Florida will seek the death penalty against a man indicted in Hernando County on seven counts of sexual battery on a child and numerous other charges, Attorney General James Uthmeier and 5th Judicial Circuit State Attorney Bill Gladson said Wednesday.
Nathan Douglas Holmberg, 36, was arrested last month and was indicted Monday on 25 counts.
During a news conference Wednesday, Uthmeier and Gladson said multiple children are believed to be victims and that additional charges are expected to be filed in other counties.
Uthmeier said the case involved the rape of a 3-year-old child and described it as “true evil.”
Prosecutors will seek the death penalty under a 2023 state law that seeks to allow executions of people who commit sexual batteries on children under age 12.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in 2008 case known as Kennedy v. Louisiana, barred the death penalty for people who rape children. Uthmeier on Wednesday acknowledged the U.S. Supreme Court ruling but said, “We believe that today’s Supreme Court should re-evaluate and reinterpret the law to allow this form of justice.”
Earlier this year, Palm Beach County prosecutors said that they are pursuing the death penalty for two men accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting a girl beginning when she was 6. Josue D. Mendez-Sales, 27, and Pablo N. Cobon-Mendez, 23, of West Palm Beach, were each arrested in July and are charged with two counts of sexual battery on a person less than 12 years of age. Both have pleaded not guilty.
