Amy Holder was found guilty of child abuse inside the Logan County courtroom shortly before midnight on Monday.
Amy Holder talks with her defense team moments before the jurors entered the courtroom. Photo By Chris Evans
The 12 person jury consisting of eight females and four males deliberated for more than nine hours after hearing 10 days of testimony, including Holder on day eight.
The Edmond mother was accused of abusing two-year-old Naomi Whitecrow, who was placed in her foster home in Spetember 2008, and later died in the Holder home on January 20, 2009. An autopsy was unable to determine cause of death.
Holder was stoic as the verdict was read as she was throughout the entire trial. She was seen wiping her eyes on three occasions, on Monday, during her defenses closing arguments.
“There is no winners in this case and our heart goes out to the Whitecrow’s and all of her family,” defense attorney Scott Adams said outside the court room. “It is still a very sad case that we have a two-year-old that is no longer with us.”
Guthrie News Page was in the courtroom when the jury handed down a recommended punishment of $5,000. Adams said they plan on paying the $5,000 fine in the November sentence and “move on.”
Holder faced up to life in prison and/or one year in the county jail and a fine between $500 and $5,000. The prosecution asked the jury for 25 years in the Department of Corrections.
The prosecution and the defense began closing arguments on Monday morning with the state addressing the jury for 115 minutes and the defense for 74 minutes. The jury was sent to deliberate at 2:14 p.m. with the verdict announced at 11:37 p.m.
The courtroom was packed of Holder’s family, friends and supporters. Naomi Whitecrow’s birth mother, along with family members were also present.
“It was a very difficult case. They obviously came back with a verdict that we can live with,” Adams said. “We have always contended that we did not do it. Hopefully everyone can heal from here on out,” Adams concluded with.
While a ‘guilty’ verdict is a pitter pill to swallow, the jury sent a clear message of their displeasure with the prosecution when they wholly ignored their request for a minimum 25-year sentence and instead returned a recommendation of a monetary fine.
Let this be a lesson to good families in Logan County that are considering opening their homes, their families and their hearts to needy foster children – Do not do this, as those who should have loved their children most and unconditionally (the biological parents) will never be held to the same standards as those who have nothing to gain but to provide stability and love to those most helpless amongst us.
I pray Amy and her family can somehow find peace and move forward.
Let us not forgot their nightmare is not over. Amy now bares the societal scarlet letter of a convicted felon and must await the outcome of a pending civil lawsuit brought by the selfish and greedy biological parents of little Naomi ‘Naylee’ Whitecrow.
you pray that a woman who lets a two year old child die can find peace and move forward? so if she had killed YOUR child, would you be praying for her to find peace? would you call yourself greedy for seeking justice? Amy is alive. Naomi is not. Is her life only worth $5000? A child dies in your are and its called a “lapse in judgement?” Are you SERIOUS? Are you actually telling me if your child had died while in Holder’s care that you would be okay with this verdict? Yet you call the family selfish and greedy for fighting for justice? And yes Darrin. Child abuse IS black and white. Abuse is WRONG and it should be completely unnacceptable. It should not be tolerated. Those who know it is happening and stand idly by and do nothing are just as guilty as the one perpetrating the abuse. Those who don’t seek medical help for the child because they are afraid they or the abuser will get in trouble are guilty of NEGLECT and ABUSE. Its not accidental. Its not a lapse in judgement. It’s a choice. A choice in which the abuser decides, their freedom, thier needs, thier life is more important than the child they are entrusted with. Failure to provide necessary care is the abusers CHOICE. A choice which says quite clearly to intelligent individuals that they don’t want to be inconvenienced with the child’s most basic needs. Yet you call it a “lapse in judgement”. I hope you don’t have children. May god help them if you do.
it’s because the foster parent is white and the child was just an injun. dont you know that in america the only good injun is a dead injun? they like to pretend that they arent that racist, but, really, they are….$5000 is a bloody insult to the child, to the family and to the decent, fair-minded community at large. that judge ought have his license revoked.
I cannot believe a jury sees the evidence of an abused child, finds the defendant guilty of child abuse and then recommends a $5,000 fine. This is a complete joke,
Our judicial system needs an overhaul.
Jennifer, that is why such a wide range of punishment exists. ‘Child abuse’ is not black and white. The jurors agreed Amy may have had some lapses in judgement, but she was not directly responsible for Naomi’s death – they simply concluded she could have done more to seek medical attention for Naomi’s conditions.
Darrin,
You are right when you say the “biological parents” are not held up to the same standards. For one, they are not treated with the higher standards of a criminal court proceeding where the burden of proof is beyond a reasonable doubtl. Instead, if these “biological parents” as you call them, are not Indian they are held to the civil standards of a preponderance of evidence, which basically means “more likely than not” or equivilent to an auto accident civil claim. If Indian, than the civil proceeding becomes based “on clear and convincing evidence. ”
One more item, when these “biological parents” first appear in court, after their children are taken, most can not afford an attorney, nor is one appointed for them. which at the emergency hearing is when these parents need it the most.
My sympathy goes out to the Whitecrow family who should have recieved justice. The criteria for being a foster parent is not as stringent as it needs to be. Check out the background checks, you can find it at OKDHS. org Another Angel has been sent to heaven
darrin sounds like a child abuser. ive never met a decent person who was NOT a child abuser defend the abuse of children.
& when it’s all said & done, a 2-year old is still dead. a 2-year olds life=5,000.00? i am a survivor of abuse which started when i was 4-years old after my dad married my stepmother after my mother died when i was two. no child deserves to be abused by ANY adult, parents or otherwise! there is no price tag that will ever make it okay!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I agree.
that babies life is worth more than 1 year and 5,000 dollars.
There are sevearl things here that are IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER … ONE being that this angel and Her brother were REMOVED from the Biological Parents after the younger of the 2 TESTED POSITIVE FOR DRUGS !!! I wouldn’t be so sure that the little girl was not summitted to them as the baby was,Therfore having several health complications. Second being that this was NOT the first time that they were removed.
There is more to this than We know. I think that the nightmare that the Holder’s have gone thru is ENOUGH !! They need to MOVE ON… No ! there is NO PRICE tag that can be put on ANY CHILD … ,but this Angel is where she needs to be with the Father that LOVES AND CAN PROTECT HER. Her parents didn’t they FAILED @ THAT MORE THAN ONCE !!
I believe that the only thing that Amy would have been guilty of would be NOT TAKING NO FOR AN ANSWER !!! I mean she did what she thought that she could do, and when NO LUCK and after being turned away more than once… What was she suppost to do !. I don’t think she knew what to do !!! I know I wouldn’t either !
But Yes ! I say she sould have STAYED AFTER THE VERY PEOPLE THAT WERE TO PROTECT THE BABY …. IF that were even possable.
REMEBER the guilty verdict just said that she is guilty of not getting better care for the Angel, THAT DOESN’T MAKE HER GUILTY OF KILLING A CHILD !!! If you have ever had to seek medical care for a child with several medical issues… you know that its VERY HARD to get the quality care that they need when you DON’T HAVE THE RESOURCES ….. I know because I have a daughter with major heart issues and the best doctor’s are NOT HERE they are in other area’s like Dallas … and unless you have the MONEY to get the Care needed then you are out of luck !!! When you are awarded of the State they are to see that you get the care needed and they are often to UNDER STAFFED to get the right person to STAY ON TOP OF THE CASE ! I belive that is one of the very things that were missed here with the little girl… Very sad, but a very true fact of life !! that has always been the way that the State has been … THEY NEED MORE TRAINED AND HIGHLY QUALIFIED SOCIAL WORKERS TO HANDLE EVEN THE MORE DELICATE CASES !!
I am very sad that such as pretty girl and her life was cut short, but I do take in the reassurance that she CAN NOT be HURT AGAIN EVER !!!!
May the Entire Holder Family begin to move forward and get back to their lives !
shes a stone cold child killer. the end….at least the kid was still alive while she was with her biological family.
Screw you and your religions!!! You’re faith has blinded you. The girl is dead for NO reason. It takes not just a family but A COMMUNITY to raise and make sure that ALL children are protected. What this case proves is that there are 12 dumb people who should never serve as jurors again, a judge who is not will to step in for the law when the people fail it, and that race has more to do with justice than people are willing to admit. Holders lack of action makes them guilty when it comes to seeing behavior irregularity in the child that might cause any physical harm. Sure the biological family may have been unfit at the time to take care of their children but by opening up your home to these children they become yours, and with the Holders that is obviously not true. I could go on and on but I am stopping here.