At the end of a Wednesday hearing, Hillsborough County Public Defender Julianne Holt admitted the defense of Howell Donaldson, III, is taking a toll.
“So what are you telling the court?” Judge Mark R. Wolfe asked.
“We’re going to shut down depositions at this point,” Holt said.
“And, I don’t want you to hear about it some way or another,” she added.
The case has required an unprecedented amount of time and energy.
Holt argues because the State of Florida has snowed them with documents that they claim are hard to deciper, it has slowed down the process quite dramatically.
“We just can’t keep spending two hours in a deposition to talk to somebody about for four or five page[s] because we don’t know what we’re talking about,” Holt said.
In court, Holt requested handwritten notes from the main Tampa Police Department detectives who worked the case.
Judge Wolfe denied that.
But, Wolfe paved the way for prosecutors to hand over the operational plan used in the search of the serial killer.
Donaldson was arrested in Nov. 2017 for the killings of Benjamin Mitchell, Monica Hoffa, Anthony Naiboa and Ronald Felton in Seminiole Heights.
Holt said she plans to go to Tallahassee to ask for more money.
“I can tell you that because of the impact this case has financially, it’s imperative that I participate in the legislative session this year to try to ascertain additional due process monies,” she said.