Murderpedia has thousands of hours of work behind it. To keep creating
new content, we kindly appreciate any donation you can give to help
the Murderpedia project stay alive. We have many
plans and enthusiasm
to keep expanding and making Murderpedia a better site, but we really
need your help for this. Thank you very much in advance.
Robert
HOLGUIN
Classification:
Homicide
Characteristics: Juvenile (14)
Number of victims: 1
Date of murder:
February 26,
2005
Date of birth: 1990
Victim profile: Gerald O'Malley,
87
Method of murder:
Beating with a skateboard
Location: San Luis Obispo County, California, USA
Status:
Sentenced to
the state's Division of Juvenile Justice, formerly known as the
California Youth Authority, until his 25th birthday
on May 5, 2006
Teen killer sent to state lockup
The 14-year-old who beat Gerald O'Malley to death
will go to a corrections center for children in a ruling rejecting
claims the agency can't rehabilitate him
By Leslie Griffy - TheTribuneNews.com
Saturday, May 06, 2006
Gerald O'Malley's 14-year-old killer
will spend at least the next five years at a state
corrections facility for children, a judge ruled Friday,
rejecting claims that the embattled agency couldn't
rehabilitate the boy.
"I could say he doesn't look like a
murderer," Juvenile Court Judge Teresa Estrada-Mullaney
said, "but he is."
As Estrada-Mullaney read her ruling,
the boy hung his head low, nearly resting his forehead
on the table before him. His normally tanned face was
red.
Defense attorney Theresa Klein said
after the ruling it is "very concerning that he'll be
put in a system that says it is broken by its own
standards." She plans to appeal his conviction.
Experts have criticized the state
Division of Juvenile Justice, formerly known as the
California Youth Authority, for being too violent and
crowded and for offering too few educational and
counseling opportunities.
Putting the boy, who has a low IQ and
emotional problems, into the system is "just like
throwing him away," one psychologist testified for the
defense during a hearing this week.
But that expert, Robert Halon, added
the boy must be punished for beating 87-year-old
O'Malley with a skateboard on Feb. 26 of last year.
In her decision, Estrada-Mullaney
highlighted what the boy did after the attack: He went
home, got a padlock and then locked O'Malley in his San
Luis Obispo house to die in a pool of his own blood on
the kitchen floor.
"This young man needs punishment,"
prosecutor Andrew Baird said after the ruling, noting
Halon's warning that an alternative sentence such as a
group home would, for the boy, seem like getting off
easy.
The youth will have options at the
juvenile correction facilities to study and to stay away
from the violent older gang members with whom he'll
share dorm space, Baird said.
"I am hopeful he will learn to make
the right choice," Baird said.
Division authorities can hold the boy
until his 25th birthday and, depending on his behavior,
will likely release him by his 19th or 21st birthday.
Both Baird and Klein said that means it is important
that he is rehabilitated.
But Klein thinks that won't happen at
a state facility. In his more than a year at the county
Juvenile Services Center, the boy requested counseling
services more than 100 times and was put on suicide
watch three times.
He once pounded on the doors of his
room with his hands until they were bruised enough to
require medical attention.
The care he received at the center,
where he flourished with good behavior, resulted in
improving grades in school. But that help won't be
available in a correctional facility, Klein said.
The boy, defense experts testified,
desperately wants a father figure -- his own father,
according to court records, is an abusive alcoholic --
and will be drawn to any strong man, good or bad.
"He doesn't know how to be," Halon
said.
The Tribune isn't naming the boy
because he is a minor.
After the ruling, the boy and his
mother spent time alone together. "He's worried," Klein
said, "about her."
Teenager given maximum sentence in
murder case
By Andrew Masuda - KSBY.com
Friday, May 5, 2006
A judge sentenced 14-year-old Robert Holguin to
the state's Division of Juvenile Justice, formerly known as the
California Youth Authority, until his 25th birthday, for the murder
of Gerald O'Malley.
The judge allowed cameras in the courtroom because of
the crime's serious nature. Judge Teresa Estrada-Mullaney says while the
boy looks shy and gentle, he is a murderer. She said the boy poses a
danger to society without the long term treatment he'll receive in the
Division of Juvenile Justice.
Holguin showed little emotion while Estrada-Mullaney
gave him the maximum sentence. The boy's attorney had argued that the
14-year-old, who has special needs, would benefit more from specialized
treatment at a boys' home. Prosecutors and defense attorneys disagree
how the system will shape the man this boy becomes.
"The Youth Authority is saving almost no one, even by
their own experts analysis, and we're very afraid that he's not going to
get the rehabilitation he'll need and that he's going to turn into a
hardened criminal when he gets out, " said defense attorney Theresa
Klein.
"It will be up to this young man to decide which way
his life is going to turn," said Deputy District Attorney Andy Baird. "And
if he does not choose so for whatever reason, any program is going to
fail and he's going to come out and re-offend, and be locked up again
for a lot longer."
The defense already plans to appeal the sentence.
Holguin will be transferred from Juvenile Hall to the DJJ's reception
center. After he's evaluated there, he'll be assigned to a specific
facility somewhere in the state. The judge plans to recommend the boy is
placed in the Paso Robles facility. The average age of a ward there is
17.
There is a chance Holguin could be released before
his 25th birthiday. The DJJ's parole board will make that decision based
upon his rehabilitation.
Lawyers debate teen killer's fate
By Stacy Daniel - KSBY.com
Tuesday, May 2, 2006
*It is the policy of Action News NOT to use the names
of minors, but due to the nature of the crimes committed by the boy, a
county judge has said the public has a right to know his name, and see
his face...
San Luis Obispo County's
youngest person to be convicted of murder is in the courtroom again on
Tuesday.
Attorneys are trying to convince the judge where the
14-year-old should spend the next several years for beating to death 87-year-old
war veteran Gerald O'Malley.
Both attorneys have very different ideas of where
Robert Holguin should by placed. But they do agree that he is a very
disturbed boy, and is in need of rehabilitation.
Holguin sits in the courtroom quietly, and looks
around as witnesses testify about where he should spend the next several
years of his life.
"I think a secure facility is definitely warranted in
this case," said Sandra Tellers, juvenile justice expert.
The defense believes the best place for him to
overcome his deeply-rooted behavioral problems is a group home. The
problem with that is only one home, out of 30 that were contacted, said
it would consider taking in a confessed murderer.
The prosecution said this is not a surprise.
"It is unusual to try to place someone for first-degree
murder in anywhere but the Youth Authority, in my opinion," said Andrew
Baird, deputy district attorney.
The defense said in order to help Holguin return to
society he needs extensive mental treatment.
The defense attorney claimed that he cannot get
treatment at the Division of Juvenile Justice, which used to be called
the California Youth Authority. If Holguin is sent there, he will be the
youngest person at the state's Division of Juvenile Justice.
Holguin has been labeled as emotionally disturbed and
extremely needy. If he does not get the proper treatment, experts fear
these qualities make him susceptible to gang violence.
"He had a very tough childhood, he has brain damage,
he has learning disabilities and a very low IQ, so he needs to learn
skills to cope," said Theresa Klein, defense attorney.
It will be up to the judge to decide where he will
learn those skills.
Experts say racial and gang violence is prominent at
all the youth facilities in California, so no matter where Holguin is
sent he will have to work very hard to turn his life around.
Judge Estrada-Mullaney is expected to announce her
sentencing decision on Friday.
