- The Orange County man charged with killing 20-year-old Megan McDonald in 2003 was released from jail this week.
- A special prosecutor was named to the case after Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler recused himself because of a potential conflict of interest.
The sudden arrest last week in a 20-year-old Orange County murder case took two unusual turns Wednesday, when the suspect was released from custody and a special prosecutor was appointed to handle the case.
Edward Holley, 42, left the Orange County Correctional Facility in Goshen a day earlier than expected, freed until a grand jury indicts him in a case that police brought before prosecutors were ready. Holley was being held in the jail on unrelated drug charges when New York State Police charged him with the 2003 killing of 20-year-old Megan McDonald.
An outside prosecutor has now been assigned. Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler announced that he recused himself because of a potential conflict of interest stemming from his work as a defense attorney more than a decade ago. He said he had represented a now-deceased client in negotiations with the District Attorney’s Office about providing information related to the McDonald killing.
The Holley case will instead be handled by Julia Cornachio, a defense attorney who worked as a prosecutor in the Bronx and Westchester County for more than 30 years and handled “numerous homicide cases,” Hoovler said. Appointed to assist her is Laura Murphy, another former prosecutor who oversaw cold cases in Westchester.
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A long-awaited development in 20-year-old Megan McDonald case
Holley lives in Wawayanda and is confined to a wheelchair, his legs paralyzed from a 2007 car accident. He denied killing Megan in…
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