Jury selection was set to start Monday morning. Instead, Curtis Allen Holliday pleaded guilty to his wife's murder in exchange for a 10-year prison sentence, according to attorneys. The deal includes credit for the two years he spent in the Harris County Jail before posting bond.
"Curtis decided it was in his best interest, instead of risking a life sentence. If the jury didn't agree with us, to take what was offered," Holliday's defense attorney, Dick DeGuerin, told ABC13. "He'll be out in time to continue to raise his daughter."
This case dates back to 2020.
Holliday was arrested on May 5, 2020, after being charged with violation of bond on a protective order and continuous violence against a family member.
According to court documents, Holliday assaulted his wife, 29-year-old Chi Thi Lien Le, on Nov. 28 and Dec. 25, 2019, and was charged with assault.
Deputies with the Harris County Sheriff's Office said Le was reported missing in late April 2020 when her family members said they couldn't reach her for several days. A witness told investigators she was last seen on April 3, 2020.
One month later, deputies conducted a search at Holliday's business in the 5800 block of North Sam Houston Parkway West, where they found Le's body wrapped in plastic in a commercial freezer on the property.
Holliday was charged with murder after the medical examiner's office ruled her death a homicide.
DeGuerin called the plea "guilty with an asterisk" and said his team gathered evidence that Le took her own life.
"We believe this was actually suicide, but he panicked after he found her. Instead of calling police, he put her in a freezer and that's bizarre," DeGuerin conceded. "And I don't know if a jury would have liked that too much."
Holliday will be formally sentenced in July.
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