Self-defense or murder? First day winds up in murder trial of ex-cop
Feb 7, 2024 Updated 5 hrs ago
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Defendant Adam Holen walks holding hands with his wife, Kaise, Tuesday. Criminal defense attorney Megan Downing is on the far right. Holen's sign, "Isaiah 40:14," alludes to the Biblical passage: "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God."
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Adam Holen, 38, is charged with second-degree murder and felony menacing in the shooting death of Peyton Blitstein, 17, in 2021.
Courtesy of Aurora Police Department
Criminal defense attorney Megan Downing walks on the sidewalk outside of the Arapahoe County Courthouse. Behind her is Adam Holen, with a handwritten sign saying "Isaiah 41:10." Beside him is his wife, Kaise.
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Dark images and audio from a doorbell video with a 30-foot view turned out to be a critical witness on the first day of an ex-Greenwood Village police officer’s murder trial.
Jurors sat forward in their seats, one visibly upset wiping her eyes with tissue, as 10 booms rang out on the six-and a half minute video.
It portrayed the chaos which broke out on the evening of Nov. 24, 2021, when an altercation over a speeding car ended in the death of 17-year-old Peyton Blitstein.
The first gunshot came from Blitstein’s weapon, a ghost gun. The next nine were fired from Adam Holen's Smith and Wesson handgun. Holen, 38, had just retired from the Greenwood Village Police Department a week earlier.
Two more videos, both captured on police body worn cameras, showed Holen's reaction as he sat on a curb. Behind him, a first responder gave CPR to Blitstein.
"I just resigned as a police officer from Greenwood Village. He’s gone," Holen, dressed in an Avalanche jersey, told responding police officers. "I’m (expletive) chill, man. I was like, I’m cool. Can somebody check on my leg please? I’m shot too, by the way. I think I emptied a whole mag on him."
"He talked a lot," Aurora Police Sgt. Paulmichael Trenery testified. He was the second officer on scene.
A forensic pathologist testified that all nine of the bullets from Holen's Smith and Wesson hit Blitstein in the torso, back and arms. Dr. Casey Bitting, with the Arapahoe County Coroner’s office, said two of the bullets were fatal.
The autopsy report showed that Blitstein’s body contained 24 nanograms of delta-9, the active ingredient in cannabis. Bitting testified from a forensic report that the drug can bring about depression and reality distortion, but said that "we don’t get too excited about marijuana metabolites."
After being questioned further by 18th Judicial Chief Deputy District Attorney Chris Gallo, she added that new studies indicate that marijuana shows inconsistent levels in a body after death.
The autopsy, which showed that Blitstein's manner of death was homicide, was conducted five days after he died.
Holen, who was portrayed by his defense attorney Megan Downing as a family man, ex-police officer and former teacher, faces one charge of second-degree murder and another of felony menacing.
Several times as he's exited the courthouse, Holen has displayed handwritten signs, one which said "Jesus is King" and, as he left Tuesday, another with the message: "Isaiah 41:10," which alludes to the passage: "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God."
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Thanksgiving Eve, 2021
The Thanksgiving eve incident started at around 10:30 p.m. After spending that night watching an Avalanche game at his mother’s home, Holen told police that he was cut-off by a red Scion Toyota near the entrance of his Southeast Aurora subdivision.
In the car were five teenagers including Blitstein, and Bethany Poor, who had just gotten off of work and parked in front of her home, in the 4900 block of South Addison Way, to change clothes.
When the disturbing doorbell video was played, jurors turned and watched as the entire front row of Blitstein’s family left the room, returning to their seats once the scene was over.
Holen’s family and supporters sat on the opposite side of the gallery. Holen, dressed in a dark suit and blue tie, showed no emotion during Wednesday’s testimony, often swiveling in his chair, and at times whispering with his attorneys.
The morning saw six witnesses including first responders, Bitting, and the neighbor who owned the doorbell video.
Amber Rosenbaugh, who is Poor’s mother, was on the witness stand as screams and gunshots from that night unfolded on her doorbell video. She was visibly shaken, often rocking back and forth with her fist over her mouth and wiping tears from her face. At times she turned her head away.
Rosenbaugh testified that she was in her room sleeping at around 10:30 p.m. when she heard yelling outside of her window. She told defense attorneys that she called police, and ran to help Blitstein, who was lying near the sidewalk.
She said that she didn't know Holen, even though he was a neighbor who lived five houses down the street.
The trial promises to answer who was the aggressor that night. Were Holen's actions done in self-defense because he was afraid for his life, or is he a murderer?
Poor, the final witness of the day, gave what may turn out to be a critical eyewitness account in attempts by both sides to answer that question. She testified that after she parked her Scion and ran to the porch looking down from the steps, she saw Holen, still in his truck, lift the center console with his right hand, retrieve his handgun with his left hand, and said she heard him rack the gun and point it at one of the teens, who by now had gotten out of the Scion. At this point, Blitstein was still in the Scion.
The actual incident from the time Holen drove up to the Scion in his truck to the second when Blitstein was hit by gunfire and fell backward took less than two minutes, as shown on the doorbell camera footage.
In his opening statement, Gallo said it was Holen who was "in the driver's seat of his own actions" that night. But Downing, Holen's attorney, countered that statement.https://rb.gy/ihwd3j
"He wasn’t in the driver’s seat. He walked into a bullet," she said. "I’m sorry ladies and gentlemen, but he gets to react."
The trial will continue in an Arapahoe County courtroom Thursday morning.
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