Warning: Graphic content, readers’ discretion advised. This story contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some readers discretion advised
A man who was asleep and miles away from the scene of a crime finds himself guilty of murder.
convicted of first -degree murder , sencenced to life without parole
he was nowhere near the crimescene….
inside the controversal case of ryan holle behind bars for savage beating death of a teenage girl.even though prosecutors admit he was a mile and a half away asleep in his bed.
with a robbery gone bad,a one day trial and a law that cost a florida man his freedom ….
how can a person be convicted of first -degree murder when they’re are mile and a half away from the crime scene when the killing accured?
ryan holle gave the keys to his car to a buddy then went to sleep next thing he knows he’s in cuffs facing first -degree murder charges.
even though he was nowhere near the crime scene….
ryan became incarcerated at 20 years old at florida’s walton correctional institution.
even for a man whose destiny was life in prison convicted for the murder of his friend 18 year old jessica snyder.
she was viciously beaten to death with a butt end of a rifle.
holle’s sentence in connection with that murder…
one stop shortof lethal injection.
and when you hear how that daunting life sentence came to be, you may feel as outraged as many of the nation’s respected legal minds.
then again …you won’t.
the story begins like so many we follow, with a portrait of innocent youth.
he was a good kid ,he was studious ,he didn’t even open a book, he got straight A’s
growing up ,ryan’s mom sylvia then a single parent joined the navy just to keep her children in a disciplined environment. the kids were raised on Navy bases around the world.
when sylvia married longtime love john garnett, ryan happily gave his mother away.
ryan ‘s friend jessica snider was a guest at the wedding but 4 days later her sdkull would be bludging to pieces
but why is ryan holle paying the ultimate price for jessica’s murder when even the prossecutor admits this….
he didn’t plan it.
to understand this troubling case we rewind to the night before jessica’s violent death.
ryan threw a party at the pensacola florida home he shared with his sister heather …
and ryans roomate william allen ,william was dating jessica who was one of the party guests that night.
as for ryan’s roomate , william allen , well heather wasn”t exactly feeling the love….
there were even rumors that william not only dated jessica but had a fling going with her mother christine as well .
allen had revealed to a few friends that jessica’s mom kept a safe int her home and they believed that there was $ 20.000 in cash in the safe.
which brings us back to the night of ryan’s party where a sinister plan is hatched.
ryan goes to bed before the party ends but then someone he barely knows enters his bedroom around 7:00 the following morning.
donnie williams and he had asked ryan if he could borrow the keys to his car,ryan had met him briefly before but didn’t know him.
ryan refused to give donnie his car keys ,but when ryan’s roomate willam came in with the same request ryan had a change of heart.
while ryan and william are discussing the keys, donnie and two other men ryan hardly knows enter the room…..
ryan is groggy and still drunk but he overhears their conversation .
it was a mixture of two different things,they had spoken about going overto william allen’s on and off girlfriends house ,jessica snyder to steal a safe .
and they also talked about going to get something to eat.
then according to a police interview with ryan ,the men asked him if they could borrow some bandanas.
ryan tells the men where they can find the bandanas, then he overhears more conversation ,they discuss who might be at the snyder home when they pull off the heist.
they knew jessica’s parents would be gone but what about jessica? william’s own girlfriend.
ryan tells the conversation barely registered with him and what little did well he just didn’t believe .
a band of thugs with a menacing lust for drugs and money turnes murderous.
and what exactly is ryan holle’s role in this brutal crime that got him life behind bars without the possibility of parole…
you’ll be stunned.
a lot of people would wonder :
how can a person be convicted of first -degree murder when they are nowhere near the crime scene.
it’s a question ryan holle and his family have asked over and over again .
it’s the early morning hours in the small watefront town of pensacola
after a night of heavy partying, ryan holle had agreed roomate william allen borrow his car.
ryan admist he had overheard william and others talk about burglarizing the home of jessica snyder, william’s girlfriend but in a prison interview with ryan,he insists he never thought the plan was real.ryan also overheard the conspirators plan to knock out jessica if she happened to be home during the heist.
something else ryan’s family says he didn’t believe. but the plan was real,very real.
while ryan laid in bed trying to shake off a hangover and get some sleep… willy is behind the wheel of ryan’s car on his way to jessica’s a mile and ahalf away to steal her mother’s safe containing money and jewelry.
three accomplices were in on the heist .donnie williams ,charles miller and germon thomas.veritable strangers to ryan. when the crew first arrives at jessica’s home, the plan is put on pause.
when they got there though , her younger sister was there,so they were waiting for the sister to leave to go to school . while they’re waiting , william’s cell phone rings.it’s ryan .asking for his car and what his doing , williams said that they wera at jessica snyders house and that they were waiting for the sister to leave.
at that point ryan didn’t realize that this was a rality and william said he had to go and he ended up hanging up the phone.
ryan falls back asleep , meanwhle at jessica’s house, her little sister has finally left for school.
the heist is back in motion,william waits in the car while the other three busted their way into jessica’s home and head for the safe in a back bedroom.
jessica is there, and she’s terrified.
while the others are scrambling to get the safe and looking for other items to steal charles miller remembers that plan to knock out jessica if she got in the way. that pla evil as it was would evolve into something seemingly psychotic.
charles removed a shotgun that was on the wall in the house-that was her fathers.he started hitting her and then he just kind of snapped and just kept pounding and pounding on her face and her head with the shotgun. the butt even broke off of the rifle,he was hitting her so hard.
when the others saw jessica’s crushed skull and lifeless body, charles miller was standing next to her,bloody shotgun in hand an eerie smile on his face. he tossed the gun the gun in the kitchen sink.
but now the others are panicked and in a rush to get the safe into ryans car once it’s liften into the back seat the burglar race back to ryan’s house plowing through a fence to get to the backyard.
the crew uses every tool they can find to try to bust open the safe
but it’s then that ryan learns of the vicious beating endured by his friend jessica snyder.
before ryan had even a minute to absorb the horrific murder police showed up at his house .
all the banging trying to get the safe cracked peacked the interest of a suspicious neighbor who had called the cops.now the long arm of the law had its reach on everyone.
ryan is confident,he’s not a guilty part in this misguided turn murderous heist. he cooperates with the police. but ryan’s cooperation would come back to haunt him …..
a little known and controversial law puts ryan away for life.
there was no car there was no crime no crime no murder…
walton correctional institution in De Funiak spring florida
it’s a place ryan holle calls home for now , this after he lent his car to a friend- a decision that would end in murder.
the gastly bludgeoning of an innocent teenage girl it was a murder case florida cops had little problem piecing together. and not without ryan holle’s help.
even though police know ryan wasn’t involved in the heist- the murder and wasn’t even at the crime scene and simply lent his car keys to a roomate stunningly he he was charged with the murder of jessica snyder along with the four other defendants.
it’s a controversial and some say antiquated law called :
the felony murder rule.
in some states when people participate in certain serious crimes like a robbery or burglary or rape and a person is murdered during the commission of that crime- everyone is held responsible for the death.
so everyone is treated like the trigger man even if they didn’t pull the trigger.
but how is ryan holle responsible,ryan is about learn the law-the hard way.
the felony murder rule requires that a person must have something called conscious intent meaning that ryan had to fully expect the burglary to take place.
you can’t just be aware of something ,you have to intend that the crime be committed.
someone has to commit a crime and someone has to be killed during the course of the crime and you have to have intended to assist them in the underlying offense.
but as far as ryan holle is concerned, there was no intent, counscious or otherwise.but prosecutors were going by the book on this one.
ryan was facing murder.
what prosecutor david rimer did have to offer was a plea deal of just 10 years in state prison for ryans role in in the case.ryan as the only defendant offered a deal.
but the holle family rejected offer and ryan’s stepfather blames himself but he says he had good reason for rejecting the plea deal at the time.
blaming this women for that ill -fated decision:sharon wilson,ryan’s attorney.
according to ryan’s stepdad, wilson practically guaranteed a slam dunk victory if ryan went to trial.
but sharon wilson says it was ryan’s own decision to reject the plea deal and that she knew defending ryan was going to be a challenge under the felony murder rule.but worse yet claims ryan’s family wilson never explained the concept of felony murder.
and when ryan went to trial…..
she never objected to anything , she never called a witness except for ryan.
ryan’s entire trial took just one day.
it seemed over before it started, not just the trial but ryan holle’s young life
he was found guilty and sentenced to die behind bars.
the jury had an option of foinding ryan guilty of the lesser charges of second degree murder or manslaughter but based on their verdict jurors felt ryan needed the harshest punishment.
despite the devastating sentence ,ryan has spent coountless hours teaching himself law and essentially writing his own appeals, all of which have been denied but then a flicker of hope for ryan .
in this document obtained exlusively ,florida’s office of executive clemency quote ..issued a favorable recommendation on your application for a commutation of sentence.
ryan is granted a hearing before the clemency board and finds a sympathizer in florida governor rick scott.
but ryan’s opponents were not so merciful .
he had them go do the dirty work,he knew they were going to beat a teenage with a shotgun.
his not acted at all like an adult and more likw child that got his arm caught in the cookie jar and denies he took a cookie ,he is comparison to charles manson.
ryan’s mother makes her impassioned plea for compassion.
I would give my life today if i could bring jessica back,ryan would give his life, we are so sorry about whathappenet to jessica and her family
in the end ,ryan would not get freedom,but he would get a compromise.
i moved to commute ryan holle’s life sentence t0 25 years imprisonment followed by 10 years probation”
–governor rick scott
ryan holle will someday taste freedom.
unless he granted a new hearing ryan’s family won’t be welcoming him home until 2024.
Holle was released on June 30, 2024.
Convictions
Prosecutors sought the death penalty for Charles Miller, Jr., who confessed to the killing; but he was sentenced to life without parole on May 12, 2005. The two men who entered the Snyders’ home with him each received the same sentence, as did the driver, William Allen, Jr.
Christine Snyder was sentenced to three years in prison for marijuana possession
Application of felony murder rule
Holle, who had given the police statements in which he seemed to admit knowing about the burglary, was convicted on August 3, 2004, of first-degree murder under a legal doctrine known as the felony murder rule.
The doctrine broadens murder liability for participants in violent felonies to include a killing by an accomplice.
As the prosecutor David Rimmer explained: “No car, no murder.
” The victim’s father, Terry Snyder, concurred: “It never would have happened unless Ryan Holle had lent the car. It was as good as if he was there.”
Statements in defense
Allen said in a pretrial deposition that all Holle did “was to say, ‘Use the car.’ I mean, nobody really knew that girl was going to get killed. It was not in the plans to go kill somebody, you know.” Holle had no criminal record. He had lent his car to Allen countless times before.
In a 2007 interview with The New York Times, Holle stated that “I honestly thought they were going to get food,” adding that “When they actually mentioned what was going on, I thought it was a joke.
” He added that he was naive, and had been drinking all night, so he “didn’t understand what was going on.”