High court upholds death sentence in Lumpkin Co. murder case

By Staff

Posted 11:42AM on Monday, February 16, 2015

ATLANTA - The Georgia Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence given to Steven Frederick Spears in Lumpkin County for strangling to death his former girlfriend nearly 14 years ago. Sherri Holland was found dead, padlocked in the bedroom of her home on August 26, 2001. She had been strangled to death, according to an autopsy. Spears was found several days later by police, walking down Highway 52 at the Lumpkin-Hall County line. At the time, authorities said he confessed to the murder, saying he had developed four different plans for killing Holland. Spears was found guilty and sentenced to death in March 2007. His attorneys argued before the high court that the trial court made errors in the case, but the justices disagreed and the murder conviction and death sentence stand. The Supreme Court of Georgia handed down its decision Monday morning. The following information was issued Monday on the Spears case: In today's unanimous opinion, Justice Keith Blackwell writes for the court that the evidence presented at trial "was sufficient to authorize a rational trier of fact to find beyond a reasonable doubt that Spears was guilty of the crimes of which he was convicted." At the same time, the high court has thrown out the trial court's decision to merge the two burglary counts into one for sentencing purposes, finding that the two charges related to two separate crimes, not just one. It is sending that issue back to the trial court with directions to enter a sentence on the burglary count for which Spears has not yet been sentenced. According to the facts of the case, Spears and Holland had dated but their romantic relationship had ended when, on Aug. 24, 2001, Holland's 13-year-old son left her home to spend the weekend with his father. Her family members became concerned, however, when she failed to pick up her son as expected at the end of his stay. On Aug. 26, after trying several times to reach her by telephone, Holland's ex-husband and son drove to her house. When they didn't see her car, they left, wondering if she was just running late. Eventually, her ex-husband called police. When officers entered Holland's home, they detected a strong odor of decaying flesh coming from the master bedroom, which was locked with a padlock. After removing the door hinges, police found Holland's decomposing body lying face down on the floor with her head on a pillow. A black garbage bag was secured around her head with duct tape. Duct tape also covered her mouth and was wrapped around her face, hands and feet. Items were scattered about the bedroom, indicating there had been a struggle. The room was very hot, as the air conditioner had been set at 85 degrees. The medical examiner testified Holland died from asphyxia consistent with having been strangled. She also had a hemorrhage on the surface of her skull, suggesting she'd been struck with a fist, and she had numerous abrasions on her knee and chin consistent with a struggle. The medical examiner testified that the plastic garbage bag and duct tape across her mouth may have cut off oxygen and contributed to her death. Following the discovery of her body, police issued an alert for her missing 2001 red Camaro with black stripes, which was found two days later at Belton Bridge Park in Hall County, about 25 miles from her home. Inside was a K-Mart receipt showing that a fishing license, red spray paint, a ball cap and fishing gear had been purchased in Cornelia, GA the morning of Aug. 25. An investigation revealed that Spears had purchased the items. On Sept. 5, 2001, a Lumpkin County officer found a disheveled Spears walking down Highway 52 near the county line. The officer later testified the man matched the description of the man wanted for Holland's murder, so he stopped and arrested him. The officer did not read him his Miranda rights before transporting him back to the Sheriff's Office, but en route Spears made several statements, telling the officer he knew a warrant had probably been issued for his arrest and he was walking to a nearby store to call police so he could turn himself in. He said he'd been living in the woods the past 10 days in a deer stand in Lula, GA, and he believed police officers dressed in camouflage had chased him through the woods. At the Lumpkin County Sheriff's Office, Spears was read his Miranda rights, but he waived them and confessed he had murdered Holland. He said they had dated about three years and broken up several months earlier. He said he thought she was seeing someone else and he had once threatened her, "if I caught her or found out she was screwin' somebody else, I'd choke her ass to death." Spears confessed he had developed four separate plans for murdering Holland. One involved electrocuting her while she was in the shower. Spears explained that he went under the crawl space, placed screws in the shower's pipes, and planned to connect them to the home's circuit breaker. The second plan involved beating her with a homemade bat he'd carved from a tree and hidden in a canoe at her home. The third involved shooting her with her shotgun, which he'd secretly loaded the Friday night before the murder. And the fourth plan, the one he actually followed, was to strangle her. He said the night before he murdered Holland, he broke into her home through a vent area in the basement crawl space, then hid in her son's bedroom closet and waited more than four hours for her to return home and fall asleep. At about 2:30 a.m., he went into her bedroom and told her to roll over. A struggle ensued into the hallway where he strangled her for five to 10 minutes. He said that before Holland lost consciousness, she told him she loved him; he told her he loved her, then "choked her out." He then dragged her back into the bedroom, taped her hands, feet and mouth, secured the garbage bag over her head with duct tape, and put her head on a pillow. He said he stole her car, purse and money, then drove to Cornelia where he bought supplies, including red spray paint to cover the distinctive black stripes of her Camaro. At one point, after realizing he had forgotten to take her cigarette case, knowing that's where she kept her money, he returned to her house and retrieved it. He said he eventually abandoned the car at Belton Bridge Park because he feared it was equipped with an anti-theft device. At the end of his confession, Spears stated to police that, "if I had to do it again, I'd do it." Spears was indicted for murder, aggravated assault, kidnapping with bodily injury and two counts of burglary. The State announced it would seek the death penalty. In March 2007, a jury found Spears guilty as charged. After finding the existence of two aggravating circumstances, the jury recommended the death sentence, which is what the judge ordered. The trial court later denied Spears' motion requesting a new trial, but it set aside his kidnapping conviction, as well as the aggravating circumstance involving kidnapping. In their appeal before the state Supreme Court, Spears' attorneys argued the trial court made 11 errors. But in today's 40-page opinion, the high court has refused to grant a new trial based on any of them. However, the high court has determined on its own that the trial court erroneously merged the two convictions for burglary