BENTONVILLE, AR – A local man has been sentenced to death for the 2012 kidnapping, rape and murder of a young girl.
Zachary Holly, 30, was found guilty last week in the killing of Jersey Bridgeman, 6.
The jury began deliberating the sentencing phase of Holly’s trial on Tuesday and returned their verdict late Wednesday morning.
Prosecutors had sought the death penalty for Holly, while his defense attorneys had asked for a life sentence.
On Tuesday morning, jurors heard testimony from Holly’s mother, Ginger Simmons. She told the jury that she and Holly lived with a sex offender in California, and she was addicted to meth while Holly was growing up. She also said she and a friend got Holly high on marijuana when he was 10 years old, and that she sometimes sold his Christmas presents for drugs.
