House Majority Leader Hugh Holliman’s hometown newspaper catches up with the controversial state GOP flier accusing Holliman of being a soft-on-crime “ultra-liberal,” a charge some view as insensitive considering Holliman’s daughter was kidnapped, raped and murdered 25 years ago.
The Lexington Dispatch reports that Holliman received a call from NC GOP chairman Tom Fetzer apologizing for the flier. Holliman accepted the apology,but also told Fetzer “he needed to mail a retraction to everyone who got the flier.”
I remember news coverage of the horrible crime when Suzy Holliman, home sick from school, was snatched and effectively tortured before being murdered. And while I’m not rabidly anti-death penalty, I feel pretty good knowing her killer is no longer consuming valuable oxygen. The article points out that Holliman witnessed the execution of his daughter’s killer in 1998. Holliman also points out that his vote for the Racial Justice Act would not release anyone, but would allow “death-row inmates to make statistical-based appeals that would, if granted, change their sentences to life in prison without the possibility of parole.”
One can’t help but wonder how Holliman would vote if Ricky Sanderson were still in prison, awaiting execution. A couple of years ago, the N&R’s Doug Clark wrote about Holliman’s views on the death penalty. It’s worth a read in light of this controversy.
