The last of 10 defendants in a high-profile case of patient abuse at Whiting Forensic Hospital was sentenced Friday.
It was an emotional day for family and friends of former Whiting Forensic Hospital employee Bruce Holt as a judge handed him a sentence that will have him in jail for several months.
Holt was one of 10 Whiting staff members charged in the abuse case of longtime patient, Bill Shehadi, in 2017. It was a story that NBC Connecticut Investigates broke.
Holt and his attorney crafted an agreement with prosecutors that will have him serve 90 days in jail, but his offenses will be lowered from felonies to misdemeanors.
Holt did not address the court before his sentence, but the judge addressed him.
“You violated your duty as a professional in your treatment of Mr. Shehadi,” the Judge Maureen Keegan said.
Holt’s family did not want to speak after the sentencing, but said he is a good man, and the surveillance tapes used to prosecute him did not show him doing anything in their opinion that rose to the level of abuse.
Part of Holt’s sentence also includes community service on his birthday and three of the major holidays and he is not to be working in a job where he cares for sensitive or fragile patients anymore.
