SAVANNAH, Tenn. (KeynoteUSA) — Seven years after a man was convicted of killing nursing student Holly Bobo, the case returned to the Tennessee courtroom where his intense and highly publicized murder trial unfolded.
With Bobo’s parents sitting in the courtroom, a judge heard legal arguments Friday as part of an attempt by Zachary Adams to receive a new trial for the kidnapping, rape and murder of Bobo, 20, who disappeared from his rural house in 2011. His body was found more than three years later, ending a massive search by authorities and his family.
Adams and two other men were charged with kidnapping, rape and murder. But the only trial in the case was that of Adams, who was found guilty in 2017 on all charges and sentenced to life in prison plus 50 years.
The Tennessee Court of Appeals upheld Adams’ conviction in 2022. But a rarely used legal filing emerged last January, when Adams asked a Hardin County judge for a new trial based on statements made by Jason Autry, a key witness in the trial he said is Now he recants the testimony that helped a jury convict his friend.
During the trial, Autry spoke calmly and deliberately as an attentive jury listened to him reenact the day Bobo was kidnapped, raped, wrapped in a blanket, placed in the back of a pickup truck, driven to a river and murdered.
Autry told the jury that he served as a lookout while Adams shot Bobo under a bridge near a river.
“It sounded like, boom, boom, boom, under that bridge. It was just one shot but it resonated,” Autry testified. “The birds were everywhere, all under that bridge. Then just dead silence for a second.”
Investigators found no DNA evidence connecting Adams to Bobo. Instead, they relied on testimony from friends and inmates, who said Adams talked about harming Bobo after his death. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said the investigation was the most extensive and expensive in the agency’s history. Witnesses painted a disturbing picture of drug life in rural West Tennessee, and the trial was filled with emotions: Bobo’s mother, Karen, collapsed on the witness stand.
Autry was also charged with kidnapping, rape and murder, but received leniency for his testimony, which was praised by the trial judge as highly credible. Autry pleaded guilty to lesser charges and was sentenced to eight years in prison. He was released in 2020, but was arrested about two months later and charged with federal weapons violations. Autry is scheduled to be sentenced later this year following his guilty plea in the gun case.
Adams’ brother, John Dylan Adams, also pleaded guilty to charges related to Bobo’s murder and was sentenced to 35 years in prison.
Zachary Adams’ new filing, known as a coram nobis petition, says Autry is now recanting his testimony, claiming he made up the story to avoid serving a life sentence. For the petition to be successful, Adams must show that he is presenting new evidence.
The petition said Autry met with a forensic neuropsychologist in December and admitted he made up the story after his attorney told him before the 2017 trial that he was “95% certain of a conviction” on the charges in the Bobo case.
Autry claims he made up the entire story in his cell before the trial while reviewing discovery evidence. Autry used extensive data from his cell phone to create a story, the petition says.
“He said he simply recreated their day and ‘added Holly to it,’” the petition states.
Adams’ attorney, Douglas Bates, argued that a hearing should be granted to discuss Autry’s recantation as new evidence. Prosecutors said Adams’ petition should be dismissed without an evidentiary hearing.
Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Nichols, who also prosecuted the trial, said the case has already been “thoroughly litigated.” Adams has not provided new, specific evidence that Autry’s testimony was false beyond “general unsworn statements,” Nichols wrote in court papers.
Nichols said Adams’ request must be supported by affidavits. Autry’s statements were presented to the court only in a video interview, which was sealed from the public.
Citing previous case law, Nichols wrote that retracted testimony is “viewed with suspicion.” Nichols also said Adams would have been convicted even without Autry’s testimony because other trial witnesses said Adams made “incriminating admissions” about his involvement in Bobo’s death.
“Jason Autry was just a piece,” Nichols told Circuit Court Judge J. Brent Bradberry.
Bradberry said he will decide later whether to grant the state’s motion to dismiss the case without an evidentiary hearing.
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