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Non-lawyer represents self in Texas case, gets life term

Posted at 3:29 PM, Oct 22, 2018
and last updated 2018-10-22 16:29:56-04

BELTON, Texas (AP) – A Central Texas man who’s not a lawyer but insisted on representing himself in a 2016 custody and kidnapping case has been convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

The Temple Daily Telegram reports 36-year-old Tutankhamun Holt of Kempner must serve 30 years before he’s eligible for parole.

Jurors in Belton, 50 miles (80.46 kilometers) north of Austin, on Oct. 11 convicted Holt of aggravated kidnapping with a deadly weapon.

Prosecutors say a 7-year-old girl was abducted from her custodial father in November 2016 in Harker Heights. She was found safe, a day later, near Tuskegee, Alabama.

Her mother, who allegedly was with Holt during the abduction, awaits trial.

An attorney on standby to help, Michael White, says he told Holt the case was going badly. The defendant thought he’d win.