BIDDEFORD, Maine — The Biddeford City Council has voted unanimously to seize by eminent domain a convicted double murderer’s ramshackle home and tear it down.
The 8-0 vote Tuesday night will allow the city to make the property part of a nearby neighborhood park.
Mayor Alan Casavant says the city will pay the current appraised value of $30,000 for the home.
Authorities said the home was in poor shape even before Rory Holland shot and killed brothers Derek and Gage Greene in June 2009. They say it was cluttered and had no electricity or running water. In the years since, the home has fallen into further disrepair.
Holland was convicted of two counts of murder and sentenced in February 2011 to concurrent life sentences in prison. He claimed self-defense.
Who is gonna’ get the 30K that the city is paying??? Does it go the legal team of Mr. Holland or help defray his encarceration expenses? His next of kin if he has any? Only half the story here.
Good point. I think it should be applied to whatever fines were assessed as part of his guilty verdict. It’s the only way the taxpayers will see a penny of the fine money.
A judge can only do that if he was ordered to pay monetary damages at the time of his sentencing. To change any part of the judgment after the fact is considered double jeopardy, which is forbidden by the U.S. Constitution. The families may seek civil damages however, for which the 30 K would be fair game.
He’s not dead yet. As the (alive) owner of the property, he should get the proceeds. Let the lawyers sue him for it if he still owes them. Also, it would be unethical for the State to take someone’s property to defray incarceration expenses. If they could do that to him, they could do it to anyone. Also, it opens the door to shenanigans if public officials decide they want to take someone’s property and can’t be bothered to make an eminent domain case. Sorry, but I just don’t trust the government that much.
The State cannot touch his 30 K unless it was specified that he was required to pay monetary damages at the time of his sentencing. For the court to claim the money would be unlawful, and a judgment to do so from a judge would be considered double jeopardy. However, if the families of those murdered were to seek monetary compensation through civil court… well… it’s fair game.
The city should NOT just be able to take the home and property.
Most likely the media have already doomed this 30K into potential civil suit fodder for the family of those murdered by this man. Eminent domain cases happen all the time, but for a convicted murderer… it is the media’s way of saying “here is some civil suit fodder for you, go for it.”