Tommy Holland: Indiana man on two life terms begs for death penalty after killing inmate, warns of more murders
MADISON COUNTY, INDIANA: An inmate serving two life sentences has requested death penalty after stabbing a fellow inmate to death. Tommy P Holland, 45, is serving the life sentences for murder at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. He requested the death penalty after being offered a plea deal that would have seen him serving out a third life sentence. Holland warns that if he does not receive the death penalty, he will only attempt to kill more people.
Holland was convicted in Madison County in 2015. He had been charged with the murder of employees at a Mars Hill supermarket and a Marathon gas station — and the Madison County Sheriff’s Department believes Holland may have been responsible for additional deaths. Appearing in Madison Circuit Court Division 3 on September 15, Holland rejected his plea deal, and said that he "will continue to drop bodies until you give me the death penalty," according to Madison County Prosecutor Rodney Cummings.
Cummings has said that he is reluctant to take that course of action, though he is considering it. “I don’t want to spend the county’s money,” he said. “If there is no trial it would cost about $50,000. A trial and the appeals could cost $750,000. It’s not an appropriate way to spend taxpayer dollars.” According to Cummings, the US Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed every death penalty case it has heard over the past 11 years.
“He will serve another year in segregation and then be returned to the general population,” Cummings said. “I have contacted the prosecutor in LaPorte County of a potential problem and am writing to the Department of Correction for them to exercise reasonable caution to prevent his (Holland) access to other inmates, nurses and correctional officers.”
Holland's attorney, Bryan Williams, has said that he had made the request for the death penalty against the attorney's advice. “In 27 years as a defense attorney I’ve never had that happen before,” he said. “Without question, he was serious about the request.” Williams has requested that Holland undergo an evaluation to determine whether or not Holland is competent — and he believes that he will be found so.
Holland was on trial for the murder of Clifford Baggett at the Pendleton Correctional Facility on Aug. 9, 2019. According to an affidavit of probable cause by Master Trooper Jeff Carmin of the Indiana State Police, Holland's stabbing of Baggett was all caught on the facility's surveillance video. He says that Holland had been pacing, as if looking for someone. “The video then shows the suspect pull a weapon from his waistband and attack the victim at first in the back and then several times in the body as the victim falls to the floor before DOC guards are able to separate the suspect from the victim,” Carmin said.
The autopsy done on Clifford Baggett showed that he had suffered ten stab wounds in various locations on his body which led to his death.