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Harvey pleads not guilty

By LEE WILLIAMS
lwilliams@TheCitizenNews.com

The first legal movement in the killings that shook Fayette County last year occured early this week when Holly Harvey pled not guilty.

Harvey’s Peachtree City attorney Judy Chidester emerged at the Fayette County Courthouse Tuesday to file the paperwork that would ultimately waive Harvey’s arraignment. Harvey entered a plea of not guilty, officials said.

“Her arraignment was scheduled for Feb. 2,” the clerk said. “She is scheduled for the March 21 trial calendar.”

The next trial term will be held the weeks of March 21 and March 28.

Harvey is the teen-ager who allegedly lured her 77-year-old grandparents, Carl and Sarah Collier, down to her basement bedroom in their Plantation Drive home with the distinctive aroma of burning marijuana.

Her girlfriend, Sandy Ketchum, also a teen, lay in wait underneath Harvey’s bed with a knife when the struggle began, authorities said. Ketchum allegedly joined the fight and stabbed Sarah Collier, officials said. The Colliers were each stabbed more than 15 times, said Lt. Col. Bruce Jordan, director of investigations for the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department.

Inkpen scribblings later found on Harvey’s arm allegedly revealed their plot: “Kill, Keys, Money and Jewelry.”

After the killings were over, the girls allegedly fled south to the beach at Tybee Island, outside of Savannah, where they were later caught after a Spalding County girl tipped off police.

Both teens will be tried as adults and each will face two counts of felony murder and two counts of malice murder. Harvey was 15 and Ketchum was 16 at the time of Aug. 2, 2004, double murder.

To date, Ketchum has not waived her arraignment. Therefore, she is expected to be arraigned in front of Superior Court Judge Johnnie Caldwell Jr. on Feb. 2. Lloyd Walker of Peachtree City is representing Ketchum.

The clerk could not say which judge will be assigned to the case, but she indicated Superior Court Judges Johnnie Caldwell and Chris Edwards will sit on the bench during the week of March 21. Judge Caldwell and Superior Court Judge Tommy Hankinson will sit on the bench during the week of March 28.

The clerk said it’s still not too late for Ketchum to waive her arraignment.

“She is scheduled for Feb. 2, but the attorneys can file a waiver up to the day of arraignment,” the clerk said.

It is unclear if the teens will be tried together. Griffin Judicial Circuit District Attorney Scott Ballard was unavailable for comment Friday.