Holly Bobo Trial - Day 1
September 11, 2017
9:00 a.m. - Zach Adams in courtroom.
9:07 a.m. - Judge Creed McGinley begins jury instruction. He provides details of how the flow of the court proceedings will go.
9:10 a.m. – Formal reading of the indictment.
9:19 a.m. – Attorney for Zach Adams pleads not guilty to all charges.
9:29 a.m. – Judge continues reading of indictment.
9:36 a.m. – Paul Hagerman begins opening statement.
9:40 a.m. – "I couldn't have picked a prettier bitch". "Meth and morphine the dark, dark things that went along with it."
9:59 a.m. – "We are going to gut her so she doesn't float."
10:02 a.m. – "Shot her up with drugs, raped her...He took her, he raped her, he killed her he discarded her, he bragged about it."
10:08 a.m. – Gun was where Autry told them it was.
10:09 a.m. – 15 minute recess
11:05 a.m. – Dana Bobo, father of Holly takes the stand first. Persecutor ran through background questions, asking about her age and other items. He's married to Karen, Holly's mother. Drew Scott was Holly's boyfriend.
11:46 a.m. – Dana Bobo describes when they quit looking for Holly is three years later when they found her body. Defense has no questions.
11:48 a.m. - Drew Scott, Holly's boyfriend, takes the stand.
11:54 a.m. – Introduces "promise" ring that Drew gave Holly for Christmas prior to her disappearance.
12:01 p.m. – Lunch Recess
1:04 p.m. - Recess over, James Barnes takes stand, next door neighbor to Bobo's. He's the one that heard her scream. "Stop, I said stop" and appeared to be arguing. He altered his course when he left his house and turned in the direction of the Bobo house. He made a phone call to his mother because the screaming alarmed him.
1:33 p.m. – Barnes dismissed.
1:34 p.m. – Karen Bobo, Holly's mother, takes the stand. Asked Holly's birthdate, education. Went to
Jackson State, then to UT Martin-Parson's Campus in the nursing program.
1:47p p.m. – Talked about receiving the phone call that told her that the neighbor heard screams.
1:52 p.m. – Karen Bobo's 911 call is played to the jury. "Somebody has my daughter! They have
kidnapped her! Please get here now!", Karen Bobo cries on stand.
1:55 p.m. – She couldn't go to the back of her house or in the woods behind the house. She shook him off and ran through the woods with Terry (the person that drove Karen home from her school) trying to find Holly.
2:17 p.m. – Karen is going through the contents of Holly's lunch bag and it is shown to the jury and entered as an exhibit.
2:21 p.m. – Karen is shown Holly's tattered purse and entered as exhibit 31, along with her camera, keys, wallet and other items.
2:26 p.m. – Karen Bobo some sort of medical episode and passes out on the stand. She said she was feeling sick then fell out of her chair on the stand when she passed out. She then said "I can't breathe," abrupt dismissal and media is asked to leave the courtroom.
3:00 p.m. – Defense calls for mistrial based on the emotion of Karen Bobo's, Judge denies the motion.
3:07 p.m. – Jury reconvenes. Karen Bobo re-takes the stand.
3:14 p.m. – Mentions "spoofing" a phone, she didn't know what it meant. She had prior knowledge of all of the...(lost thought)
3:24 p.m. – Side bar with jury out of the room regarding defense issue around text messages between Karen Bob and TBI agents. Defense alleges prosecution destroyed evidence (texts).
3:30 p.m. – Defense begins cross and brings up video store in Parsons where the Bobo's would rent from. Janet Martin Britt was an employee (not at the time Holly disappeared), and knew the Bobos.
3:33 p.m. – Clint Bobo takes the stand, brother of Holly Bobo, Paul Hagerman conducts the interview. He was awoken by the sounds of the family dog barking. He decided to get up and find out what he was barking at. He walked into the kitchen and looked outside and didn't see anything out of "the side lights", didn't see anything. Approached the carport, heard voices and raised the blinds and saw the silhouette of two figures kneeling down behind the window. He thought he heard Drew speaking with Holly. The voices sounded upset. Identified a cousin named Ritchie that he thought it could have been after he figured it out that it wasn't Drew. Describes a pool of blood where the two figures where they were hunkered down under the window.
4:04 p.m. – Clint Bobo calls 911 and explains that her sister is missing. Describes the arrival of various police departments.
4:11 p.m. – Clint Bobo introduces the possibility of there being more than one person present that the "voice didn't match the body" of the person that he saw walking into the woods.
4:13 p.m. – Defense begins cross of Clint Bobo. From his statement to the FBI: The male figure seemed to be giving orders to the other person. The female seemed to be agreeing with the individual.
4:26 p.m. – Prosecution cross of Clint Bobo
4:28 p.m. - Recess
4:48 p.m. – Court resumes – John Babb, owned property near Bobo's. He was on his property adjacent to the Bobo's he day of her disappearance. He checked out all of the buildings on his property to make sure that no one might be in them
5:07 p.m. – Tony Weber takes the stand. Decatur County Sheriff's Office (at the time). First officer to
respond to Bobo's residence. Clint Bobo and neighbor were outside when he arrived. Walked in woods to look for obvious signs.
5:30 p.m. – Court adjourns for the day.
