NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The man convicted of killing nursing student Holly Bobo is requesting a new trial — again.
The murder of Holly Bobo, 20, attracted national attention after she was taken from her home in Decatur County in 2011. Zach Adams was convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering her. His attorneys argued that the state's primary witness, Jason Autry, recanted his testimony. Because of that, they said they believed he should get a new trial.
No date had been set for a hearing as of Thursday evening. Bobo's mother said she was confident that Adams was guilty. He was sentenced to life in prison in September 2017, plus 50 years for kidnapping, raping and murdering Bobo in 2011. Her remains were found in 2014 in northern Decatur County.
Adams was denied another trial in September 2022. In that request, his attorneys raised several reasons they believed he was eligible for a new trial.
“We knew going in it was going to be a very hard case to win because you have this beautiful young woman who had been taken from her home, and those facts balanced against my client who had had kind of a tough background, you know? He’d been involved in drugs; he’d been a drug addict, a drug dealer, and we knew that was going to be really stark contrast between the two. So we recognized that,” said Jennifer Thompson, Adams’ attorney, when he was initially found guilty. “But, you know, the whole thing is that this whole case has been based on what people said. There is absolutely no evidence that ever linked Zach Adams to Holly Bobo.”
Dylan Adams, Zach’s brother, made an Alford Plea in 2018 to a lesser charge of facilitation of murder in exchange for a 35-year sentence. The third suspect, Jason Autry, pled guilty to his part and testified against Zach Adams. Autry was released from prison in September 2020 but was later indicted on a federal gun charge in 2021.