Jury convicts Keys woman who shot and killed boyfriend. Her strangle story didn't hold up
A jury convicted a Florida Keys woman of murdering her boyfriend inside the bedroom of their home, finding that she abused him prior to shooting him, despite her claim that he strangled her.
The woman, Brittany Holbrook, 35, had claimed she was being battered by her 29-year-old boyfriend, Tyler Nulisch. But, prosecutors successfully argued that it was Nulisch who suffered physical abuse that early morning, July 17, 2023, prior to the shooting.
'... Based on the autopsy report, Tyler, the victim, had significant injuries to his face, head and neck — all evidence that she severely attacked him, not the other way around,' Chief Assistant Monroe County State Attorney Joseph Mansfield told the Miami Herald. 'And her claim of battered spouse syndrome was simply not supported by the evidence.'
Mansfield argued during trial that the motive behind the shooting was that the couple's nine-month relationship was dissolving. Nulisch was a commercial fisherman at the time of his death.
The jury reached its verdict Monday. Holbrook faces 25 years to life when she's scheduled to be sentenced on April 11. She was represented by an attorney with the Monroe County Public Defender's Office. Public Defender Robert Lockwood declined to comment when reached Thursday.
Night of drinking
The bizarre case unfolded after a night of having some drinks at the Big Coppitt Key stilt home the couple lived in on Avenue F in with their roommate, 44-year-old Jordan Kinn.
After all three went to bed, Kinn was awakened by Holbrook screaming. Kinn was in the living room, and when he ran upstairs, he found Holbrook cradling a profusely bleeding, but still alive, Nulisch on the floor, according to a Monroe County Sheriff's Office arrest form.
Kinn called 911, telling the operator that his friend was 'in bad shape. He's hurt real bad,' according to the report.
When deputies and detectives arrived around 3 a.m., they questioned Kinn. He said that Nulisch told him, 'that bitch shot me in the back.'
Paramedics took Nulisch to Lower Keys Medical Center, where he died at 3:46 a.m., the arrest report states. He was shot in the lower back, according to the report.
Cops found a 9mm Smith & Wesson handgun with a spent bullet casing on the floor of the room near the couple's bedroom. The gun belonged to Holbrook, who said she brought it with her when she moved from Stuart to the Keys nine months earlier.
Holbrook at first told detectives that there was a 'gap in her memory,' according to the report. But, she changed her story later that morning, saying she woke up in bed to Nulisch strangling her, at times pushing her against the wall.
The detective left for a few minutes and came back, and Holbrook's version of events changed slightly. This time, she told the detective she recalled Nulisch going to the bathroom and returning 'like he was a different person,' before attacking her, according to the report.
The detective noted in his report that Holbrook had no marks on her neck 'of any kind.' She did, however, have bruises on her knuckles, and the autopsy report noted injuries to Nulisch's head and neck.
During the trial, Holbrook testified that she was blacking out when Nulisch was attacking her. She grabbed the gun 'and just happened to shoot him in the back,' Mansfield said.
'I was very pleased that I was able to convince the jury that the evidence supported a different story from the one that she was telling,' Mansfield said. 'The story supported by the evidence was fact. Her story was not supported by the evidence, and it was fiction.'
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