On Monday, July 29, 2024, Florida Fourth Judicial Circuit Court Judge James Daniel issued a 16-page written order overturning the convictions of Billy Holton, who was wrongfully convicted of a 1986 sexual battery, kidnapping, and robbery in Jacksonville, Florida. Seth Miller, Innocence Project of Florida’s (“IPF”) Executive Director, and Michael Minerva, a former IPF attorney, represented Holton for almost two decades in these proceedings. He spent more than 25 years wrongfully incarcerated and an additional 10 years wrongfully serving probation before this breakthrough in his case.​

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The Crime
 

In 1986, two perpetrators broke into the home of a pregnant woman in Jacksonville and both committed sexual assault. The victim stated that she only saw the perpetrator who entered the home first and that this first perpetrator deposited semen on her stomach while she was covered by a blanket. She never saw the face of the second perpetrator. Holton was convicted based on the victim identifying him as this first perpetrator a year after the crime, despite the victim initially stating that she did not see either perpetrator’s face and the victim’s son, who was present during the crime, telling police that Holton was not one of the perpetrators. Holton’s co-defendant Tim Smith testified that he himself did not ejaculate during the crime and that Holton was the first perpetrator left semen on the victim. Forensic evidence at that time indicated that semen recovered from the scene was deposited by an individual with blood type A—a blood type shared by Billy Holton, Tim Smith and more than 30% of the general population. However, despite the inconclusive nature of this forensic evidence, Tim Smith’s testimony that he did not ejaculate led the jury, combined with the victim’s identification, to believe that it was Holton who was in fact the first perpetrator. Billy Holton was sentenced to life in prison.
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The Investigation
 

In 2006, the Innocence Project of Florida procured DNA testing for Holton and in 2007 a private, accredited laboratory then-called Orchid Cellmark, achieved DNA results indicating that a Billy Holton could not have contributed semen found on the blanket that covered the victim’s face and body during the assault. Further testing indicated that that semen belonged to co-defendant Tim Smith, completely undercutting both the victim’s identification of Holton as the first perpetrator and Tim Smith’s perjurious trial testimony.

 

Based on these exculpatory DNA results, IPF filed a motion for postconviction relief, which remained pending for many years. In 2012, in a separate proceeding, IPF was able to overturn Mr. Holton’s sentence and he was resentenced to 25 years in prison followed by 10 years of sex offender probation. Because he had already spent more than 25 years in prison, he was released in 2012 and he successfully completed his probation in 2022.

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Post-Conviction
 

After years of fits and starts, including denials, appeals and delays related to the Covid-19 pandemic, IPF represented Mr. Holton at an evidentiary hearing in June 2023, which led to the Circuit Court overturning his conviction almost a year later. In its order, the Court held that:

 

The State’s theory hinged on proving Defendant was the first attacker who burst through the back door of the victim’s home and sexually assaulted her. The newly discovered DNA testimony materially weakens the State’s case and would likely cast reasonable doubt that Defendant was this person. Defendant has met his burden to show the newly discovered evidence would probably produce an acquittal on retrial.

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 “This order is an important step toward righting this wrongful conviction. We appreciate the Court’s hyper focus on how the new DNA results irreparably weaken the State’s case against Mr. Holton to such an extent that a new jury would have acquitted him had they known about this critical scientific evidence,” said IPF’s Executive Director, Seth Miller, co-counsel for Billy Holton.  

 

This court order now leaves an already weak case for the State fully undercut. “Any fair appraisal of the Circuit Court’s order leaves no credible evidence connecting BillyHolton to this crime and all that remains is significant evidence of his innocence. Due to the age of the case, the current status of the evidence and the fact that Mr. Holtoncould not receive any additional punishment even if reconvicted, the prosecution now has the chance to make it right by dropping this case and not attempting to retry it. We urge them to do just that,” said Miller.