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Thread: Charles Holifield Sentenced to LWOP in 1998 CA Murder of Christina Marie Williams

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    Charles Holifield Sentenced to LWOP in 1998 CA Murder of Christina Marie Williams






    PRISONER TO BE CHARGED WITH 1998 KILLING OF 13-YEAR-OLD GIRL

    An imprisoned rapist will be charged with killing a 13-year-old California girl who vanished while walking her dog nearly two decades ago, a prosecutor announced Thursday.

    Charles Holifield will be charged on April 14 with murder and kidnapping for purposes of sexual assault, Monterey County District Attorney Dean Flippo announced.

    The murder charge will include special circumstances of kidnapping and committing lewd acts on a child, which could make him eligible for the death penalty if convicted.

    Holifield, 56, is serving a life sentence for attempted kidnapping at Valley State Prison in Chowchilla. It may take several weeks to extradite him to face charges in Monterey County, Flippo said at a news conference.

    Holifield is suspected of killing Christina Marie Williams, who vanished while walking her dog on June 12, 1998 in her Seaside neighborhood on what was the former Fort Ord Army base.

    The dog, Greg, was found near home within the hour, his leash dragging.

    A sweeping search for the 13-year-old began. Singer Mariah Carey and baseball legend Reggie Jackson make public pleas for anyone with information about the girl to come forward.

    Seven months after she vanished, an ecological surveyor found Christina's scattered skeletal remains on a small University of California nature preserve three miles from the Williams home.

    "I've been praying to God to bring back Christina," her mother, Alice Williams, said at the time. "Now I'm praying to God that whoever took our daughter will get caught. You know who you are."

    No arrests were made, despite involvement by various law enforcement agencies and volunteers and a $100,000 reward offer by the FBI for information leading to a conviction.

    Christina's death "really touched a raw nerve in this community," Flippo said.

    Holifield, who had lived on the Monterey Peninsula, was considered a suspect almost from the beginning of the investigation but prosecutors lacked evidence to bring a case to trial, authorities said.

    However, a cold-case unit reexamined evidence from 19 years of investigation and prosecutors now have a DNA match between Holifield and evidence in the case, Flippo said.

    "There's strong DNA evidence," he said but declined to be specific.

    "We feel that we are in a position now, ethically, to forward" with a prosecution, Flippo said

    Holifield has two previous convictions for raping two teenage girls and is serving a "three strikes" life sentence for the attempted kidnapping of a woman in Marina.

    That attempt took place in September 1998, three months after Christina disappeared.

    http://abc7chicago.com/news/prisoner...-girl/1845948/
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    Holifield appears defiant in Monterey County courtroom

    By Caitlin Conrad
    KSBW 8

    SALINAS, Calif. — Convicted rapist Charles Holifield was arraigned on first-degree murder charges Tuesday for the 1998 murder of Christina Williams.

    The prisoner is currently serving 25 to life for prior convictions and plead not guilty to first degree murder, sexual assault, and kidnapping at his arraignment this week.

    Holifield appeared defiant in court holding up his middle finger to the room where friends and family of Christina had shown up for the proceedings.

    "For him to do that is just a blatant hit in the gut, especially because we are here to represent the family and Christina, you know the voice that we can't hear because she is gone," said family friend Megan Ruiz-Ignacio.

    Christina was just 13-years-old went she went missing The teen was walking the family dog in her Fort Ord neighborhood when she disappeared, the dog returning home without the girl.

    The child's remains were found seven months later in the same area where she went missing. Holifield was long suspected in her death but representatives with the Monterey County District Attorney's Office said it took until this year to get enough evidence file charges.

    "We have legal guidelines for filing charges and we proceed on those charges that we feel confident on," said prosecutor Jeannine Pacioni after the arraignment.

    At an April press conference law enforcement announced new DNA testing done by the Monterey Peninsula Cold Case Unit linked Holifield to the death of Christina.

    The charges filed against Holifield on Tuesday include two special circumstance charges including sexual assault of a minor and kidnapping for the purpose of assaulting a minor.

    Shortly after Christina's death, Holifield was arrested for the attempted kidnapping of a Marina teen at gunpoint. He also has a prior conviction for the rape of a 14-year-old Monterey girl in the early 1980s.

    Pacioni said because of his prior convictions, Holifield could face the death penalty in this case. It will be up to District Attorney Dean Flippo to make that decision.

    "He takes into consideration the evidence in the case, he takes into consideration meeting with the victim's family, he'll take into consideration anything the defense wants to present," she said.

    The decision to seek the death penalty will not be made until after a preliminary hearing set for June 28th.

    In the meantime, Holifield is being housed at the California Department of Corrections at the Correctional Training Facility in Soledad. He was moved to the prison from his cell in Chowchilla a few weeks ago.

    Ruiz-Ignacio, a family friend of Christina's parents, said seeing him in Monterey County was not easy.

    "This was an eerie, eerie, feeling to sit that close to somebody who is responsible for the abduction and murder," she said.

    Christina's mom and dad, Alice and Michael Williams, moved away from the Central Coast after their daughter's murder. The two re-located first to Florida and are now traveling the country in their RV raising money for the Missing Children's Fund.

    http://www.ksbw.com/article/holifiel...rtroom/9628789
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    Holifield headed to trial for murder of Christina Williams after preliminary hearing

    By Jim Johnson
    The Monterey Herald

    Salinas - Nearly 20 years after the brutal slaying of 13-year-old Christina Williams, her suspected killer Charles Holifield is headed to trial.

    On Tuesday, Monterey County Superior Court Judge Pamela Butler ordered Holifield to stand trial after a preliminary hearing on charges that he kidnapped and murdered the Seaside teenager in the summer of 1998.

    Assistant District Attorney Jeannine Pacioni said prosecutors are pleased to be moving ahead on the long-running case.

    “We’re excited the case is moving forward and looking forward to the trial,” Pacioni said. “It has been a long time.”

    Williams disappeared on the evening of June 12, 1998 while walking her dog near her home on Fort Ord, triggering a massive search after the dog returned trailing its leash, alone.

    The Fitch Middle School student’s remains weren’t discovered until seven months later near Imjin Road.

    It took nearly two decades before authorities felt they had enough evidence to arrest and charge Holifield, who was a suspect early on in the investigation. The case hinges on a match involving DNA extracted by the Justice Department after a Monterey County cold case team requested re-testing of physical evidence during a 2016 review.

    In addition to first-degree murder, prosecutors have charged Holifield with special circumstances including kidnapping and lewd acts on a child.

    Pacioni said the case will proceed to a Feb. 23 hearing on further arraignment on the information when the judge is expected to set pre-trial hearings and a trial date.

    Holifield, 56, is currently serving a third-strike sentence of 25 years to life in prison for kidnapping and making criminal threats against a woman in September 1998, and was previously convicted or sexually assaulting two teenage girls, and suspected of raping a third, between 1979 and 1983 on Fort Ord.

    http://www.montereyherald.com/articl...NEWS/180119869

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    Death penalty sought for accused Christina Williams killer Charles Holifield

    SALINAS, Calif. — Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against the man accused of kidnapping and killing Christina Williams.

    In court Wednesday, Charles Holifield made a brief court appearance where he was flanked by security. Prosecutors announced they will seek the death penalty and will be back in court August 22nd to set a jury trial date.

    Holifield, 57, is a convicted rapist and kidnapper who is serving time in prison for sexual assaults against women.

    In April 2017, the Monterey County District Attorney announced that there was strong DNA evidence linking Holifield to the girl's death.

    In 1998, a 13-year-old Seaside girl, Christina Marie Williams, vanished from her neighborhood on the former Fort Ord Army base while walking her dog. Her parents held out hope for seven months until her skeletal remains were found in thick brush, not far from where she disappeared.

    http://www.ksbw.com/article/bodycam-...train/22545111
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    August 23, 2018

    Holifield murder case to begin October 2019, 21 years after Christina Williams went missing

    By Tom Wright
    Monterey Herald

    Salinas - The first-degree murder trial of Charles Holifield in the kidnapping and death of Christina Williams will begin Oct. 7, 2019, 21 years after the 13-year-old girl disappeared while walking her dog near her home on Fort Ord.

    Jeannine Pacioni, an assistant Monterey County district attorney and the district attorney-elect, said the trial will not begin for more than a year in part because the DA’s Office will pursue the death penalty. If Holifield were to be found guilty, the jury would then have to decide if Holifield’s sentence will be capital punishment or life in prison.

    “In that situation, we would present evidence of aggravation and the defense would try and produce evidence of mitigation,” she said.

    Pacioni said delays generally do not benefit the prosecution or the community.

    “The defense needed additional time because of the magnitude of the issue, which is the possibility of a death penalty verdict,” Pacioni said. “So they need time to prepare their defense of the case. We’ve already put on our case. We did that knowing that we needed to prove it at the prelim to get it past the preliminary hearing stage.”

    While Pacioni said the DA’s Office is “in a good spot” in terms of handling the evidence of the trial, there will be a change in the prosecution team because of the June 5 election. Pacioni was elected as district attorney in an uncontested race and will be seated in January, replacing retiring DA Dean Flippo.

    “This case does require a lot of time and attention and with my taking on the new role as an elected district attorney in January, I would not be able to give the case the kind of attention it needs,” Pacioni said. “So we have assigned a second prosecutor to the trial to replace me.”

    Lindsey O’Shea will be the lead prosecutor for the trial and Matthew L’Heureux will continue serving as the second chair on the prosecution team, Pacioni said. L’Heureux worked in the same position in the Gonzalo Curiel murder trial. As in the Curiel trial, Judge Pamela Butler will preside over the Holifield trial.

    Holifield, 57, faces charges of kidnapping and lewd acts on a child in addition to first-degree murder. He is currently serving a third-strike sentence of 25 years to life in prison for kidnapping and making criminal threats against a woman in September 1998. He is serving his time at the state prison Correctional Training Facility in Soledad. Holifield was convicted of raping two teenage girls, and he was suspected of raping a third, between 1979 and 1983. He was convicted for an assault with intent to commit rape charge from 1980. All of the attacks took place on Fort Ord.

    Christina, a Fitch Middle School student, vanished about 7:40 p.m. June 12, 1998, while walking her dog near her home on Fort Ord. Her mother spotted the dog walking alone, with the leash still attached, within 45 minutes. Despite massive searches of the area, it was not until seven months later that a plant surveyor stumbled upon Christina’s remains on property near Imjin Road.

    The DA’s Office filed charges against Holifield in April 2017 after a match was made on DNA extracted by the Justice Department. A Monterey County cold case team requested items of physical evidence be retested after looking for new leads and re-examining crime scene evidence in 2016.

    Holifield’s next scheduled court appearance is Oct. 10 for further pretrial discussions and setting of pretrial motions.

    https://www.montereyherald.com/2018/...-went-missing/

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    September 3, 2019

    Charles Holifield murder trial moved to March 2020

    By Tom Wright
    Monterey Herald

    SALINAS — Citing issues with missing or mislabeled documents Tuesday, Judge Pamela Butler pushed back the murder trial of Charles Holifield on the 1998 kidnapping and death of 13-year-old Christina Williams from next month to March of next year.

    According to Deputy District Attorney Lindsey O’Shea, an issue arose Aug. 20 when Holifield’s defense attorneys let the prosecution know in an email it was missing about 60,000 pages of documents.

    “This is in a case where we have about 200,000 pages of discovery so far,” O’Shea said.

    The two sides worked together to figure out what documents Jeremy Dzubay and Michael Belter with the Monterey County Public Defender’s Office were missing. According to O’Shea, when the documents came over from the FBI it had a lot of duplicated pages. Some pages ended up getting different numbers in the Bates system, which is used for labeling in legal, medical and business documents.

    O’Shea said she winnowed the number of pages of documents the defense was missing down to about 20,000 after accounting for duplicates. But with the trial set to start early next month, prosecutors, the defense and the judge agreed it would be best to postpone the trial to ensure the defense can get all of the discovery documents and be fully prepared.

    In addition to those documents, O’Shea said the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office received an email Tuesday morning from the FBI indicating they were going to send additional documents.

    “We had been under the impression that we had everything from them,” O’Shea said.

    Given the time it will take for the person tasked with organizing the documents as well as the time the defense will need to review them, the sides agreed to move the start of the trial to March 2, 2020. In part, because the DA’s Office announced it will pursue the death penalty, O’Shea said the prosecution wants to make sure to do its due diligence before the start of the trial.

    “We want to be as sure as possible that when we get a conviction in this case, that it is bulletproof,” she said.

    Christina Williams, a Fitch Middle School student, vanished about 7:40 p.m. June 12, 1998, while walking her dog near her home on Fort Ord. Her mother spotted the dog walking alone with the leash still attached within 45 minutes. Despite massive searches of the area, it was not until seven months later that a plant surveyor stumbled upon Christina’s remains near Imjin Road.

    Holifield, 58, faces charges including first-degree murder with special circumstances for kidnapping and sexual assault. The Monterey County District Attorney’s Office plans on pursuing the death penalty if Holifield is found guilty.

    Holifield is currently serving a third-strike sentence of 25 years to life in prison for attempted kidnapping and making criminal threats against a woman in September 1998. Holifield also was convicted of sexually assaulting or raping two teenage girls, and he was suspected of raping a third, between 1979 and 1983. All the attacks took place on Fort Ord.

    O’Shea said she spoke with Michael Williams, Christina’s father, Tuesday morning and informed him of the new trial date.

    “Of course there’s disappointment, but he understands the need to be sure the conviction is final,” O’Shea said.

    Holifield will return to court Oct. 17 for rulings on additional motions.

    https://www.montereyherald.com/2019/...to-march-2020/

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    Prosecutors won’t seek death penalty for accused killer of Christina Williams

    By Josh Copitch
    KSBW News

    SALINAS, Calif. — Prosecutors will not seek the death penalty for Charles Holifield, the man accused of kidnapping and killing 13-year-old Christina Williams in 1998.

    In exchange for the death penalty being taken off the table, Holifield waived for his agreement to waive his right to a jury trial and his rights to state and federal writs and appeals.

    Holifield will face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole when he faces trial in March, 2020.

    In April 2017, the Monterrey County District Attorney accounted, there was strong DNA evidence linking Holifield to the 13-year-old's death. In 1998, Christina Marie Williams, vanished from her neighborhood on the former Fort Ord Army base while walking her dog. Her parents held out hope for seven months until her skeletal remains were found in thick brush, not far from where she disappeared.

    According to the District Attorney's Office, they entered the agreement after consulting with the Williams family, who expressed their desire for closure and finality of the judgment in their daughter’s case.

    https://www.ksbw.com/article/prosecu...liams/30185131
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    Judge finds Charles Holifield guilty in the 1998 murder of Christina Williams

    By Tom Wright
    Monterey Herald

    SALINAS — Judge Pamela Butler on Friday found Charles Holifield guilty of kidnapping, raping and killing Christina Williams, more than 21 years after the 13-year-old disappeared while walking her dog in a military neighborhood in Seaside.

    “The defendant will spend the rest of his life in prison with no relief,” Butler said to the courtroom after sentencing Holifield to life in prison without the possibility of parole. She said the evidence showed the death of the girl was clearly a homicide and “the DNA evidence is overwhelmingly convincing and persuasive.”

    Holifield was a suspect early in the investigation and was interviewed repeatedly. Witnesses testified Holifield grew up in Fort Ord and knew the area well. He would go fishing in a pond not far from where Christine Williams was kidnapped. While Holifield denied having any involvement in the disappearance and death of the girl, he could not provide an alibi. A year after the crime, his girlfriend’s mother provided an alibi that Holifield was at her home watching TV the night of the crime. His girlfriend later provided that same alibi and gave it during the trial, though she recanted in 2011 saying she only provided it before out of fear of Holifield.

    Christina Williams’ father, Michael, sat in on the trial with his wife, Alice. He said they think about Christina and miss her every day. Williams said to reporters after the verdict was read that he was expecting a guilty verdict.

    “What’s really nice is the fact that it’s over,” he said. “This is the end and no appeals. So this is the last we’re going to hear about this case and the last we’re going to hear about Charles Holifield.”

    His wife fought back tears to read her prepared statement in court. Alice Williams said Holifield should be locked up forever so no more innocent children are murdered.

    “Our lives have changed forever,” she said.

    Michael Williams said the family is ready to move on after the guilty verdict.

    “In that 20 years, we have kind of went back to our lives,” he said. “We still remember Christina all the time, but we had gotten back to it and now we were taken back 20 years.”

    Christina Williams, a Fitch Middle School student, disappeared about 7:40 p.m. June 12, 1998, while walking her dog near her home on Fort Ord. Her mother spotted the dog walking alone with the leash still attached within 45 minutes. Despite massive searches of the area, it was not until seven months later that a plant surveyor stumbled upon Christina’s remains hidden under branches near Imjin Road.

    “Christina went missing around the time that my family moved to the area,” said Lindsey O’Shea, one of the prosecutors. “We moved to Fort Ord, the CSUMB housing, so this hit us hard then. … I just hope this does something to alleviate the pain of the family.”

    The Monterey County District Attorney’s Office filed first-degree murder charges with special circumstances for kidnapping and sexual assault in the death of Christina Williams against Holifield in April 2017 after a Monterey County cold case team requested items of physical evidence be retested after looking for new leads and re-examining crime scene evidence in 2016.

    Jeannine Pacioni prosecuted the case in the early stages before being elected Monterey County district attorney in 2018. She said the evidence supported the verdict.

    “I’m saddened he won’t get the ultimate penalty, because I do believe it’s justified in this case,” she said. “I’m hopeful the family can try and move forward now.

    The DA’s Office said it would pursue the death penalty in 2018. But then in March 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order creating a moratorium on the death penalty. Although prosecutors kept the death penalty on the table, the DA’s Office later spoke with the Williams family, who expressed a desire for closure and finality of the matter. In December, the DA’s Office announced it would drop the potential of capital punishment in the case in exchange for Holifield waiving his rights to a jury trial and his rights to writs and appeals, which terminated the appellate process resulting in a swift and final judgment.

    Holifield, 59, is currently serving a third-strike sentence of 25 years to life in prison at the Correctional Training Facility in Soledad for attempted kidnapping and making criminal threats against a woman in September 1998. Holifield was convicted of sexually assaulting or raping two teenage girls, and he was suspected of raping a third, between 1979 and 1983.

    His two previous sexual assault convictions involved him attacking, strangling and raping teenage girls walking alone on the Monterey Peninsula. Both victims provided testimony at the trial.

    After sticking up his middle finger to the members of the media and the public gathered at his arraignment in 2017, Holifield was far more subdued during the trial. He showed little emotion as the verdict was read. When the judge asked him if he wanted to speak, Holifield shook his head and softly replied: “No.”

    The two sides provided their closing arguments in the morning before Butler went into her deliberation and returned a verdict shortly after 1:30 p.m.

    Defense attorney Jeremy Dzubay did his best to poke holes in the prosecution’s case, explaining nobody ever saw Holifield or his vehicles in the area the night of the crime. He said after the FBI’s investigation ran into a dead-end, agents concluded they needed a confession to end the case.

    “You can see the evolution of (witness) statements after they’re visited by the FBI,” Dzubay said.

    The defense pointed to what it believed were missteps in the FBI’s handling of evidence.

    “This case wouldn’t be here without DNA evidence,” Dzubay said.

    The prosecution attempted to refute the defense’s claims, explaining what the FBI simply missed in its DNA tests of the underwear taken from Christina’s remains the California Department of Justice lab found years later.

    “The sperm was missed by the FBI, not planted,” O’Shea said.

    In explaining her verdict, Butler clearly agreed with the prosecution.

    “There are no questions about the chain of possession of evidence,” she said.

    Butler found Holifield guilty of first-degree murder of Christina Williams and also found true two special-circumstance allegations that the murder was committed during the commission of kidnapping and the commission of a lewd and lascivious act on a child under the age of 14. She also convicted Holifield of kidnapping Christina with the intent to commit rape, and she found allegations that he was a habitual sexual offender who had suffered four prior strikes under California’s three-strikes law true.

    Explaining she’s been part of the criminal justice system for 25 years dating back to her time as a prosecutor, Butler said she had been thinking a lot about this case and told the parents they can’t second guess their actions the night Christina disappeared, telling them innocent people are hurt all the time and there is often no rhyme or reason to crime.

    “There’s absolutely nothing you could have done differently that day, any day before or any day after,” she said.

    Both the prosecution and the Williams family said the day felt almost surreal due to the COVID-19 pandemic that closed most of the courthouse besides the trial in recent days.

    “(The pandemic) was discussed, but this case has been going on for so long and the family was just hoping for a verdict,” O’Shea said. “To tell them it’s indefinitely postponed, just, we all decided that we need to push through it.”

    Michael Williams thanked the FBI, the local police, prosecutors and the community in Monterey County for their support. In the months before her body was found, the community organized search parties for Christina and the FBI testified during the trial that it received 10,000 tips from people seeking justice for the family.

    “I never expected the amount of support from Monterey County and the community. … I don’t know how we would have gotten through it without the people of Monterey County,” he said.

    https://www.montereyherald.com/2020/...na-williams-2/

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