She's accused of faking cancer for donations of money and services. Now, Kristin Holzman of Geneseo, is facing a second charge and trial set to start April 30th.
Today, Monday, March 12th, 39-year-old Holzman was back at the Henry County Courthouse for a Preliminary Hearing on the second charge. The charge is another felony - Solicitation of Obstruction of Justice - because Holzman reportedly asked a non-for-profit organization to confirm that their donations were provided to her based on her financial status, not the impression that she was ill with cancer.
Holzman's attorney, Jack Schwartz, says he is prepared to fight that charge - along with the first charge of felony theft - at trial next month.
"We believe that she will be found not guilty," says Schwartz. "We've pled not guilty and we're prepared to go to trial with the Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeff Lang in front of Judge Sengel. We're preparing. We'll have our witnesses lined up and testimony ready to go. The morning of April 30th, we'll start picking a jury."
Prosecutor Jeff Lang would not talk to WQAD on camera, saying he could not comment on a pending case. A pre-trial hearing is set for April 12th.
Today's hearing only took about 20 minutes, but was an important one because it marks the first big case in Henry County where the Illinois Supreme Court's ruling allowing cameras in the courtroom went into effect.
Schwartz objected the extended media coverage at the beginning of the hearing, but the judge denied the objection, saying the case has already been in the media and there's no additional undue prejudice by having video of the inside of the courtroom.