The trial of a Bossier Parish horse farm handyman accused of trying to kill his boss by detonating a homemade bomb under the intended victims’ bed is set for next week.
Jury selection in the trial of Douglas Holley is scheduled to begin Monday in Bossier District Court. Holley, 56, is charged with attempted first-degree murder and manufacturing a bomb. He has pleaded not guilty.
Holly plans to act as his own attorney. He fired the public defender’s office earlier this year after disagreements over trial strategy, although District Judge Parker Self ordered a public defender to be in the courtroom as a legal advisor during the trial.
Holley is accused of detonating a pipe bomb underneath the bedroom floor of veterinarian Bobby Hewlett’s home at Holly Hill Farm west of Benton on December 19, 2015. Hewlett and his wife, Tracy, along with four pets, were knocked out of bed by the force of the blast, but the thickness of the floors of the farm house are credited with dispersing much of the force of the blast. Shrapnel from the bomb was embedded in the couple’s mattress.
Investigators said Holley, who worked as a handyman on the Hewletts’ farm, became obsessed because the veterinarian was unable to save a horse named Charlie that died of colic. The Hewletts said they were unaware of any animosity. The horse is buried on the farm.
Holley is jailed without bond. If convicted as charged, he faces sentences that could leave him in prison for the rest of his life.
