Man freed from death row sentenced in beating case
By Times Staff Writer
Published June 23, 2004
TAMPA - A man recently freed after spending 16 years on death row was sentenced Monday to two years in prison for beating his wife and threatening his cousin with a machete.
Rudolph Holton, 51, pleaded guilty to aggravated battery and misdemeanor assault.
Court records say Holton beat his wife, Sandra Thomas, with a golf club in December. He confronted his cousin with a machete in May after the two men argued, according to records.
Holton spent 16 years on death row in the slaying of a 17-year-old woman, but the Florida Supreme Court threw out his conviction in 2003. Prosecutors later decided they did not have enough evidence to try him again.
