MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A Dakota County jury convicted a 37-year-old Apple Valley man Tuesday morning of murdering his wife and their unborn child after 10 hours of deliberation.
The court found Roger Holland guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder in connection with the March 7 incident. According to court documents, Margorie Holland was 15 weeks pregnant when she was found dead inside her Apple Valley townhome. Roger Holland was accused of strangling her and trying to make it appear as if his wife fell down a staircase.
He was charged with two counts of murder in the case because his wife was pregnant. It sparked a debate on whether murder charges can be filed in the case of an unborn fetus.
Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom said under Minnesota law, to convict someone of first and second-degree murder of an unborn child it’s not necessary to find that a person had intent to kill the unborn child or did so with premeditation. That’s in the case that the person had the intent to kill the unborn child’s mother and did so with premeditation.
Roger Holland will be sentenced in Dakota County Court Tuesday afternoon.
