Vet who pleaded to killing girlfriend appeals life term
An Iraq war veteran from Crofton who pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the stabbing death of his girlfriend last year is appealing his sentence, saying her death “doesn’t define who I am as a person.”
In a hand-written application for a review of his life sentence — a mandatory sentence under Maryland law for those convicted of first-degree murder — Ryan Hollebon, 40, said he believes he should have an opportunity for release. A threejudge panel will hear his sentence appeal on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m.
Hollebon pleaded guilty to killing his 28-year-old girlfriend, Jhalandia Butler, inside the Crofton home they shared in March 2017.
The case encompassed a number of issues — ranging from caring for returning veterans with PTSD to how the state handles domestic violence cases.
In a stark hand-written note, Hollebon touches on a number of these aspects and looks to spread the responsibility on everything to the heroin he was addicted to, to the medical conditions Butler had.
At one point, Hollebon writes about not having a “violent” criminal history — despite the fact he was awaiting assault charges for allegedly choking Butler so hard in December 2016 she told investigators she thought she might die then. He wrote he had no convictions for violent crimes.
He says the 3-judge panel — which will be Circuit Court Judges Cathy Vitale, Stacy McCormack and William Mulford, according to a spokeswoman for the county’s State’s Attorney’s Office — should reconsider his “unrealistic/unfair” sentence.
“The judge (Alison Asti) had (her) mind made up after seeing pictures and hearing state’s (attorney’s) opening remarks,” he wrote.
He then went on to characterize Butler’s death as something thrust upon him.
“I got in a volatile chaotic relationship after meeting at Mental Hospital,” he wrote. The two were treated at the Martinsburg Veterans Affairs Medical Center in West Virginia, but ultimately released both after
they refused to end their relationship. Hollebon said during his Alford plea, which effectively acts as a guilty plea without admitting guilt, the two then turned to heroin.
But in his April filing, Hollebon said Butler contributed to the environment that led to her death, saying “we both had issues.” He claims she had bipolar disorder, a disorder commonly associated with its severe mood swings.
“Never having any violent history and being a single father of two wonderful children then all of the sudden after only four months of knowing someone I end up with this tragedy I feel should speak volumes of the emotional distress and chaos we both encountered,” he wrote.
“Please grant me (an) opportunity for three respectable prominent judges to discuss, hear and decided amongst each other rather than one,” he wrote.
He also signed the application with an additional line of “this tragedy doesn't define who I am as a person.”
Hollebon's attorney, Jennifer Alexander, who was hired about two months after Hollebon filed his appeal, declined to comment on the particulars of the case.
A spokeswoman for the State's Attorney's Office said prosecutors will argue that his life sentence is appropriate, but declined to comment further.
The issue of life sentences in Maryland has become a newly relevant topic following a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said giving life sentences without the possibility of parole to juveniles was unconstitutional.
Gov. Larry Hogan issued an executive order this year that formalized the process for deciding which juvenile offenders serving life sentences should be granted parole. His office faced growing pressure from legal and political circles as the state hadn't paroled any such offenders in more than 20 years.
In another murder case dating back to 1987, attorneys for Peter Herrera — who pleaded guilty to strangling an 11-year-old girl to death when he was 17 years old — are also appealing his life sentence. Herrera is now 49 years old.
In an October court filing, Herrera's attorney, Allison Levine, wrote: “Herrera's life sentence does not include any future release date as his release from incarceration remains solely within the hands of the Governor, the same hands which need NOT differentiate juvenile offenders from adult offenders.”
The state Court of Appeals, Maryland's highest court, ruled 4-3 in August that the state does give juvenile offenders a meaningful opportunity for release, citing parole commission regulations and Hogan's executive order.
A hearing on Herrera's appeal is set for March 27, 2019, according to court records.
County State's Attorney-Elect Anne Colt Leitess, whose office will handle the case following her investiture on Jan. 7, said prosecutors will argue his sentence is still appropriate and expressed confidence in the two attorneys who are handling the case, David Russell and Kimberly DiPietro.
A spokeswoman for State's Attorney Wes Adams declined to comment.
Hollebon would not be challenging using that precedent, as he was an adult at the time of Butler's murder.
However, it looks as though Hollebon hopes part of the reason he will be given an opportunity for parole is to give him an opportunity for mental health treatment at the Patuxent Institution, a maximum security mental health hospital in Jessup.
He wrote that while Asti recommended he receive treatment there, “I can never receive (treatment) with life. I believe (I) need a projected release date for (the institution's) Eligible Persons Program.”
According to the state's Department of Public Safety and Correction Services, the program “generally” excludes inmates with life sentences or who are convicted of first-degree murder or sexual offenses “unless the sentencing judge specifically recommends the evaluation.”