GOSHEN – The retrial of Edward Holley, accused of killing Megan McDonald more than two decades ago, will begin on Monday in Orange County Court with jury selection.
A mistrial was declared in the highly publicized case last April after the deadlocked jury could not reach a verdict after more than a week of deliberations in Orange County Court Judge Hyun Chin Kim’s courtroom.
The retrial was originally scheduled to start in October but was delayed due to a late delivery of DNA evidence from the prosecution, which the defense needed to review. The DNA evidence was retrieved from two vehicles that were associated with persons of interest in McDonald’s murder.
Holley, of Wawayanda, is accused of killing McDonald nearly 23 years ago in the Town of Wallkill. He was arrested by State Police in April of 2023 and faces a murder charge, which carries a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison.
Special prosecutors Julia Cornachio and Laura Murphy will again try Holley with an allocation of approximately $2 million from the Orange County Legislature. The special prosecutors were needed after District Attorney David Hoovler recused himself from the case due to a conflict of interest. While in private law practice, before becoming DA, Hoovler represented a client in negotiations with the DA’s office regarding potential information that the client might provide regarding McDonald’s death.
That man, Andre Thurston, a suspect in the murder, died of a drug overdose in 2010. McDonald’s body was found on a narrow dirt path on March 15, 2003, on Bowser Road in Wallkill. The cause of death was blunt force trauma, with multiple fractures to the skull. McDonald was 20 years old at the time of her death. Holley had previously dated McDonald.
Jury selection for the second trial is expected to take as long as a week.
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