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Bolin's Breaks

The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 27, 2009

Oscar Ray Bolin shouldn't still be breathing our air. But the multiple murderer continues to be warehoused by Florida taxpayers. He is benefitting from a judicial system required to treat him humanely when he doesn't deserve it.

Bolin viciously killed three young women in the Tampa Bay area 23 years ago. In each death, he was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. But because of errors by prosecutors and judges, he has been given chance after chance to escape the penalty he deserves. The delay has forced victims' loved ones to relive time after time their unimaginable pain.

Incredibly, Bolin has been tried nine times altogether and sentenced to death eight. For him to still be alive is maddening. It has to be one of the most outrageous records in the history of jurisprudence.

Bolin's latest gift was handed down last week, when the 2nd District Court of Appeal ordered a retrial in the murder of Natalie Blanche Holley. The panel ruled Hillsborough Circuit Judge Barbara Fleischer didn't properly instruct jurors on manslaughter, a lesser-included offense.

The ruling is hard to stomach. Bolin had abducted 25-year-old Holley in North Tampa. After stabbing her at least eight times, he dumped her body like garbage. In the latest trial, jurors convicted him of second-degree murder - another gift in itself - and he was sentenced to life. And now he stands to get a fourth trial.

In addition to his successful appeals, Bolin also has received another significant break: Florida did away with the electric chair in 2000. It was tailor-made for monsters like Bolin. Although the current form of execution - lethal injection - is much too kind, it beats allowing Bolin to quietly pass away of old age in his prison cell. That would not be justice.

Local prosecutors and Attorney General Bill McCollum need to zero in on their strongest conviction and see to it that Bolin is executed as soon as possible before he gets yet another break.

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