Marion County, Fla. – As the country commemorates America’s Independence this Fourth of July weekend, a man celebrates his newfound liberty.
Ryan Holle, 41, was just released from jail after serving more than half of his life behind bars. The ABC Action News I-Team first interviewed Holle two years ago while examining the statute that landed him in prison – Florida’s “felony murder rule”. Under that state legislation, someone might be sentenced to life in prison even if they did not kill anyone, were not present at the crime scene, or were unaware of what happened.
In April 2022, I-Team Investigator Kylie McGivern asked Holle to describe why he is in prison.
“I’m in prison because I loaned my keys to my roommate,” he stated.
Holle made that unfortunate decision in 2003, the morning after a party at his Pensacola home.
Holle stated he fell back asleep after informing his roommate he could borrow his car. When Holle awoke to find his car still missing, he called his roommate, who informed him that he and three other men were about to break into a friend’s home.
“If I had taken it seriously, I would have called the police,” Holle told the I-Team. “They were just saying they were going to go rob her mom for a safe that was in her house, that supposedly had drugs and money inside of it.”
The men stole the safe and killed Jessica Snyder, 18, with a shotgun before returning to Holle’s residence.
“The officers came to the house, and I wanted to tell them everything that had happened,” Holle told the I-Team. At trial, prosecutors claimed that the crime would not have occurred without Holle’s car – “No car, no crime.” Holle was condemned to life in prison, along with the guy who killed Snyder and the other three men present.
However, in an unusual move, then-Governor Rick Scott commuted Holle’s sentence to 25 years in 2015, granting him mercy and resulting in his release on June 30. Sylvia Garnett documented the moment she and her son had waited 21 years for Holle coming out of prison, getting into her car, and starting to drive home.
“It’s amazing,” Holle remarked, hugging his mother as he met the I-Team near Marion Correctional Institution’s door. “Just hugging my mom and getting into the car with her felt natural. Like this is how life should be.”
On one of the most important days of his life, the I-Team discovered Holle locking up the minor moments he had missed.
“I just heard a rooster?” Holle queried his mother, who said, “Yeah, there’s chickens back there,” referring to a nearby residence.
“It’s incredible, it’s a lot to take in already, the cars driving around, it’s like — you’re so used to looking around all of the time and being cognizant of your surroundings that it’s just – now that I know, wow, you know, I’m free,” Holle exclaimed with a grin.
Holle said his mother promised him from the start that if he did what he was supposed to do in prison, which was to keep out of trouble and educate himself, she would do everything she could to fight for him.
“We worked towards that goal,” said Holle, who now holds a Bachelor’s degree in Communications.
The I-Team followed Holle to his first meal at a neighboring breakfast establishment, where he ordered banana caramel pecan stuffed French toast with a side of bacon.
“So many choices,” Holle replied, perusing the menu. “What I ate for lunch and dinner, every day I pretty much did the same thing for years.”
Holle’s mother, Sylvia, stated that she was prepared to look ahead.
“This will be new. “The new chapter,” she explained.
Holle stated that he will never forget his time in prison.
“Not only do I never want to come back, but I know there are people who have other situations who aren’t blessed like I am, who have a mom who fights for me out here, that have these situations where they have no voice for them and they’re still stuck,” Holle went on.
Many of Florida’s 80,000 convicts, who were sentenced under the state’s felony murder law, are still in jail. So far, efforts to limit punishments under that provision instead of imposing life sentences have failed as per abcactionnews.
“We want people to learn about the felony murder rule. “People are unaware of it,” Garnett explained.
Holle stated that he wants to be a voice for others.
“There’s something inherently wrong with this law that put me in prison where – unless the Governor would have made this move to graciously allow me to get out of prison, I would still be in prison right now.”