MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) - Murder charges against Elmore County teen Jesse Holton have been dropped. He was accused of killing his parents in 2016.
Holton’s trial was scheduled to begin Monday, but before it could start Elmore County District Attorney Randall Houston announced the dismissal of the charges. He said Holton pled guilty to an underlying charge, unrelated to the death of his parents, which is a Class B felony.
“As prosecutors, our job is to find the truth and do justice,” Houston said. “When we cannot find the truth, it is impossible to do justice.”
BREAKING: murder charges dropped against Jesse “Madison” Holton, Holton was accused of killing parents April and Michael Holton in Sept 2016, trial was scheduled to begin today. DA Randall Houston issued this statement: @wsfa12news pic.twitter.com/eB1PeVhUmP
— Jenn Horton (@JennWSFA) October 22, 2018
Houston continued:
“The forensics report states this case was a homicide and that position has been maintained. The anticipated testimony of the medical examiner would be that they could not classify this case was a homicide beyond a reasonable degree of medical certainty.
"From the beginning this case has been open to interpretation as to what is actually the truth...either Jesse Holton killed his father and mother; the father of Jesse Holton killed Jesse’s mother then Jesse killed his father; or the father of Jesse Holton killed Jesse’s mother and then killed himself.
“My office has reason to believe any of these three scenarios could have occurred, but we have no proof to support any of the three theories beyond a reasonable doubt. Therefore, we are ethically obligated to dismiss the Murder charges against Jesse Holton. The Elmore County Sheriff’s Office has left no stone unturned in this case, and I thank them for their relentless search for truth and justice.”
Holton was charged with murder in the deaths of his parents in September 2016. In October 2017, an Elmore County grand jury indicted Holton for the death of his father and no-billed the charge for his mother. However, in April 2018, he was indicted by an Elmore County grand jury for two counts of murder, after new information was presented to a grand jury that was not available at the time the case was presented in 2017, according to the Elmore County District Attorney’s Office.
Holton’s parents, Michael and April Holton, were found shot inside Michael Holton’s house on Sept. 11, 2016. Michael Holton was pronounced dead at the scene, and April Holton was taken to the hospital where she later died.
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