AMARILLO, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) – In a split decision issued Friday, the United States 5th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the sentence of death row inmate Brittany Marlowe Holberg in the 1996 death of 80-year-old A.B. Towery, Sr., reversing a previous ruling vacating her conviction in 2025.
In 1998, Holberg was convicted of Towery’s murder after a jury found she had stabbed and beaten him to death during a November 1996 incident in Towery’s apartment. Court documents said Holberg was in Towery’s apartment after a minor traffic accident and spending several days “high on crack cocaine,” when they got into a violent argument. Holberg killed Towery and then left the scene, and was later arrested and extradited back to Amarillo in 1997.
PREVIOUSLY | Court reverses, vacates Holberg conviction, death sentence in 1996 Towery murder
As noted in previous reports, Holberg testified during her trial that she initially attacked Towery in self-defense after she was hit first, then “lost it” before killing him.
The prosecution at the time contended that Holberg had killed Towery in the process of robbing him. Holberg’s cellmate, who was a paid confidential informant for the Amarillo Police Department, also testified during the trial and said Holberg allegedly bragged about killing Towery. The cellmate’s testimony was used to support the prosecution’s case against Holberg, but her status as a paid informant for the police was not disclosed at trial…