Amy Holder’s defense team weighed their options back-and-forth on whether or not to allow the defendant to take the witness stand. On Thursday, the team decided to allow Holder to take the stand.
Holder has been charged with felony child abuse in connection with the death of two-year-old Naomi Whitecrow, who died after four months in foster care with Holder.
Holder could face up to life and/or one year in the county jail and a fine between $500 and $5000.00, or both.
The court room was filled with an estimated group of 45 supporters for Holder, who was on the stand for nearly three hours, including 90 minutes of cross-examination by Logan County Assistant District Attorney Vincent Antonioll on day eight of the trial.
Holder, 39 of Edmond, testified the morning of January 20, the day Naomi died, that she tried to verbally wake Naomi up, but notice she did not wiggle and felt cold. Holder said she then put the child in her bed to try to warm her up, but realized her eyes were partially open and closed. She then went to the kitchen called 911 and performed CPR until authorities arrived. Naomi was announced dead shortly after.
Upon being cross-examined by prosecutors, Holder, who wiped tears away throughout being questioned, said she left Naomi in her bedroom while she went and laid down in the living room around 2:30 a.m. and notice Naomi several hours later.
Prosecutors accused Holder of using multiple fans to drown out the noise that Naomi was making as Holder laid in the other room.
Neither attorney was able for comment due to a gag order that was put into effect earlier in the week by the judge.
Day nine of the trial is set to begin Friday morning at 9:00 a.m.
It is odd to me to read that Holder testified she called 911 and then applied CPR until the authorities arrived when I was sitting in the courtroom when the prosecution introduced the 911 recordings into evidence. On the 911 tapes, the dispatcher specifically asked Amy Holder, have you administered CPR – to which she replied no she had not and he frantically told her she needed to do so now (apply CPR) and to count out loud. There are moments of silence where Holder did not count out loud but supposedly was applying CPR to Naomi. I wonder what kind of person puts a 2 yr old child in a port a crib in the middle of winter in a diaper only with no blankets, no bedding, gets two fans and puts them in the bedroom (to “drown out Naomi crying”), closes the door and retreats to another room – goes to sleep – awakens at approximately 7 a.m. Does not immediately go check on the two year old child, but begins to get her biological children ready for school before finally going in and checking on the baby??? Who does this?? There are so many unanswered questions surrounding Naomi’s death and only Amy Holder has those answers and she is not talking.
One more thought … Amy Holder’s biological daughter Rockie Lee Holder was removed from Amy Holder’s custody and custody was awarded to her grandparents due to “circumstances involving Amy Holder. Rockie Lee Holder was issued a subpoena from the prosecution to testify as well as the grandparents. How does an individual who has lost custody of their own biological daughter become eligible to become a foster parent in the first place? I am also disgusted with Scott Adam’s insistence on referring to Naomi as “it” “that kid” and “Naylee”. Holder testified she called Naomi “Naylee” because she knew an Indian woman once named Naomi and didn’t like her so called her “Naylee”. Her name was Naomi … she was never called Naylee and it must have confused her to be called by this “made up” name by Amy Holder. The child has already suffered enough turmoil in her life and baggage without having to deal with Amy Holder not liking her name. I pray the jury sees the truth. I pray for justice for Naomi and all the other children who might be spared this same kind of abuse and death as Naomi suffered.
Rosemary, I too pray for justice for Naomi. May God hear our prayers!
The biological Mother had her son test positive for cocaine!!!! You freak, leave the foster care mom alone. Put the biological Mom in prison for the abuse SHE gave to her OWN children and neglect…please…biological Mom FAILED here! BIOLOGICAL MOM.
God bless AMY HOLDER and her family, her poor children. Peace and love to the Holder family.
Get lost Rosemary! The responsible party is the biological MOM and DAD. This child was neglected by the biological parents, then DHS. They gave the child back to the freak biological Mom in rehab…the baby boy tested positive for cocaine…hello…biological mom would have been a mom to start with and not NEGLECTED HER OWN CHILDREN this would not have happened.
GOD bless Amy Holder and her family, how precious they are for taking in a foster child! And how sad to take the blame for neglect and abuse that an already determined unfit parent got away with….May the Lord take protect and bless Amy and her family. So sorry for your families pain.
Van Jones, you are OBVIOUSLY not reading the same story. Naomi had major trauma – bio mom was never around to cause this. THAT is what killed this precious little girl. Who else but her FOSTER parents ???
Scott Adams
@superflyadams Oklahoma City, OK.
Hunter, Father , Husband, Lawyer, and ultimate badass in the courtroom.
32 hours straight prepping for closing arguments in State vs. Holder – Game on tomorrow morning! http://pic.twitter.com/PLrYX0A5
Scott Adams is a slime ball.
“Scott Adams is a slime ball.” Which has a lot of credibility coming from some coward hiding on the Internet.
That ‘slime ball’ just kept his client from spending a single day in jail when prosecutors wanted no less than 25-years.
It was obvious by the expressions of many of the jurors that they did not want to even impose a guilty verdict, much less a fine.
If anyone should have been facing the potential of prison it should have been Naomi’s worthless excuse for a biological mother. How Kala can do drugs while pregnant and abandon her kids and still be portrayed as a loving mother denied her daughter is beyond me.
The biological mother couldn’t care less about Naomi, DHS didn’t care about Naomi, Sooner Start didn’t care about Naomi and the pediatrician did not care about Naomi. The only person who provided her a loving stable home was Amy Holder – and the thanks she received was a prosecution.
Amy is now the poster child for why good families should never even consider trying to work within Oklahoma’s DHS to provided foster care to needy children.
Really, Amy Holder a poster child? She force fed Naomi 16 scrambled eggs, jalapeno peppers, a lemon, spaghetti, spicy pasta salad and hot sauce.
Amy Holder testified to this. She abused that child.
Jennifer, you either paid no to the trial or just make up facts to fit your bias.
Undeniable evidence was presented at trial that Amy Holder was directed by Sooner Start to feed Naomi until she could eat no more so they could try and ascertain if her eating condition was physiological, etc. Amy Holder became so concerned about this request that she stopped and even took photos of Naomi’s distended stomach to justify why she stopped following the advice of Sooner Start.
Face it Jennifer, Amy Holder’s guilt or innocence was placed in far more capable hands than yours and you simply can’t handle it.
The child was in the foster Mom’s care, not the biological Mom’s care. That is why the foster Mom is on trial, not the biological Mom. How could the Jury ignore the pathologist who said the girl died of ” …blunt-force injury to the head, abdomen and extremities.” By the way if Sooner Start directed the foster Mom to feed Naomi until she could no longer eat, that is an arguable point. Did the foster Mom become distraught over trying to follow guidelines while taking care of her own 3 biological children? Did the foster Mom take time out to allow the Naomi to eat, while noting what the child ate at each feeding? How many feedings did Naomi have a day? What foods did she eat? Was there nutritional neglect? (For the “smaller things to argue!!!)
Having some idea of how the criminal justice system works, I can only say it is very criminal in who gets slapped on the hand and who ends up in a cage. As Native people we are familiar with the faces of injustice, but to deny it to a baby who is not here has created an outrage in our communities. Is the message emanating from the Logan County jury one where it is OK to kill a baby and you will only get a $5,000 fine? What happened to your Christian beliefs of an eye for an eye. Or does that only apply to those that society looks down upon?
I hope this case evolves into more questions being asked about they DHS system, the criminal justice system and what to do to fix what went wrong here. Little Naomi deserves at least that much justice don’t you think?
I can understand a small child falling and hitting his/her head or scraping themselves but I cannot understand how they could have given themselves head and abdomen injuries so severe it leads to death. What’s being said about that? No one can say what really happened unless they were there but I do think getting off w just paying a fine in exchange for the loss of a life is ridiculous, a fire or drive by is a tragic accident, blunt force trauma? I don’t think so.