A former guard at a federal prison beat his 5-year-old daughter to death when he lost his temper while disciplining her, prosecutors argued on Tuesday in Kanawha Circuit Court.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A former guard at a federal prison beat his 5-year-old daughter to death when he lost his temper while disciplining her, prosecutors argued on Tuesday in Kanawha Circuit Court.
Ronald William Holcomb, 36, of Princeton, faces first-degree murder and child abuse resulting in neglect charges stemming from the January 2007 death of his daughter, Brooklyn Elizabeth Holcomb.
But defense lawyers suggested that police wrongly focused on Holcomb, ignoring other suspects, particularly Brooklyn's stepmother, Tracy Farmer.
Mercer Circuit Judge William Sadler moved the trial to Kanawha County because the case received extensive local coverage.
During his opening statement, Mercer County Prosecuting Attorney Timothy Boggess said Brooklyn's head injuries were so extensive that she had lapsed into a coma by the time Holcomb took her to the hospital.
"That was Martin Luther King Day," Boggess said. "It should have been a good day. The children were home from school, [Holcomb] wasn't working."
But Brooklyn, who was a willful, rambunctious child, angered her father by spitting up her Cheerios at breakfast, and Holcomb pulled down her pants and paddled her, Boggess said.
"Brooklyn was spanked regularly, and she was spanked hard. And you saw the results of what happened from the spanking on Jan. 15, 2007," he told the jury, referring to pictures taken of the girl at a Princeton hospital before she was transferred to Charleston Area Medical Center.
The photos showed extensive bruises on her arms, face and torso, and several bumps on her head and scalp. The girl's bottom was red, raw and swollen. Her injuries also included bleeding in her brain and retinal hemorrhaging.
When a social worker called Holcomb to discuss harvesting Brooklyn's organs, he replied, "You mean to tell me that I killed my kid?" Boggess said.
Defense attorney Joe Harvey maintained that police fixed on Holcomb as a suspect once they saw Brooklyn's injuries at the hospital.
"They made up their mind who was guilty, and that's what they were trying to prove," he said.
Police ignored entries in Tracy Farmer's diary that showed that she resented the way Brooklyn acted toward her, he said. She felt that Holcomb's daughter was playing the adults off of each other, he said.
Farmer was alone with Brooklyn on the morning of Jan. 15 before she left for work, he said.
"There was another person with motive. There was another person with opportunity. ... There was another person with a history of abusing Brooklyn," he said.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A former guard at a federal prison beat his 5-year-old daughter to death when he lost his temper while disciplining her, prosecutors argued on Tuesday in Kanawha Circuit Court.
Ronald William Holcomb, 36, of Princeton, faces first-degree murder and child abuse resulting in neglect charges stemming from the January 2007 death of his daughter, Brooklyn Elizabeth Holcomb.
But defense lawyers suggested that police wrongly focused on Holcomb, ignoring other suspects, particularly Brooklyn's stepmother, Tracy Farmer.
Mercer Circuit Judge William Sadler moved the trial to Kanawha County because the case received extensive local coverage.
During his opening statement, Mercer County Prosecuting Attorney Timothy Boggess said Brooklyn's head injuries were so extensive that she had lapsed into a coma by the time Holcomb took her to the hospital.
"That was Martin Luther King Day," Boggess said. "It should have been a good day. The children were home from school, [Holcomb] wasn't working."
But Brooklyn, who was a willful, rambunctious child, angered her father by spitting up her Cheerios at breakfast, and Holcomb pulled down her pants and paddled her, Boggess said.
"Brooklyn was spanked regularly, and she was spanked hard. And you saw the results of what happened from the spanking on Jan. 15, 2007," he told the jury, referring to pictures taken of the girl at a Princeton hospital before she was transferred to Charleston Area Medical Center.
The photos showed extensive bruises on her arms, face and torso, and several bumps on her head and scalp. The girl's bottom was red, raw and swollen. Her injuries also included bleeding in her brain and retinal hemorrhaging.
When a social worker called Holcomb to discuss harvesting Brooklyn's organs, he replied, "You mean to tell me that I killed my kid?" Boggess said.
Defense attorney Joe Harvey maintained that police fixed on Holcomb as a suspect once they saw Brooklyn's injuries at the hospital.
"They made up their mind who was guilty, and that's what they were trying to prove," he said.
Police ignored entries in Tracy Farmer's diary that showed that she resented the way Brooklyn acted toward her, he said. She felt that Holcomb's daughter was playing the adults off of each other, he said.
Farmer was alone with Brooklyn on the morning of Jan. 15 before she left for work, he said.
"There was another person with motive. There was another person with opportunity. ... There was another person with a history of abusing Brooklyn," he said.
Farmer pleaded guilty to child neglect resulting in injury and was placed on three years' probation.
Brooklyn's mother, the former Sue Ann Griffin, testified that her daughter was a "happy little ballerina" while she lived with her before he father was awarded custody in April 2005. Brooklyn was the product of a brief relationship she had with Holcomb in Pineville, Ga., while he was in the military, she said.
Retired Princeton police Detective Charles N. Poe testified that there were bruises all over Brooklyn's body when he saw her in the hospital on Jan. 15.
The jury heard an audio recording of an interview Poe conducted with Holcomb hours after he had been arrested at the hospital.
On the tape, Holcomb said he spanked Brooklyn for spitting food at him.
Brooklyn had been diagnosed with behavioral issues, including reactive detachment disorder and oppositional defiant disorder, Holcomb said.
"Did you notice any bruises on her?" Poe asked.
"She always has bruises," Holcomb said. "We don't know where they come from. Her butt's bruised because I spanked her."
Holcomb denied any abuse beyond the spanking, saying he didn't know how to account for Brooklyn injuries to her stomach, head, legs and back.
"Somebody, plain and simple, beat the hell out of that child," Poe told him, adding that it was the worst case of abuse he had seen in his 20-plus years as a police officer.
Holcomb dabbed his knuckles, which were bleeding and swollen, with a folded paper towel during the interview, Poe said. Holcomb told him that he scraped his knuckles carrying Brooklyn out of the house.
Investigators found bloody paper towels folded in the same way in the trash at Holcomb's home, Poe said.
Holcomb admitted during the interview that he was taking medication for post-traumatic stress disorder.
"Do you have a problem controlling your temper?" Poe asked.
"I take medication for that, sir," Holcomb responded meekly.
Reach Andrew Clevenger at acleven...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1723.
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WV got it wrong when they let her free. She is a child abuser, a child killer and deserves the same sentence as Robert. Brooklyn was a beautiful baby.