40/29 reports that a jury has sentenced Zachary Holly to die for the abduction, rape and slaying of 6-year-old Jersey Bridgeman in Bentonville in 2012. The child was abducted from her mother’s home. The case drew broad attention because of the arrest earlier of the child’s father and stepmother for chaining her to a dresser. The abduction followed her move to the home of her mother, where she was a friend of children in the Holly family before she disappeared. Her body was found shortly after she was reported missing.
The sentencing followed testimony about Holly’s experience as an abused child of a drug addict and his mental limitations — a special needs student with limited ability to read or write and no driver’s license.
Arkansas has not executed anyone since 2005 and it’s lethal injection procedure remains under court attack. He will become the 34th person on Arkansas’s Death Row, a population with sentences dating back to 1989.