Scharlette Holdman

Holdman was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on December 11, 1946, to Neil Holdman and Maggie Mae Wardlow. Holdman grew up in Memphis and graduated from high school in 1964. Afterwards, she earned her Bachelor of Arts in anthropology at the University of Memphis, her Master of Arts in the same field at the University of Oregon, and her Doctor of Philosophy, again in anthropology, at the University of Hawaiʻi. She also worked as an ACLU director in New Orleans and worked to close several jails, although she did not enjoy that work. She moved to Miami, Florida, in 1977, where she briefly worked as the ACLU executive director of Florida before resigning and relocating to Tallahassee, Florida. Holdman was married once, to James Shotwell Lindzey, although they divorced in 1974. Holdman later stated that she found marriage stifling. They had two children. == Anti-death penalty advocacy in Florida ==

Holdman focused on advocating against the death penalty after the Gregg v. Georgia decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1976 paved the way for use of the death penalty to resume in the United States. The Gregg decision required courts to consider "compassionate or mitigating factors stemming from the diverse frailties of humankind," so Holdman decided to recruit and mentor capital defense attorneys in presenting mitigating factors about capital defendants' backgrounds to juries and appellate courts, including information regarding inmates' family histories, mental capacity, motives, and medical history. The Florida Clearinghouse had an annual budget under $25,000, and Holdman's salary was $600 a month; during her time at the clearinghouse, she lived a frugal lifestyle. The Florida Clearinghouse on Criminal Justice struggled to find an adequate number of attorneys to represent every capital defendant and death row inmate in need of legal representation, and it also struggled with limited funds. As a result, in 1985, the Office of Capital Collateral Representative (CCR), a centralized government-funded organization, was founded by The Florida Bar. CCR, which, in its first year, received five times more funding than the clearinghouse had, ultimately replaced Holdman's clearinghouse in providing attorneys to capital defendants and death row inmates, although Holdman also worked with CCR as their chief investigator. == After Florida ==

Following her work with the CCR, Holdman relocated to San Francisco, California, where she continued working in anti-death penalty advocacy at one of the California appellate projects. Holdman's final client was Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, one of the main participants in the September 11 terror attacks on the United States. Around that time, Holdman studied Islam and ultimately converted "in solidarity with people who have been unjustly scrutinized and persecuted by the government." Holdman later moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, where she worked at the Center for Capital Assistance in training lawyers and investigators to conduct pretrial investigations on inmates' backgrounds and develop evidence to secure life sentences for capital murder defendants. == Later life and death ==

Holdman spent her final years in New Orleans. She died of gallbladder cancer in her New Orleans home on July 12, 2017, at the age of 70. Because of her work aiding Mohammed, and because of her conversion to Islam, she received a Muslim burial. == See also ==