from their homes to protect them from parents who abuse
them - physically, mentally, sexually.
These aren't bad kids. They're not lawbreakers. Nor are they mentally
ill or retarded. But they're hurting emotionally and doing poorly in
school. They need a safe place to live where they'll get counseling,
tutoring and three meals a day, a place where they can be children.
Walter Kelly knows this sad scene. Fifteen years ago, the North Palm Beach man had a dream - to help adolescent drug addicts. DATA, the Drug Abuse Treatment Association, opened in 1986 and was named for him in 1990.
Now, Mr. Kelly is hoping - praying - for a sense of deja vu. His new dream is called Youth Village. It would be a residential facility for kids nobody wants. It might, he thinks, prevent what happens to many now - the bouncing from one foster home to another, or the drug addiction and crime that go with living on the street.
Mr. Kelly has the perfect location. The Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County is selling 17 acres west of Florida's Turnpike on Belvedere Road in central Palm Beach County, a site known to thousands of families as Camp Shalom.
A rough time for raising money
The property is partially developed, with usable buildings and a swimming pool. Since it's not bordered by single-family housing, the NIMBY (not in my backyard) problem should be less likely than in other areas.
But the federation is asking $1 million - up from its original price of $800,000. An additional million dollars would be needed for renovation. And this is not an easy time to raise money.
Mr. Kelly and two child-advocate allies - attorney Tom Sheehan and Fred Eisinger, director of Seagull Industries for the Disabled - have talked to groups ranging from the United Way to the Children's Services Council. All agree the need is desperate. All applaud the effort.
Nobody offers money.
Now, the three men feel a sense of urgency. The federation has asked that the property be rezoned for multi-family use. Mr. Sheehan estimates that it's only a matter of months before someone who can write a bigger check snatches it away.
Forget the Legislature. They're not even providing enough money for schools, for heaven's sake. Don't waste your breath explaining that Youth Village could save money by keeping kids out of drug treatment and mental health centers, prisons and virtually every other social program. Lawmakers tend to be myopic. They can't see that far.
The program also could save lives.
``If we could get to them ahead of time,'' Mr. Kelly says, ``when they're 10, 11 and 12, we could do a great job with them.''
It's the ``bent twig'' theory. Remember the saying, ``As the twig is bent, the tree's inclined''? Human beings are no different. They need direction and discipline when young.
Like Boys Town, but for girls, too
Youth Village eventually would care for 200 children in a setting similar to Father Flanagan's famous Boys Town, only girls would be included, too.
Walt Kelly doesn't work in the human services field - professionally, that is. He's just a good guy who genuinely cares about troubled kids. He's been president of the 45th Street Mental Health Center and Seagull Industries as well as DATA. But he doesn't just sit on boards. He takes kids to ball games and the circus, drops off videos.
Most people, he says, know who to blame for these rudderless kids. Usually it's the parents. We can damn that or bewail it, but it doesn't help the children.
``What do people expect these kids to do?'' Mr. Kelly says. ``I have no doubt there are people out there who could help. There's so much money in Palm Beach County. But how do you access it?''
Last week, John Zile went on trial for first-degree murder in the 1994 death of his stepdaughter Christina Holt. The brutal beating of the 7-year-old stunned Palm Beach County and crystallized anger about child abuse. People were asking, ``What can I do?''
Youth Village wouldn't save every abused or neglected child. But it could bend some lives so they grow in a better direction.
Fran Hathaway is an editorial writer for The Palm Beach Post. Editorial Page Editor Randy Schultz is on vacation. Comments about the Opinion section may be sent to schultz@pbpost.com.
MEDICAL EXAMINER'S CONTRACT ON HOLD
The Palm Beach Post
April 16, 1996
Author: VAL ELLICOTT, GEORGE BENNETT and CHRISTINE STAPLETON
Palm Beach Post Staff Writers
Concerns over the performance of Palm Beach County's chief medical examiner,
Dr. James Benz, have prompted county staffers to defer a decision on
whether to recommend rehiring Benz for three more years.
Staffers had planned to endorse
Benz's bid for a contract extension, but that changed after defense
attorneys raised questions recently regarding the competence of Benz
and one of his associate medical examiners, Dr. Steven Nelson.
On Friday, Assistant County Administrator Vince Bonvento removed a vote
on Benz's contract from today's county commission meeting agenda. He
said he will include the vote on the May 7 agenda.
``I wanted him (Benz) to address some of the issues that were raised regarding Dr. Nelson,'' Bonvento said.
He said Benz also must explain to county staffers how he plans to keep other ``operational issues'' - relating to the lack of cooperation between his office and other agencies - from recurring.
Bonvento, however, had earlier cited a recent survey of local law enforcement agencies that gave Benz's office high marks as a reason to recommend the renewal of Benz's contract.
Benz, 65, has been the county's medical examiner since 1983. Before Friday, Bonvento had recommended that the county pay $457,243 a year for the next three years to retain Benz and two associate examiners. The figure is 7 percent higher than their current contract, which expires in July.
Benz came under scrutiny last year when other doctors disputed his conclusion that 6-year-old Termaine Kerr had been killed by a blow to the abdomen.
Three doctors, one of whom performed a second autopsy, said the child could have died from an asthma attack. Benz initially found no signs of asthma.
The findings by the other doctors led prosecutors to drop murder charges against Dennis Rhoden in the case.
Rhoden's public defender attorney, Peggy Natale, now says she will demand second autopsies in criminal cases in which the cause of death is in question.
``Every time a cause of death is in question, I'm going to have it checked,'' Natale said. ``I think he (Benz) makes mistakes.''
Last week, Natale demanded that a second autopsy be performed on 3-year-old Maya Self in the second-degree murder case against Maya's great-aunt, Rosa Self, 35, of Greenacres.
If other defense attorneys adopt Natale's strategy, murder cases in which the cause of death is in question are likely to become much more expensive.
``It's going to have an effect,'' said John Tierney, president of the local criminal defense Bar. ``You're looking at a significant increase in expert witness fees.''
Dade says reexams rare
Medical examiners in Dade and Hillsboro counties say it is almost unheard of for defense attorneys there to obtain second autopsies. It is more common for defense expert witnesses to simply review a medical examiner's findings, they said.
``That's usually much more practical than digging up the body,'' Dr. Vernard Adams, chief medical examiner in Hillsboro County, said.
Dan Hyndman, an assistant Palm Beach County attorney, says he will object if defense attorneys here begin demanding second autopsies at the county's expense.
Some attorneys already are readying attacks on Benz's credibility.
Craig Wilson and Ed O'Hara, who represent first-degree murder defendant John Zile, may use the Rhoden case to try to discredit Benz's conclusions in the death of Zile's 7-year-old stepdaughter, Christina Holt, court records indicate.
And attorneys for Jacqueline Caruncho, accused of third-degree murder in the 1994 death of a child she was baby-sitting, are attacking the reliability of Nelson, the associate medical examiner who performed the autopsy on the child.
Assistant is criticized
Attorney Richard Lubin says Nelson botched an autopsy on a woman in 1993, while working for the Broward County Medical Examiner's Office.
Benz stands by his conclusions in the Rhoden case.
``No one has satisfactorily explained how this kid got his insides all busted up,'' he said Friday.
Benz has letters from three doctors who agree with him that Termaine was killed.
Two of the doctors, Charles Petty and medical examiner Joan Wood, noted they had found signs of asthma but said it was not serious enough to cause Termaine to die.
``I wish to make it crystal clear that this child was murdered,'' wrote Wood, the medical examiner for Pasco and Pinellas Counties, to Benz on Jan. 8 after reviewing slides and other information from Benz's autopsy and other sources.
Dr. Ross Zumwalt, chief medical investigator for New Mexico, reached the same conclusion.
``I would classify this death as a homicide,'' Zumwalt wrote Benz on Dec. 22.
Benz and a spokesman for the prosecutor's office last week said the autopsy dispute in the Rhoden case was a simple difference of professional opinion.
But Bonvento was concerned enough about the working relationship between Benz and State Attorney Barry Krischer that he called for a meeting between the two in December.
In talks with county officials, Krischer has expressed concerns about Benz's performance. Officially though, Krischer is neutral on the issue of Benz's reappointment, Chief Assistant State Attorney Paul Zacks said last week.
State attorney awaits vote
``It would not be productive for the medical examiner and the state attorney to be at odds with each other,'' Zacks said. ``Whatever the county decides at this point, we'll move forward.''
In addition to the contract for Benz and his two associates, the medical examiner's office has 12 county employees and a budget of about $1 million.
Palm Beach County's medical examiner was appointed by the governor until 1993, when commissioners exercised their ``home rule'' authority and made the job answer to them.
Until 1992, Benz was paid based on the number of autopsies and other tasks he performed. But commissioners grew concerned that the $416-per-autopsy fee and other charges were costing taxpayers too much after Benz earned $273,221 in 1991. The commission and Benz eventually agreed on a flat fee.
JUROR SEARCH CONTINUES
Sun-Sentinel
April 17, 1996
Author: Staff Reports
An additional 40 prospective jurors will be questioned about their knowledge
of murder and child-abuse charges against John Zile as the trial enters
its seventh day of jury selection.
Since April 9, Palm Beach County
Circuit Judge Roger Colton has dismissed more than half of the estimated
100 prospective jurors because of the opinions jurors had reached based
on their exposure to media coverage of the case
But Colton said on Tuesday that he hopes to have a pool of 60 prospective
jurors who will be questioned together as a group on Monday.
Zile, 33, is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse in connection with the September 1994 death of his stepdaughter, Christina Holt, 7.
Zile is accused of beating the girl until she collapsed into convulsions and died. He faces a possible death sentence.
PROSPECTIVE JURORS LET GO
Sun-Sentinel
April 18, 1996
Author: Staff report
Thirty prospective jurors in the murder and child abuse trial of John
Zile were dismissed on Wednesday after one called Zile "a sleaze"
in the presence of the others.
Palm Beach County Circuit Judge
Roger Colton granted a defense request to dismiss the group after one
of the potential jurors said she heard a woman make the comment when
she saw a sign on the courtroom door that read: "State of Florida
vs. John Zile.
"We all know what a sleaze he is," the prospective juror was
quoted as saying.
Zile, 33, is charged with first-degree murder and child abuse in the September 1994 death of his stepdaughter, Christina Holt, 7. Prosecutors say Zile beat the girl, causing her to convulse and die. If convicted, Zile faces a possible death sentence.
So far, 51 prospective jurors have been chosen for a pool of 60, from which a trial jury will be selected.
JURY SELECTION BOGS DOWN ZILE
CASE
Miami Herald, The (FL)
April 22, 1996
Author: LORI ROZSA Herald Staff Writer
John Zile is bound to be discouraged by now. In nearly two weeks of
trying to find a jury of his peers to give him a fair hearing in his
first-degree murder trial, he has heard more than 100 people say he's
guilty.
So far, 189 prospective jurors have been interviewed in the courtroom
by prosecutors and defense attorneys. Of those, 58 will be asked back
next week for more questioning. Out of that number, only five people
said they've never heard about Zile, or his dead stepdaughter, or his
wife, Pauline Zile.
The rest -- 131 people -- were excused because they knew too much, and had already made up their minds.
Most of the prospective jurors responded like Barbara Magestro when asked what they knew about the high-profile case.
"I know that a little girl was lost, then it turned out she wasn't lost, her stepdad had killed her," Magestro said.
Zile is charged in the beating death of his 7-year-old stepdaughter, Christina Holt, in September 1994. He told police he was punishing her for lying and soiling her pants. Christina had lived with Zile and her mother, Pauline Zile, for three months before she was killed.
Pauline Zile was convicted of murder last year and sentenced to life in prison. Prosecutors say they'll seek the death penalty for John Zile if he's convicted.
But getting the trial under way
may take another week
because of the problems with finding an unbiased jury.
"A lot of them had a tremendous amount of information on the case," defense attorney Ed O'Hara said. "Most of them have been excused. The judge has allowed only those people who say they can definitely put aside what they've heard and read, and only consider the evidence they hear at trial."
Many of the dismissed jurors were like Mildred Frade, who said she wanted to do her civic duty, and she was confident she could be fair. She said her knowledge of the case was only sketchy, but she had some opinions that got her excused.
"It's upsetting to know there are so many people out there who do these things," she said. "This is a really terrible thing for an adult to do to a child."
Zile's defense team hired a juror selection expert from Clearwater, Rebecca Lynn, to help winnow out undesirable jurors. When Lynn hears somebody say words such as "the baby was killed," and "the poor little girl," she recommends excusing that potential juror.
Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Roger Colton two weeks ago denied the defense request for a change of venue, saying he'd like to try to seat a jury in Palm Beach County. Today, the 58 prospective jurors will be given questionnaires to find out how they feel about police, if they've ever experienced child abuse, and other general questions.
If a jury is seated, opening arguments may begin Thursday, and the trial is expected to last three to four weeks.
J. ZILE, MOTHER TO VISIT
Sun-Sentinel
April 23, 1996
Author: Staff Reports
A judge on Monday granted John Zile a brief visit with his mother in
a courthouse jury room after learning he had not seen her in 16 months.
Palm Beach County Circuit Judge
Roger Colton agreed to Zile's request to visit with his mother, Patricia
Zile, who had traveled from Maryland to attend her son's trial
The non-contact visit occurred after a pool of 53 prospective jurors
filled out jury questionnaires, which will be reviewed by prosecutors
and defense attorneys before the pool is questioned further today.
Colton also on Monday denied a defense request to ban television cameras from the courtroom during the rest of jury selection and the trial.
Zile, 33, is charged with first-degree murder and four counts of aggravated child abuse in the September 1994 death of his stepdaughter, Christina Holt, 7.
JURY PICKED IN ZILE MURDER TRIAL
The Palm Beach Post
April 25, 1996
Author: VAL ELLICOTT
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
A jury of eight women and four men will begin hearing testimony Monday
in the murder case against John Zile, a case that provoked such strident
public outrage that defense attorneys still doubt Zile can receive a
fair trial here.
That outrage became apparent at
one point during jury selection when a jury candidate described Zile
as a "sleaze" in front of other prospective jurors, attorneys
said. That prompted Circuit Judge Roger Colton to excuse about 25 jury
candidates who might have overheard the statement or been told about
it.
But throughout two weeks of jury selection, Colton denied requests by
Zile's attorneys, Craig Wilson and Ed O'Hara, to move Zile's trial out
of Palm Beach County.
The defense attorneys had claimed that saturation coverage of the case against Zile - and of the trial and conviction of his wife, Pauline, last year - made it impossible to pick an impartial jury locally.
On Wednesday, the defense attorneys and the prosecutors, Scott Cupp and Mary Ann Duggan, asked their final questions of jury candidates. Colton then pared the list of candidates to 33. From that list, the attorneys chose 12 jurors and three alternates.
The defense attorneys complained later that prosecutors had conducted background checks on jury candidates without sharing the results with the defense.
Zile, accused of killing his 7-year-old step-daughter, is charged with first-degree murder and four counts of aggravated child abuse. His trial is expected to last three to four weeks.
Zile told police that Christina Holt died on Sept. 16, 1994, after he hit her and she began having convulsions. He said he tried to revive the girl in the bathtub, then hid her body in a closet in the family's Singer Island apartment for four days while he searched for a place to bury her.
To hide Christina's death, Zile and his wife staged a hoax, saying that the girl had been kidnapped from a Broward County swap shop.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in the case. Earlier, Colton approved a defense request that removes jurors from the sentencing process if Zile is convicted of murder.
That means Colton would decide on his own, without hearing a jury's recommendation, whether Zile dies in the electric chair or goes to prison for life.
Pauline Zile was convicted on April 11 last year of first-degree murder.
JURORS CHOSEN FOR ZILE TRIAL
Sun-Sentinel
April 25, 1996
Author: Staff Report
Twelve jurors and three alternates were selected on Wednesday for the
first-degree murder trial of John Zile in the death of his stepdaughter,
Christina Holt, 7.
Opening statements are scheduled
for Monday, and the trial is expected to take three weeks
Zile, 33, is charged with first-degree murder and four counts of aggravated
child abuse in Holt's September 1994 death.
Zile's attorneys asked that jury selection, which has taken 11 days and involved 200 prospective jurors, start from scratch on Wednesday after learning prosecutors may have conducted background investigations on the entire pool.
"They have the entire resources of the state behind them," said defense attorney Craig Wilson.
Ed O'Hara, who also represents Zile, said the defense team was at a disadvantage without the same information. "What if one of the people we chose has a problem? We don't know about it, and they do," O'Hara said.
Assistant State Attorney Scott Cupp declined comment.
Palm Beach County Circuit Court Judge Roger Colton denied the defense motion to start over.
The jury is made up of eight women and four men, and two women and one man were selected as alternates.
JURORS SEATED IN ZILE MURDER TRIAL
Miami Herald, The (FL)
April 25, 1996
Author: Herald Palm Beach Bureau
After nearly three weeks of trying, a jury has been selected in Palm
Beach County for the murder trial of John Zile. Opening arguments begin
Monday.
Zile is charged with beating to
death his 7-year-old stepdaughter Christina Holt in Sept. 1994. Christina's
mother Pauline Zile was convicted of murder last year and is serving
a life sentence. Prosecutors say they'll seek the death penalty against
John Zile if he is convicted.
Eight men and four women will hear the case, along with three alternate
jurors.
EXCUSED ZILE JUROR SETS OFF FUROR
The Palm Beach Post
April 26, 1996
Author: VAL ELLICOTT
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
A might-have-been jury candidate in the murder trial of John Zile implied
during a conversation in a bar Wednesday that he was a juror and predicted
the jury as a whole would "hang" Zile, another man reported
to prosecutors Thursday.
Carter Rice said he overheard
Robert C. Smith make the remark to two other people at the bar at Corbitt's
Restaurant in West Palm Beach.
"It kind of upset me when he made that one remark," Rice told
Circuit Judge Roger Colton Thursday. "My wife is in the legal profession
and it's not right."
Rice said that he believed Smith might have been chosen for the Zile jury because Smith was still wearing the identifying "Juror" sticker that courthouse officials give to people called for jury duty.
Smith was one of 33 people who were still candidates for the Zile jury on Wednesday, but his name was struck from the list as attorneys pared down their choices. The people he was talking to at the bar are not jurors on the case, according to testimony Thursday.
Smith told Colton he does not recall if he made the remark that Rice reported. He also said he doesn't remember if he ever expressed views on Zile to any of the 12 jurors and three alternate jurors who will hear the case.
Defense attorneys Craig Wilson and Ed O'Hara asked Colton to order an investigation into the possibility Smith prejudiced the jurors by commenting about Zile.
They also asked for a chance to replace one of the people now on the Zile jury. Colton denied both requests.
Zile, 33, faces the death penalty if convicted of first-degree murder in the 1994 death of his 7-year-old stepdaughter, Christina Holt. His wife, Pauline Zile, was convicted of murder in the case last year and is serving a life term without parole.
Christina died after going into convulsions during a beating, according to a statement Zile, a restaurant worker, gave police. Zile buried her behind a Tequesta shopping center. Then he and his wife concocted a kidnapping hoax that gripped the public for several days before unraveling.
Testimony at Zile's trial begins Monday and is expected to continue for at least three weeks.