Ryan Joseph Holle (born November 17, 1982) is an American convict found guilty in 2004 of

first-degree murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the c ...

under the

felony murder rule The rule of felony murder is a legal doctrine in some common law jurisdictions that broadens the crime of murder: when someone is killed (regardless of intent to kill) in the commission of a dangerous or enumerated crime (called a felony in so ...

for lending his car to a friend after the friend and others at a party discussed their plans to steal drugs and money and beat up the 18-year-old daughter of Christine Snyder. A former resident of

Pensacola, Florida Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principal ...

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, he is now serving a sentence of 25 years at the Marion Correctional Facility after his life without the possibility of parole sentence was commuted by Governor

Rick Scott Richard Lynn Scott ( Myers, born December 1, 1952) is an American politician serving as the junior United States senator from Florida since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he was the 45th governor of Florida from 2011 to 2019. Scott ...

Details of murder

On the early morning of March 10, 2003, after a night of partying, Holle lent his car to a friend and housemate, William Allen, Jr. Allen used the car to drop three men off at the house of Christine Snyder, where they removed a safe containing of

marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...

and

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

425. During the burglary, one of the men, Charles Miller, Jr., used a

shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which usually discharges numerous small p ...

he had found in the house to

bludgeon Bludgeon may refer to: * Club (weapon) * Bludgeon, a ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' character * Bludgeon, a ''Transformers'' character * WP:BLUDGEON, an English Wikipedia term for a type of disruptive editing See also * Bludgeoning Blu ...

Jessica Snyder to death. Holle was away.

Convictions

Prosecutors sought the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

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

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 A legal doctrine is a framework, set of rules, Procedural law, procedural steps, or Test (law), test, often established through precedent in the common law, through which judgments can be determined in a given legal case. A doctrine comes about w ...

known as the

. The doctrine broadens murder liability for participants in violent felonies to include a killing by an

accomplice Under the English common law, an accomplice is a person who actively participates in the commission of a crime, even if they take no part in the actual criminal offense. For example, in a bank robbery, the person who points the gun at the teller ...

. 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 ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

,'' 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."

Trial

Holle was the only involved person to be offered a

plea bargain A plea bargain (also plea agreement or plea deal) is an agreement in criminal law proceedings, whereby the prosecutor provides a concession to the defendant in exchange for a plea of guilt or '' nolo contendere.'' This may mean that the defendan ...

that might have led to a sentence of only 10 years, but he refused the deal. Holle's trial lasted one day, including testimony, jury deliberations, conviction, and sentencing. On June 24, 2015, Holle's sentence was reduced by Governor Rick Scott to 25 years in prison and 10 years of probation. Holle's projected release date is June 30, 2024.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holle, Ryan Joseph 1982 births Living people American people convicted of murder People from Pensacola, Florida People convicted of murder by Florida Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Florida American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Recipients of American gubernatorial clemency