Ed Holley back in court in Megan McDonald murder case
WALLKILL - Edward Holley was back before Wallkill Town Court Judge Peter Green on Wednesday for the first time in more than three months in the Megan McDonald murder case, only to learn that he won't be due back there again for another three months.
Holley is charged with second-degree murder in the bludgeoning death of McDonald, a 20-year-old Burke Catholic graduate whose lifeless body was discovered in a remote field off Bowser Road in the town of Wallkill on March 15, 2003.
Holley was last in court on May 3, when the case was taken over by special prosecutors Julia Cornachio and Laura Murphy, two veteran prosecutors from Westchester, who inherited a mountain of evidence compiled over 20 years. A month later, Cornachio asked Green to adjourn a June 7 court date, telling the judge she and Murphy needed more time to sift through the evidence.
Cornachio was back on Wednesday to tell Green the same.
"Judge, we're still investigating it and preparing it for potential presentation to the grand jury," Cornachio said.
"How much time are the people seeking?" Green asked.
"I think probably a couple of months would be good, for a court appearance, could we look at November?" Cornachio offered.
Green noted that Holley had been arraigned in April and a November court date would be past the six-month legal window set by the Criminal Procedure Law for a case to proceed.
"It's a homicide, judge," Cornachio replied.
As Green set the next court date for Nov. 15 at 10 a.m., Weber wanted it noted that his client was waiving no rights in agreeing to the new court date. Green noted that it was "an adjournment for grand jury evaluation."
The hearing took about 5 minutes, after which Cornachio, Weber, Holley and his supporters left the courtroom, prompting a court officer in the lobby to ask wryly: "Is court out of session?"
New Legal Team: Who are the special prosecutors in the Megan McDonald murder case?
Holley had company
Holley arrived at 9 a.m., when the court opened, and soon was joined by about a dozen friends and family. Having lost the use of his legs in a 2007 auto crash, he wheeled himself into the courtroom and later into a private meeting room where he and his family spoke with Weber.
He and his family then settled into most of the second row of the small courtroom, with friends in the rows behind them.
The McDonald murder had been Orange County's highest-profile cold case for decades, but New York State Police say they never really let it go cold, conducting wave upon wave of interviews that led them, eventually, to Holley. A conviction could send the 43-year-old Holley to prison for 25 years to life. He declared his innocence after his arrest April 20.
An arrest without an angry DA
When State Police arrested Holley, who was in county jail on a drug charge, they did it without a grand jury indictment.
When they announced the arrest, in front of a bank of media cameras at the Troop F barracks on Crystal Run Road in Middletown, the McDonald family was on hand, but Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler was not.
Within minutes of the press conference, Hoovler issued a stinging press release, saying his office had been told there would be no arrest without him being notified. He said the arrest had started the clock ticking on an indictment. His office had six days to present a complicated case to a grand jury, Hoovler said.
Less than a week later, with the legal window to indict Holley closing, Hoovler sidestepped a preliminary hearing and punted the case, tying Judge Green's hands. With no indictment, Holley was set free, having served his sentence on the drug charge.
That same day, Hoovler recused himself and his office from the case and requested a special prosecutor be named. He revealed — after nearly a decade as DA overseeing the McDonald case — that before becoming district attorney he was a defense attorney and had negotiated on behalf of a client "regarding potential information that client might provide regarding Ms. McDonald’s death."
Exit the Orange County District Attorney's office. Enter special prosecutors Cornachio and Murphy.
'They don't have anything'
Weber, Holley's attorney, later explained that with the most serious cases, extra time beyond the six-month limit is granted to prosecutors to prepare their cases.
Asked why it was taking longer for special prosecutors to build the case against his client, Weber said: "They don't have anything. They're taking information and they're trying to twist it to make it look like facts. I've reviewed all of the discovery. They have nothing. It's two investigators trying to make a name for themselves. That all it is.
"That's why the DA separated himself," Weber continued. "He doesn't want any part of it."
The case against Holley
As they arrested Holley — knowing there would be no indictment to read from, as no grand jury had heard the case — State Police took the rare step of issuing a 17-page felony complaint laying out the case against the now 43-year-old Wawayanda man.
Written by State Police Investigator Michael Corletta, the narrative described the night that cost Megan McDonald her life. In it, Corletta tracks her movements, from working the early shift at a restaurant to a trip to make a deposit at the bank to her unsuccessful efforts later to find someone to sell her marijuana.
That search led her to Holley, with whom she had had a physical relationship, but whom she made a point of avoiding earlier that evening. Eventually, though, Holley ended up in the back seat of Megan's car, parked off Bowser Road. And from that vantage point, police said, he killed her.
"The defendant, Edward V. Holley, did knowingly and intentionally cause the death of Megan McDonald by striking her multiple times about the head with a blunt instrument," Corletta wrote, adding that murder in the second degree is a class A-1 felony.
Reach Peter D. Kramer at pkramer@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Megan McDonald murder suspect Ed Holley makes brief court appearance
