Brittany Holberg's faith is reaffirmed by the Fifth Circuit.

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In a broken choice among its entire panel of judges, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday reversed the judge’s earlier decision a year earlier, upholding Texas death row inmate Brittany Holberg’s word.

Holberg was found guilty of capital murder by an Amarillo jurors in 1998 for the fatal assault of A. B. Towery at his residence. According to court documents, Holberg stabbed the 80-year-old 58 days before slitting an 11-inch part of candle post down his throat while he was still alive. After her previous client, Towery, attacked her because she used drugs at his house, Hollyberg, a former sex employee, claimed she had acted in self-defense.

Vickie Kirkpatrick, Holberg’s flatmate, testified at the test that Holberg had told her she enjoyed killing Towery and that she had recalled the horrifying incident in a grisly manner. However, the case’s district attorney did not make it clear that Kirkpatrick worked for the city authorities at the trial, which Holberg’s appeal alleged cast doubt on the validity of her memory. A three-judge screen on the Fifth Circuit overturned Holberg’s faith in 2025 after the appeal.

On Kirkpatrick’s impact and Holberg’s right to contest the validity of her evidence, the 18 judges who made up Friday’s ruling divided into six distinct opinions. Kirkpatrick’s evidence being the only item that persuaded jurors to acquiesce to the death penalty was questioned by the written opinion supporting Holberg’s sentence on Friday.

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The written view leading the decision added that Holberg’s attorneys were aware that her flatmate was an agent and had purposefully chosen not to contest her credibility at trial in order to avoid testimony that might have revealed the contrary.

” Correct, the State provided anecdotal evidence to support Holberg’s assertion that he intended to commit heist.” Judge Andrew S. Oldham wrote,” But that does not mean impeaching Kirkpatrick’s applicant standing may result in a reasonable chance of a different outcome.”

The opposing viewpoints expressed concern that Kirkpatrick’s role as an agent was not disclosed to jurors, noting that she had several charges dropped the day after giving her statement to the police regarding Holberg’s admitted statements.

Judge Stephen A. Higginson wrote,” Contrary to the concurring views, I see the material of the lawyer’s key throughout this trial. Holberg’s security was “hooped over and over again”; it said.

Holberg can also challenge the Supreme Court’s decision, but there is no guarantee that the high court will hear the case.

Holberg is one of seven girls on Texas ‘ death row, and there has never been a person in the state who has been found not guilty. Texas has historically been the world’s president in executions, killing its 600th prisoner in May of that year.

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Through the close of 2026, Texas will hold four deaths. LeJames Norman and Ramey Ker’sean Olajuwa, both of whom were given fatal sentences in Jackson County for an house assault, are scheduled to receive their next two in mid-September, one week apart from one another.

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Aug 14, 2026Hill Country Post

Brittany Holberg’s faith is reaffirmed by the Fifth Circuit.

Hill Country Post

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