Testimony at odds over slain boy's behavior

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...WS06/609240659

Testimony at odds over slain boy's behavior

Excerpts:
LANSING -- Who was Ricky Holland?

Contrasting portraits of the impish 7-year-old, who was slain last summer
and buried in garbage bags in a mid-Michigan swamp, are emerging during
testimony in the murder trial of his adoptive mother.

Was Ricky a sometimes rambunctious -- but normal, even polite -- preschooler
who loved to get hugs from adults and knew when his behavior crossed the
line, as his teacher testified? Or was he an aggressive, hyperactive child
who tested his mother's patience, leading her to conclude that he needed
drugs to control his behavior?

And why, as a first-grader, was the slight, blond-haired, blue-eyed child --
he weighed 55 pounds at his death -- observed voraciously eating food he
pilfered out of school trashcans and from other students' lunches and acting
out, once breaking an eraser in two and wetting his pants?

It will be up to jurors to put the puzzle pieces together as they ultimately
ponder the guilt or innocence of Lisa Holland, 33, who became Ricky's foster
mother in October 2000 and later adopted the boy with her husband, Tim. She
is charged with open murder and child abuse in Ricky's death. Tim Holland,
37, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on Sept. 5 and is expected to
testify that his wife killed Ricky with a small hammer. Lisa Holland has
accused her husband of killing the boy.

Barbara Patrick, one of Ricky's Head Start teachers, described Ricky as a
typical preschooler in many ways but recalled that he "was kind of funny" in
the way he knew when to stop misbehaving.

But Lisa Holland also asked Patrick whether Ricky might qualify for Social
Security disability payments if found to have behavioral problems such as
ADHD or oppositional defiant disorder (ODD).

Psychological testing

At the request of Catholic Social Services in Jackson, which was providing
services to Ricky, Jerel Del Dotto, a board-certified child psychologist at
Foote Hospital in Jackson, evaluated Ricky in February and March of 2001.
Del Dotto testified that Ricky tested about average intellectually, with an
IQ of 96, but that he had the language skills of a child about a year older.

During testing for about two hours over two days, Ricky was "somewhat
squirmy," testified Zandra Galloway, a Foote Hospital psychometrist, who
measures brain-directed activity such as language and motor skills.

But, Galloway wrote in a report that Ricky "redirects well" -- meaning that
he easily returned to a task when directed -- and talked positively about
his mother, whom Galloway took to mean Lisa Holland.

Ricky repeatedly asked Galloway, "Can you tell mama I did a good job?"

Del Dotto said his assessment included input from Lisa Holland, teacher
Patrick and his own observations as well as Galloway's. Lisa Holland's
written comments mentioned several instances of the boy being aggressive,
hyperactive and defiant at home and said she hoped that the doctors would
find out whether Ricky had ADHD or ODD.

Then in February 2002, Ricky's therapist at Catholic Social Services, Susan
Honeck, noticed what looked like a rope burn on Ricky's left wrist. Ricky
told her that "it's from the rope that they tie me in bed with at night."

Honeck immediately called Child Protective Services and an investigator
interviewed Ricky that day. Honeck said she was told later that CPS did not
substantiate abuse.

Lisa Holland's attorney, Andrew Abood, said Thursday that the CPS
investigator reported that Ricky gave other explanations for the marks on
his wrist.

Diagnosis doubled care subsidy

Peggy Cox, Ricky's first-grade teacher at Cascades Elementary in Jackson
during 2003-2004, testified that Ricky ate food he took out of trashcans and
from other students. Cox said that at Lisa Holland's request, she began to
document Ricky's misbehaviors, including that he stood on his chair, broke
an eraser in half and wet his pants.

Lisa Holland apparently gave those reports to a Jackson psychiatrist
treating Ricky.

Eventually, the psychiatrist, Aurif Abedi, who has yet to testify, diagnosed
Ricky in 2004 as having ADHD and ODD, plus impulse control disorder,
intermittent explosive disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and bipolar
disorder. The doctor prescribed several psychotropic drugs.