Christina's Story: Newspaper Articles

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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.

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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.

State Hot, Defense Cool In Zile Closings (5/15/96)
Differing Images Emerge In Zile Closing Arguments (5/15/96)
Christina Treated Like 'Garbage', State Says (5/15/96)
In Court (5/16/96)
Zile Jury Rehears Testimony (5/16/96)
Zile Jury Listens Again To His Taped Confession (5/16/96)
Mistrial in Zile Murder Case (5/17/96)
Jury's Fear of Deliberation Order May Have Led To Mistrial (5/17/96)
Deadlocked Zile Jury Produces A Mistrial (5/17/96)
1 Juror Causes Mistrial For Zile (5/17/96)

STATE HOT, DEFENSE COOL IN ZILE CLOSINGS
The Palm Beach Post
May 15, 1996
Author: VAL ELLICOTT
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Prosecutors used both court testimony and speculation Tuesday to sketch the most disparaging portrait possible of John Zile, the man they say murdered his stepdaughter after terrifying her so thoroughly the girl lost control of her bodily functions.

"She is scared out of her mind," Assistant State Attorney Mary Ann Duggan told jurors in closing arguments at Zile's murder trial. "He doesn't console her. He beats her."
The strongly emotional flavor of Duggan's argument - and a companion argument from prosecutor Scott Cupp - contrasted sharply with the analytic, relatively low-key approach of Zile's defense team.

Defense attorneys Craig Wilson and Ed O'Hara focused heavily on ambiguous medical testimony that conceded the possibility that 7-year-old Christina Holt died due to a seizure, not because Zile first beat her, then asphyxiated her, as prosecutors contend.

"There's a total lack of evidence regarding this theory of asphyxia," O'Hara told jurors.

If the seizure itself wasn't fatal, the defense attorneys told jurors, it is just as possible Christina died from her stepfather's frantic, clumsy attempts to resuscitate her.

A critical element of the defense's case is that Christina, while not "a bad little girl," was disturbed and difficult to control.

Zile, a restaurant worker with a ninth-grade education and no special training in handling children, tried unsuccessfully to discipline his stepdaughter in a number of nonphysical ways before resorting to spankings, just as many other parents would have done, the defense team argued.

"This child was clearly a troubled child, and John didn't know how to deal with it," O'Hara told jurors.

He pointed to a letter written by a teacher to Christina's grandmother while Christina lived in Maryland before moving in with her stepfather and her mother, Pauline Zile, in Florida.

"Christina has been `out of control' for the last week," the letter, signed only "Mrs. Boettner," says. "If you have any ways to dealing with her that work, please share them with me."

Christina died sometime around midnight on Sept. 16, 1994, at the Ziles' apartment on Singer Island, an apartment prosecutors likened to "a jail cell" where they say Zile imprisoned Christina to keep other people from seeing the bruises left by his brutal beatings.

"They're destroying Christina's identity," Duggan said, referring to both Zile and his wife, who was convicted last year of first-degree murder in her daughter's death.

Duggan noted that Zile wrapped his stepdaughter in a black garbage bag before secretly burying her four days after she died.

"That's what he thought of her," Duggan said. "She was garbage."

Zile's attorneys countered that Zile loved his stepdaughter and had planned to adopt the girl. They said prosecutors are determined to send Zile to the electric chair because they are furious at him and his wife for concocting a highly publicized hoax that Christina had been kidnapped from a Fort Lauderdale swap shop.

Jurors will begin deliberating today. If they convict Zile of first-degree murder, Circuit Judge Roger Colton could sentence him to death in the electric chair. Zile, 34, also is charged with three counts of aggravated child abuse.

DIFFERING IMAGES EMERGE IN ZILE CLOSING ARGUMENTS
Sun-Sentinel
May 15, 1996
Author: MIKE FOLKS and TERENCE SHINE Staff Writers

Prosecutors said on Tuesday that John Zile systematically destroyed his 7-year-old stepdaughter's will and her spirit before he beat her in a rage, causing her to convulse and die in 1994.

But defense attorneys countered that Zile, 34, was a loving stepfather who didn't know how to handle the troubled child. Her death, they said, was accidental because she had a seizure during corporal punishment administered by Zile
Those two portraits of Zile emerged on Tuesday in closing arguments in his first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse trial.

Zile faces a possible death sentence if convicted.

The jury of eight women and four men will begin deliberations today. The panel will be sequestered overnight if a verdict is not reached by the end of the day.

Legal experts said it was possible Zile may get off easier than his wife, Pauline, 25, who was convicted last year of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse for failing to protect her child, Christina Holt.

Pauline Zile watched as her daughter was beaten, fell into convulsions and died. She's serving a life sentence.

But John Zile, if convicted of lesser charges of second-degree murder, third-degree murder or manslaughter, could do significantly less time, the experts said.

"Pauline would have been much better off if these matters like child seizures had been brought out at her trial," said James Eisenberg, a West Palm Beach criminal attorney.

"In speculation, John Zile has a much better shot at a lesser charge," Eisenberg said. "The jury has a lot of options, not just guilty or innocent - lesser offenses with lesser penalties."

He said Pauline Zile's attorney, Ellis Rubin, might have been successful in selling his innocent bystander defense if the issue of seizures had been raised.

"But he rushed to trial, and these facts never surfaced," Eisenberg said. "John Zile's defense was well thought-out and far superior."

Richard Lubin, a West Palm Beach criminal attorney, agreed.

"John Zile may very well come out of this case better off than Pauline because his lawyers have taken it very seriously and been intellectually honest in saying that there were other factors, and something happened, but it was not first-degree murder," Lubin said. "It wasn't premeditated."

In court on Tuesday, the jury listened intently as prosecutors and defense attorneys made their last arguments to win over the jury.

Likening Christina to a prisoner of war, Assistant State Attorney Maryann Duggan told the jury that Zile physically and mentally abused the girl in the weeks before she died.

Duggan said Zile should be convicted of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse because he used the 38-pound girl as a "punching bag."He isolated her in her room, withdrew her from school and "hacked off" her hair because he thought she was lying about being sexually abused while living in Maryland with relatives.

The night of her death - late Sept. 16, 1994, or early Sept. 17 - Zile awoke Christina and began interrogating her about the sexual abuse.

"She is so frightened of what is going to happen, she defecates, and this angers [Zile)," Duggan told the jury.

Duggan said Zile beat the girl's buttocks and ordered her to take a bath. After she changed, the interrogation began again.

Zile got angry and began "flicking her in the mouth" with his fingers. He then hit her about the face, causing her to collapse.

As Christina was crying, Zile had to quiet the girl. He placed his hand over her mouth, causing the girl to asphyxiate on her vomit, the prosecutor said.

Duggan said Zile's denials of hitting Christina in the face that night are not to be believed.

"The defendant is very good at lying. The world was convinced that his daughter was missing," Duggan said, referring to the hoax that Christina had been kidnapped from the Swap Shop west of Fort Lauderdale.

Zile premeditated the murder, Duggan said, noting Christina's belongings, including her pink bicycle, were pawned.

In his closing, defense attorney Craig Wilson said Zile and his wife had no idea the problems Christina had before she came to live with them in June 1994, after being cared for by her paternal grandmother, Judy Holt.

The Ziles, Wilson said, did not know Christina had been taking Ritalin for hyperactivity. Nor did they know that a teacher in Maryland had sent a letter home to Holt, describing Christina as a disruptive child who lied.

Wilson urged the jury to read the teacher's letter, which said "time outs" and "stern looks" were not working.

Co-defense counsel Ed O'Hara said John Zile had done the same with Christina, but still the problems continued.

"He tried time outs. He tried stern looks. He said, `I'm going to spank this child.' That's all he ever did," O'Hara said.

"This child was clearly a troubled child, and John didn't know how to deal with it," O'Hara said.

O'Hara said Christina's death was caused by a seizure as he disciplined her.

Or, he argued, Christina died as a result of Zile's attempts to revive her by pushing on her stomach, then giving her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Either way, O'Hara urged the jury to convict Zile of lesser charges, including second-degree murder, third-degree murder or manslaughter.

In his rebuttal, prosecutor Scott Cupp held up the shovel Zile used to bury Christina's body behind a Kmart in Tequesta.

Zile bought it, along with a tarp, to bury the girl with money he got from pawning the Hooked on Phonics tapes and his wife's wedding ring, he said.

"That's his state of mind. That's his intent. This is hours after the murder. Not only did he kill her, his wife pawned her stuff so he could bury her," Cupp said.

CHRISTINA TREATED LIKE 'GARBAGE,' STATE SAYS
JURY DELIBERATIONS TO BEGIN IN ZILE CASE
Miami Herald, The (FL)
May 15, 1996
Author: LORI ROZSA Herald Staff Writer

For the second time in a little more than a year, a Palm Beach County jury has listened to the painful details of young Christina Holt's death and must decide whether one of the girl's parents should be convicted of murdering her.
Last year, a jury found the 7-year-old girl's mother guilty of murder and sent her to prison for life.

Today, another jury will begin deliberating the fate of Christina's stepfather, John Zile.

Like his wife, he is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse. A day's worth of closing arguments Tuesday from the defense and prosecution summed up the case.

"Christina was a punching bag," prosecutor Mary Ann Duggan said. After she died, Zile wrapped her body in several layers of things, including a black garbage bag.

"That's what he thought of her. She was garbage to him."

Defense attorneys countered that Zile was a confused parent trying to deal with "a troubled little girl" who lied and misbehaved.

"This was a form of corporal punishment," attorney Ed O'Hara said. "There's no evidence to refute that . . . the evidence clearly suggests John is not guilty of first-degree murder."

Experts, including Palm Beach County Medical Examiner James Benz, testified that they couldn't say for certain what killed the girl -- Benz said it was probably asphyxiation from choking on her own vomit; Zile said it was an epileptic seizure.

Nor could the medical experts say with certainty whether bruises and discoloration on her body -- on her face, her buttocks, her legs -- occurred before or after death.

"There is absolutely no evidence that anything occurred here other than what you get from normal parenting," O'Hara said. "Were this aggravated child abuse, there would be beating the child with a board or a hose or some other horrendous thing." O'Hara showed the jury a letter from a teacher in Maryland, where Christina lived with her grandparents for all but the last three months of her life. The teacher said Christina was disruptive and lied.

Zile "a man with a ninth-grade education," didn't know how to handle her. "He tried time-outs, go to your room, write 50 times, it was not working," O'Hara said.

"So he resorted to corporal punishment." That accidentally triggered a seizure, which led to her death, he argued.

But prosecutors Duggan and Scott Cupp told the eight women and four men on the jury that Christina was kept as "a prisoner of war" in the couple's tiny Singer Island apartment.

"He scared her to death," Duggan said. "We have an adult dealing with a very small, very petite girl . . . he systematically destroyed her identity, her dignity, her will to live."

Her parents pawned her bike, chopped off her long hair, yanked her from school, exiled her to her room and made her stand in the corner of her dark, hot room.

Zile's own description of the punishment he meted out to Christina: he "popped her," "whacked," "flicked," and "spanked" her. Soiling her pants with diarrhea brought on the final beating.

"You don't beat her for it, you treat her for it," Cupp said of Zile's parenting tactics. Zile's attorneys say he did nothing more than spank Christina, and that the prosecution is painting a grim and unfair picture of her three months with the Ziles only because the couple concocted a hoax that fooled the public for several days to explain her disappearance. Defense attorney Craig Wilson said if the jury finds Zile guilty, it should be guilty of manslaughter, not first-degree murder.

IN COURT
The Palm Beach Post
May 16, 1996

WEST PALM BEACH

The jurors who heard the state's first-degree murder case against John Zile, 34, deliberated about four hours Wednesday before breaking for the night. The eight women and four men, who will spend the night sequestered in a hotel without access to televisions or radios, asked to have testimony from two witnesses read back to them. They also listened again to the taped statement Zile gave police on Oct. 28, 1994. The jurors resume deliberations today. Zile faces the death penalty if convicted in the Sept. 16, 1994 death of his stepdaughter, 7-year-old Christina Holt.

ZILE JURY REHEARS TESTIMONY
PANEL TO DELIBERATE MURDER CASE FURTHER
Sun-Sentinel
May 16, 1996
Author: MIKE FOLKS Staff Writer
Staff Writer Stephanie Smith contributed to this report.

The jury in the John Zile murder and child abuse trial began deliberations on Wednesday, conferring for five hours and rehearing testimony for another two before retiring for the night.

The panel reheard testimony from two witnesses and listened again to Zile's tape-recorded confession, given to police on Oct. 27, 1994, after leading them to the makeshift grave of his stepdaughter, Christina Holt, 7, behind a Tequesta Kmart
The four-man, eight-woman jury will return this morning to resume deliberations. They were sequestered at an undisclosed hotel and had no access to televisions. Phone calls and reading materials were monitored by sheriff's deputies.

Zile, 34, is on trial for first-degree murder and three counts of aggravated child abuse in the Sept. 16, 1994, death of Christina, who convulsed and choked to death as Zile beat her.

If convicted of first-degree murder, Zile faces a possible death sentence. But jurors also may consider lesser offenses, including second-degree murder, third-degree murder or manslaughter.

The jury began its deliberations at 9:40 a.m., but by noon had asked Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Roger Colton to have trial testimony from witnesses Dayle Ackerman and Steven Stoginnis read back to them.

Ackerman, the prosecution's "ear witness," lives in the building next to the Ziles' Singer Island apartment.

Two weeks ago, Ackerman told the jury she heard John Zile threaten to "beat the s---" out of Christina if she continued to lie to him. She also testified she heard Zile beating a crying Christina about 8:15 a.m. Sept. 16, 1994.

Zile, however, testified last week that he beat Christina, who fell into convulsions and choked to death, about midnight on that date.

At the trial last year of Zile's wife, Pauline, prosecutors maintained that Ackerman heard the beating that led to Christina's death; but they said in this trial that Ackerman heard a different episode of Zile's rage against his stepdaughter.

Stoginnis, who owns the Singer Island apartment building where the Ziles lived, corroborated Ackerman's testimony but failed to establish an accurate time frame.

Stoginnis testified that Ackerman's mother complained to him that her daughter heard Zile screaming and beating the child. He estimated that was in August 1994.

Stoginnis also said he repaired an air conditioner at the Ziles' apartment after that time, and Christina was there, handing him screwdrivers as he worked.

At 3 p.m., the jury asked to hear Zile's 75-minute tape-recorded confession, then resumed deliberations until ending the day.

Ed O'Hara, one of Zile's defense attorneys, said he didn't know what to make of the jury's requests to review witness testimony and Zile's confession again.

"I would only be guessing," he said.

Should the jury choose to convict Zile on lesser charges, O'Hara said the defense still will file an appeal.

"He still can appeal, but they can't bring him back and give him life because he's already been sentenced" should his conviction be overturned, O'Hara said.

Pauline Zile, 25, was convicted in April 1995 of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse for failing to protect her daughter.

Her attorney, Richard Bartman, said on Wednesday he would not comment on whether the outcome of John Zile's trial would change his strategy in Pauline Zile's pending appeal.

But Jim Eisenberg, a West Palm Beach criminal lawyer, said a conviction for John Zile on lesser charges could influence her case.

"You could go to the governor and ask for clemency. The person who killed the child got a lesser [sentence)," Eisenberg said.

ZILE JURY LISTENS AGAIN TO HIS TAPED CONFESSION
Miami Herald, The (FL)
May 16, 1996
Author: Herald Palm Beach Bureau

Jurors in the John Zile murder trial spent nearly three hours Wednesday listening again to crucial testimony as they deliberated the fate of the 34-year-old Singer Island man.
At the end of the day, they hadn't reached a verdict, so Palm Beach Circuit Judge Roger Colton sequestered them for the night.

Zile is charged with first-degree murder and three counts of aggravated child abuse in the death of his stepdaughter Christina Holt. The eight women and four men on the jury asked to listen again to Zile's 75-minute-long taped confession.

Zile made the statement in October 1994 after police began suspecting that the missing-person report Zile and his wife Pauline had filed on Christina was a hoax. In it, he details the "punishment" he gave Christina for lying and soiling her pants. She went into a seizure, he said, and died after he beat her.

Jurors also asked to hear the testimony of two prosecution witnesses -- Zile's landlord and a neighbor who said she heard the beating. The two witnesses disagree on when the incident occurred.

MISTRIAL IN ZILE MURDER CASE
ONE JUROR SAYS NO TO 1ST-DEGREE COUNT
The Palm Beach Post
May 17, 1996
Author: VAL ELLICOTT
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

John Zile's trial ended with a deadlocked jury Thursday after a single juror steadfastly refused, through hours of pleading and yelling from other panel members, to convict Zile of first-degree murder.

The jurors deliberated about 9 1/2 hours over two days before telling Circuit Judge Roger Colton at 5 p.m., for the second time, that they were hopelessly divided.
Colton declared a mistrial.

By Thursday afternoon, 11 of the 12 jurors were convinced Zile had caused the death of his stepdaughter, Christina Holt, in 1994 and deserved a conviction on first-degree felony murder, even if it meant he would be sentenced to the electric chair, jurors said.

But juror Alison Boyden held firm to her position that Christina could have died as the result of something unrelated to anything Zile may have done, other jurors recalled.

"It got really bad," said juror Richard Guinazzo, of Lantana. "We had people standing up and yelling at her. A few people were getting very agitated."

Boyden, who lives in suburban Boca Raton, could not be reached for comment.

She called sheriff's deputies to her house about 8:30 p.m. to ward away reporters.

"She has no comment," one deputy said.

He said Boyden was upset other jurors had told the media of her decision not to convict Zile on first-degree murder charges. Television and newspaper reporters had knocked on her door at various times throughout the afternoon and early evening, the deputy said, and Boyden was upset with the amount of attention focused on her.

Jurors first announced at 2:30 p.m. that they were deadlocked. Colton instructed them to keep trying, but when the jury still hadn't announced a verdict after another two hours, defense attorneys and prosecutors suggested to Colton he might have to declare the trial over.

Retrial expected by July

\ Just as Colton seemed ready to announce a mistrial, the jurors sent him a second note saying they were still deadlocked, confirming the judge's sense that a mistrial was the only option.

Prosecutors Scott Cupp and Mary Ann Duggan said they are ready to retry Zile beginning next week.

"It's not a question of disappointment," Cupp said. "This is what we get paid to do."

Zile, 34, and his defense attorneys, Craig Wilson and Ed O'Hara, told Colton they are waiving their right to demand a retrial within 90 days. But O'Hara said Thursday night that the defense team should be ready for a second trial sooner than that - within 60 days.

In an interview Thursday night, Guinazzo said he at first agreed with Boyden that a first-degree murder conviction was unjustified. But he said other jurors persuaded him to change his mind after Colton asked the jury to work harder to break the deadlock.

All 12 jurors agreed Christina died by choking on her own vomit, Guinazzo said, but Boyden would not agree that Zile was definitely the cause.

Cupp and Duggan had argued that Zile was beating his stepdaughter the night she died. When the girl started to cry out, Zile put his hand over her mouth to silence her, which caused her to asphyxiate, the prosecutors said.

In that case, Zile committed first-degree felony murder, the prosecutors said, because he was committing a felony - aggravated child abuse - when Christina died.

Juror suggested accident

\ Ten of the jurors - all except Guinazzo and Boyden - agreed early in the deliberations to accept that scenario, jurors said.

"They were very stern about first-degree murder and would not look at anything else," Guinazzo said.

Those jurors believed Zile's weeks-long mistreatment of his stepdaughter at the family's Singer Island apartment left her so terrified that on Sept. 16, 1994, when Zile again became enraged with her, Christina vomited the tacos she had eaten for dinner. When Zile covered her mouth, Christina choked on the vomit and died.

"We all determined, and she (Boyden) agreed, that it was the vomitus that killed her," Guinazzo said. "Who or what made her vomit was the deciding question."

He said Boyden suggested several possibilities that Christina's death was an accident, as defense attorneys had argued.

"Alison said anything was possible - that she (Christina) could have had a cold, or maybe she just ate too many tacos," Guinazzo said.

Jurors said Boyden first argued for a manslaughter conviction. She agreed Thursday to second-degree murder but refused to go higher.

`Objective and cool'

\ The defense had argued that Christina died either from a seizure or from Zile's frantic but clumsy attempts to resuscitate her just after the seizure. And they said Zile did not "beat" his daughter, but spanked her when other forms of discipline had failed.

O'Hara said the defense will not change its approach when Zile goes on trial a second time.

"There was no medical evidence to support the state's position, so our approach has been to remain objective and cool, if you will, rather than get very emotional and deliver a dramatic closing argument," O'Hara said. "We encouraged the jurors to put their emotions aside."

The defense will argue again that Zile's trial should be moved outside Palm Beach County because of pretrial publicity, O'Hara said.

He said Zile is "emotionally drained, as we all are."

"He's clearly relieved that there wasn't a conviction," O'Hara said. "On the other hand, he has believed and has said from the very beginning that this (Christina's death) was an accident."

Dorothy Money, Christina's great-grandmother, said Thursday that both Zile and his wife, Pauline Zile, deserve death for their mistreatment of Christina.

Pauline Zile was convicted last year of first-degree murder for failing to intervene to prevent her daughter's death. She is serving life in prison without parole.

Money, who said she raised Christina before the girl moved to Florida to live with the Ziles, rebutted the case presented by Zile's attorneys that Christina was a disturbed child who was difficult to control.

Relative: `They hated her'

\ "That child never sassed or nothing," she said. "I brought her up to have manners and respect for people. They (the Ziles) beat her because they hated her and didn't want her there."

One juror, who asked not to be named, said most jurors agreed quickly that Christina's death was not an accident and that Zile was to blame, at least partly because Zile seemed totally indifferent to his stepdaughter both before and after her death.

"He didn't give a damn, you could tell," she said. "He didn't call 911. He left her body in the house, in a closet. He was only thinking about himself."

Juror Tracy Atkinson of Loxahatchee agreed that Zile's failure to call 911 worked strongly against him.

"We couldn't understand why 911 wasn't called," Atkinson said. "If a child goes into a seizure and stops breathing, why not call 911?"

The emotion Zile displayed on the witness stand - he wept during portions of his testimony - did not sway most jurors.

"There was no remorse in Mr. Zile's body," Atkinson said.

He noted Zile didn't cry in 1994 during the statement he gave after showing police where he had buried his stepdaughter's body. And Zile had mentioned to police that, before burying Christina behind a shopping center in Tequesta, he had watched Monday night football, jurors recalled.

"It was an act," the other, anonymous juror said of Zile's tears. "When he sat down he wasn't crying anymore. All the jurors thought that except one."

She also said there were major discrepancies between Zile's testimony at the trial and his taped statement to police on Oct. 28, 1994.

"We caught John in so many lies," the juror said. "His stories were totally different."

Jurors said Boyden endured intense pressure from other jurors.

"She was trying to get us to come down to second-degree murder," the anonymous juror recalled. "Everybody was cursing at her and she was crying."

Jurors also were to decide whether Zile was guilty on three counts of aggravated child abuse.

Boyden initially argued against convicting Zile of all of those counts because she recalled her own childhood punishments and felt the punishments Zile inflicted on Christina were no more severe, Guinazzo said.

But other jurors ultimately persuaded her to change her mind, he said.

Staff writers Mary Lou Pickel, William Howard and Jay Croft contributed to this report.

JURY'S FEAR OF DELIBERATION ORDER MAY HAVE LED TO MISTRIAL
Sun-Sentinel
May 17, 1996
Author: SCOTT GOLD Staff Writer

In lawyers' lingo it's called a "dynamite charge."

It comes after jurors are deadlocked but the judge orders them back into deliberations.

That dynamite charge was issued on Thursday to jurors in the murder and aggravated child abuse trial of John Zile. At 2:30 p.m. they announced to the judge that they were deadlocked, but by 3 p.m., Palm Beach County Circuit Court Judge Roger Colton had returned them to the jury room to deliberate more.

Two hours later, the judge declared a mistrial and sent the deadlocked jurors home
From the eye of the bench, a lengthy, high-profile murder trial is an enormous investment of valuable time and public resources. In theory, the attorneys trying the case agree. In practice, though, they know that pressuring a jury to reach a verdict is nothing short of a roll of the dice.

"What you worry about is that after the dynamite charge, somebody will feel pressure to do something that's not really in their conscience," said West Palm Beach attorney John Tierney. "They'll just do it to get it over with."

That fear may have led to a mistrial on Thursday. Legal experts said both the prosecution and the defense could see advantages in jointly requesting a mistrial. Zile, 34, was on trial for first-degree murder and three counts of aggravated child abuse in the Sept. 16, 1994, death of his stepdaughter, Christina Holt, 7.

Zile could have faced the death penalty.

It could still happen. But first, he faces another trial.

To the prosecution, a deadlocked jury indicates that the state is losing its grip on the ultimate prize: a first-degree murder conviction. Trying Zile a second time could improve prosecutors' chances of a first-degree murder conviction, largely because they have seen Zile's defense and can better piece together their attack.

"Now maybe they can [rebut) the defense better," said West Palm Beach attorney James Eisenberg.

For Zile's defense team, on the other hand, it's more simple: A hung jury is better than a conviction, and can be considered a victory, albeit a temporary one. What's more, while attorneys on both sides fear the dynamite charge issued to Zile's jury on Thursday afternoon, studies show that when a dynamite charge is issued, a jury is more likely to return with a conviction than an acquittal, said Jane Fishman, an assistant professor at Nova Southeastern University in Broward County.

"If a juror says, `We're hopelessly deadlocked,' forcing them to continue would be inviting a verdict," Fishman said.

But a temporary victory for the defense doesn't necessarily mean an advantage for Zile himself.

Even though the jury deadlocked 11 to 1 to convict John Zile of first-degree murder, the possibility still exists for Zile in his next trial to receive a lesser penalty than his wife, Pauline.

Pauline Zile, 25, watched as her daughter was beaten, fell into convulsions and died. She was convicted last year of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse for failing to protect her child - for not standing in the way, essentially, while her husband administered the beating that led to the child's death.

Legal experts have said that Pauline Zile's attorney, Ellis Rubin, rushed the case into the courtroom and never sold his argument that she was merely an innocent bystander. Pauline Zile's jury unanimously agreed on the decision to convict her of first-degree murder. Pauline Zile was sentenced to life in prison.

But John Zile - the one accused of actually beating the child - could be convicted of lesser charges of second-degree murder, third-degree murder or manslaughter. And he could spend significantly less time behind bars than his wife.

Legal experts disagree, though, on whether the mistrial improves the chances of John Zile's sentence - if he gets one at all - being less than Pauline Zile's.

For the defense, Tierney said, "It's a victory to have a hung jury."

Others aren't sure the mistrial gives Zile a leg up on prosecutors.

The prosecution, for example, could use the second trial to recover from a poor jury selection or a tactical error made with a witness, Fishman said.

DEADLOCKED ZILE JURY PRODUCES A MISTRIAL
JURORS `VERY UPSET' AS ONE HOLDS OUT FOR 2ND-DEGREE
Sun-Sentinel
May 17, 1996
Author: MIKE FOLKS and STEPHANIE SMITH Staff Writers

A mistrial was declared on Thursday in the murder and child abuse trial of John Zile after a frustrated jury deadlocked 11 to 1 for first-degree murder.

The lone juror bought the defense argument that the death of Zile's stepdaughter was an accident and held out for a second-degree murder conviction.

By note, the jury announced it was hopelessly deadlocked shortly before 5 p.m.

The note came just as Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Roger Colton was planning to call jurors into the courtroom to announce a mistrial at the request of prosecutors and defense attorneys
Zile, 34 - as well as the rest of the spectators in the courtroom - remained stoic as the judge declared the mistrial and Assistant State Attorney Scott Cupp said the state was ready to retry him as soon as possible.

Zile, who has a right to be retried within 90 days of his mistrial, waived that right, allowing the defense more time to prepare for a second trial.

Colton set no date for the retrial of Zile, who once again will face charges of first-degree murder and three counts of aggravated child abuse in the Sept. 16, 1994, death of his stepdaughter, Christina Holt, 7.

If convicted in the child's death, Zile faces a possible death sentence.

On Thursday, deliberations broke down about 2:30 p.m. when the jury of eight women and four men announced it was having trouble reaching a verdict.

Colton delivered a "jury deadlock charge," telling the jurors to resume deliberations and discuss the "weaknesses in your positions" in hope of reaching a unanimous verdict.

After three hours of no word from jurors, defense and prosecutors decided to take matters into their own hands and jointly requested mistrial.

Juror Calandra M. Hall, 19, of West Palm Beach, said she and the other 11 jurors had attempted to reach a unanimous verdict when they were ordered back into the jury room at 3 p.m., but one female juror stood in the way.

"Eleven jurors voted for first-degree felony murder and guilty on all three aggravated child abuse charges. One voted for second-degree murder and guilty on all the aggravated child abuse charges," Hall said.

"Everybody was mad - very mad, very upset," Hall said. "We were trying to convince her since [Wednesday)," when the jury began deliberations.

Hall said the jury requested numerous rehearings of trial testimony and once again listened to Zile's confession to try to persuade the holdout juror to budge.

"She didn't believe [Zile) did it intentionally, that it was an accident. [Christina) was just throwing up and she choked on her vomit," Hall said of the holdout juror. "We believed that even if [Zile) didn't kill her, he was the cause of her death," she said.

The dissenting juror could not be reached for comment Thursday night at her Boca Raton home.

Just before the jury finally announced deliberations had come to a standstill, Hall said the mood in the jury room turned ugly.

"We were like, `Forget it,'" Hall said. "They were cursing at each other. It just got out of hand."

Juror Tracy Alan Atkinson, 35, of Loxahatchee, confirmed the 11 to 1 deadlock, but declined to discuss the mood of deliberations in the jury room.

"I'm very upset about it," Atkinson said of the mistrial. "I've spent a lot of time on this. I know I did the right thing," he said.

Thursday's mistrial was an anti-climactic development in the trial that began April 29.

It also comes more than one year after Zile's wife, Pauline, 25, was sentenced to life in prison following her convictions of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse for failing to protect her daughter.

In John Zile's trial, prosecutors maintained that Zile beat Christina while he was questioning her about the girl's claims that she had been sexually abused while living with relatives in Maryland.

As Zile beat the girl on the buttocks and about the face, she collapsed into convulsions and choked to death on her vomit. He then hid her body in a closet for four days before burying it behind a Kmart in Tequesta.

But the defense countered that Christina suffered a seizure as Zile was disciplining her, causing her to asphyxiate. A second theory - that Zile asphyxiated the girl while trying to revive her by pushing on her stomach and then doing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation - was also offered by the defense.

Assistant State Attorney Scott Cupp said the prosecution and the defense decided late Thursday to ask the judge to consider declaring a mistrial because they sensed the jury would remain deadlocked.

"It's not that we wanted a mistrial. [The prosecution) has a dual function. It's not just to convict people, but we are to make sure justice is reached and make sure a defendant's rights are protected. Any verdict [the jury) may have reached would be considered suspect," Cupp said.

Zile attorney Ed O'Hara said in an interview on WFLX-Ch. 29 that the mistrial was "not a victory or a defeat."

Still, O'Hara said, on the positive side, Zile was not convicted - especially in light of the overwhelming public sentiment that his client was guilty.

Given the 11-to-1 vote to convict his client of first-degree murder, O'Hara was glad that he agreed to join prosecutors in asking for a mistrial. Still, he said, "prosecutors may have underestimated the strength of his case."

Despite the mistrial, Cupp said the state has no intention of offering Zile a plea deal. "If the court would allow us, we'd start picking a jury tomorrow," he said.

On Thursday, legal experts praised the efforts of Zile's defense attorneys in defending their client.

Assistant Public Defender Iola Mosely, one of Zile's original defense attorneys, said she was encouraged by the defense team's performance.

"I never thought this was a first-degree murder trial. Everybody reacts emotionally - particularly when a child dies. [Zile) is no monster. He's a human being and I think the jury got a chance to see a part of that," Mosely said.

Anthony Natale, a West Palm Beach defense lawyer, said Zile's defense attorneys had an uphill battle from the start, given the circumstances around Christina's death and the Ziles' concocted tale that she had been kidnapped from the Swap Shop west of Fort Lauderdale.

"You get a case like this, the challenge to the defense lawyer is what do you do when you get a client who is so unpopular," Natale said. "They've taken an unpopular case and they've conducted themselves like gentlemen. They took the case seriously and did a fine job."

Natale stopped short of calling the mistrial a defense victory. "I think in a case like this, there is never a victory. A child died. It's always a tragedy," he said.

Assistant State Attorney Ellen Roberts, a member of the prosecution team in the rape trial of William Kennedy Smith, said it is unusual for both sides to ask for a mistrial.

"I don't think I've ever seen that before and I've had my share of mistrials," said Roberts, who has been prosecuting cases for nearly a decade.

1 JUROR CAUSES MISTRIAL FOR ZILE
HE'LL BE RETRIED IN CHRISTINA'S DEATH
Miami Herald, The (FL)
May 17, 1996
Author: LORI ROZSA Herald Staff Writer

Swayed by a taped confession, a bruised corpse and testimony of sadistic punishment, 11 jurors judged John Zile guilty of first-degree murder.
But it takes 12, and that 12th juror steadfastly believed Zile was guilty of second-degree murder, leading to a mistrial Thursday in one of South Florida's most disturbing child-abuse cases.

The case -- which included painfully graphic descriptions of 7-year-old Christina Holt's final weeks of life in an abusive household -- will have to be tried again.

"We're ready to try the case again tomorrow if the judge would allow us," said Scott Cupp, Palm Beach County prosecutor.

Jurors said emotions ran high in the two days they considered Zile's fate and from the beginning it was an 11-1 standoff, with one woman holding her ground against the majority.

"She didn't believe he murdered her intentionally," juror Calandra Hall said of the hold-out juror. "She said she'd deal with second-degree murder, but we said, we're not changing our minds. They were pretty mad."

The holdout juror did not return phone calls to The Herald.

Hall said none of the other jurors accepted Zile's tearful assertion that Christina died accidentally from a seizure.

"In all honesty, I didn't buy his crying act on the stand," said another juror, Tracy Atkinson. "He was too evasive."

Notification of deadlock

The eight women and four men on the jury first notified the judge that they were deadlocked at 2:30 p.m. Thursday, a day and a half after they began deliberations. Colton asked them to go back and try again.

Two hours later, the state joined the defense in asking for a mistrial. A moment after Colton granted the request, the jury
sent in another note: Still deadlocked.

"It's not that we wanted a mistrial," Cupp said.

"I know no one believes this, but we have a dual function: It's not just to convict people, but it's to make sure justice is done, and it became very clear that this jury was hopelessly deadlocked and any verdict they would have reached, even if it had been first-degree murder, would have been called into question."

Cupp said he's ready to re-try Zile, but Judge Colton's calendar is booked through June.

Defense attorney Ed O'Hara said the deadlock reflected what he said in his closing statement.

"A lack of evidence to show aggravated child abuse and murder," O'Hara said. "And the fact that the state tried to appeal to their emotions to convict John."

A powerful closing

Cupp and prosecutor Mary Ann Duggan gave a dramatic closing argument. They said Zile used Christina as "a punching bag," and treated her like garbage.

Duggan called her "a petite, little girl," "an itty-bitty girl," up against "this angry adult."

Christina weighed only 39 pounds, she told the jurors, and stood only three feet, seven inches tall. In the three months she lived with Zile and her mother, Pauline Zile, she was frequently disciplined for what Zile said was lying and disruptive behavior.

Her grandparents had raised her in Maryland until they sent her to Singer Island to live with the Ziles. In October 1994, South Florida was sent into a panic over the heart-wrenching story Pauline and John Zile told -- that their little girl had disappeared from the Swap Shop in Fort Lauderdale.

For days, police and the public searched for Christina. But then, police found blood in the Zile apartment.

The hoax fell apart, and both Ziles confessed -- Christina had died while Zile was disciplining her a month earlier. He buried her behind a Kmart in Tequesta in northern Palm Beach County.

Pauline Zile convicted

Pauline Zile was convicted of first-degree murder and child abuse last year and is serving a life sentence. Juror Atkinson thinks John Zile should face the same fate for what he did to Christina.

"He had her scared to death," Atkinson said. Hall agreed.

"Hopefully they'll pick some jurors who will convict him of first-degree murder," she said.

"He's a murderer, and he deserves to be in jail. He will get convicted next time."

Herald staff writer Phil Long contributed to this report.