Bond Hearing Set In Murder Of Police Officer

Alabama Mobile Attorney for suspect Richard Hollingsworth talks about his client.

by Steve Alexander

Published: Thu, June 04, 2009 - 7:28 pm CST Last Updated: Thu, June 04, 2009 - 8:36 pm CST

The attorney for a teenager accused of killing a Mobile police officer said there was absolutely no way his client would have known the man he shot was a police officer.
Attorney Jim Sears is representing 18 year old Richard Joseph Hollingsworth.
Hollingsworth is charged with capital murder in the shooting death of Officer Brandon Sigler.
The shooting happened late Tuesday night at the Tyler Ridge apartment complex in west Mobile.
Police said Officer Sigler was trying to break up a fight between some girls.
Sears said, "Mr. Hollingsworth is a nice kid from a good family."
Hollingsworth talked to reporters Wednesday while being led from the police station.
He admitted pulling out a pistol and shooting Sigler.
When asked about Hollingsworth's comments to reporters, Sears said, "Like any other attorney that doesn't want to hear their client making those comments, I wish that he had not, at least not until after we had talked and I found out more about it. I don't that think its going to harm him."
Sears also said Hollingsworth "did say that he didn't know it was an officer. The officer did not have on a uniform, didn't have a badge on his belt like they typically do, his t-shirt or whatever it was he had on didn't identify him as a police officer, so there was absolutely no way that he would have known that that was a police officer."
When asked how he saw the role of courtesy police officers in this case, Sears said, "This courtesy police officer, I think, extends the effect of the police department well beyond the scope of what a police department does. The relationship is not with the police department. The individual officer does not have a relationship with the police department. He has a relationship with the apartment complex and that was the way it was in this case."
When asked where Hollingsworth got a stolen gun, Sears said, "Don't have any idea at this point. Don't even know if he brought it to the scene or if just somebody else brought it, and its just something that happened, an opportunity that came up, so I really don't know."
Sears would not talk about whether Hollingsworth had any record as a juvenile or whether he might be on suicide watch in jail.
He did say Hollingsworth, at least initially, would plead not guilty.
Hollingsworth goes before Judge George Hardesty for a bond hearing at 9am Friday.

WKRG.com » News Stream » Alabama

Video
Photo

Embed:

WKRG.com Related

News –› Alabama

News –› Mobile

Discuss this in the forum

Email to a Friend

Printer Friendly

Download Video

Page 1 of 2 pages 1 2 >

rmseek1234 Says:

Sat, Jun 06, 2009 at 10:16 am

I wonder if he would pass a polygraph? He is playing his attorney, just like he is playing the media. But the truth WILL come out…it’s a matter of time.

rmseek1234 Says:

Sat, Jun 06, 2009 at 10:10 am

Taking the fact that Officer Sigler was a LE officer out of the equation, does NOT change the fact that this creep committed cold-blooded, calculated murder. He made a series of choices, any one of which he could have changed from the time he left his house with a loaded gun, to go to an apartment complex where an “incident happened EARLIER.” At any time, he COULD have chosen to do things differently and there would have been a different outcome.

It really doesn’t matter if Officer Sigler was a LE officer, or just a good samaritan trying to help,imo.This punk CHOSE to kill someone. It is capital murder, no matter how you look at it, and he will be a crispy critter before too long.

His “friends” on social network pages say a 2 second decision changed his life. Sorry “pray for joey,”-he had more than 2 seconds to MAKE that decision, and his DECISION KILLED someone. At least thug boy HAS a life for the time being.

minimay87 Says:

Sat, Jun 06, 2009 at 9:00 am

I have had experiences with defense attorneys when my aunt was killed, and he tried to make her out as the one that was asking for what happened to her. To me when you are sitting there trying to say that the certain person that was killed brought it upon themselves is just wrong. Was he just trying to find a way to defend his client, yes. Does that make what he did right, no. In no way am I comparing what that guy did to my aunt to what has happened in this case, but it is just a point to show that sometimes defense attorneys use unethical measures to try to “win” their case.

minimay87 Says:

Sat, Jun 06, 2009 at 8:56 am

You do not have to have a lot of “experience” with attorneys to know what is right and what is wrong.

minimay87 Says:

Sat, Jun 06, 2009 at 8:54 am

I would hope that a lot of people do not have a lot of experience with defense attorneys. We are not saying that his is not doing his job to try and defend his client we are saying that he is jumping into this media circus, without fulling knowing the facts of his clients case. He does not know where or how his client obtained the weapon, so why is he so set on making his client look like some kind of innocent first time offender. That is not what we are dealing with in this case. We are dealing with an individual that has been linked to similar behavior before.Not some kid that just turned 18 and made one bad decision that has affected his life. This has been an ongoing problem with this young man. Yes he is just of legal age to be processed as an adult, but he is old enough to pay the consequences of what he has done.

hearagain Says:

Fri, Jun 05, 2009 at 3:53 pm

Not too much experience with attorneys on this forum I guess. Of course he won’t divulge what he does or doesn’t know. His job is to defend his client.

minimay87 Says:

Fri, Jun 05, 2009 at 9:56 am

Yeah that’s the thing about cases like these. It is easy to get caught up in the incidents. It is good to get on here and voice how you feel about something. Otherwise you keep everything in and it all comes spilling out at once. It is not good it has happened to me before.

ickthus Says:

Fri, Jun 05, 2009 at 9:49 am

help we are south of the picket wire. i guess we need wool socks but it’s getting deep in here.

minimay87 Says:

Fri, Jun 05, 2009 at 9:48 am

Yes everyone has the right to be defended and have their case heard, that is not the problem here. At this point he is presumed innocent until “proven” guilty. We are not the ones to say he is innocent or guilty, however everyone can voice their opinion. So try not to knock people that are saying how they feel on here. What is said on here is not going to affect the outcome of his case.

minimay87 Says:

Fri, Jun 05, 2009 at 9:43 am

He did not even get a chance to fully talk to the guy before going on camera and defending his case.

Page 1 of 2 pages 1 2 >