Erica Pugh is the Florida woman who was 18 years old when she served as lookout during the February 2014 car burglaries that ended with her boyfriend, Benjamin Holtermann, fatally shooting Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy Jonathan Scott Pine. Although Pugh never fired a weapon and was not at the scene of the shooting, a grand jury indicted her for first-degree capital murder under Florida’s felony murder statute. She pleaded guilty in January 2015 to manslaughter, burglary, and grand theft, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.1Spectrum News 13. Erica Pugh Plea Deal
Her Role on the Night of the Shooting
On the night of February 11, 2014, Pugh drove with Holtermann to the Westminster Landing subdivision in the Windermere area of Orange County so he could break into cars. She told detectives she stayed in the vehicle and kept watch, adding, “I do keep an eye on the police because I don’t like them myself.”2WFTV. Woman Charged in Deputy’s Killing Details Night Out
In recorded statements, Pugh said she and Holtermann were homeless and unemployed and had been committing a string of car break-ins across the Orlando area to survive, targeting cash and gift cards. They also used empty homes for shelter. A 911 call from a neighborhood resident described a woman fleeing the scene in a car and nearly striking a neighbor who tried to stop her, a call legal analysts later called a critical piece of the prosecution’s case. Pugh told investigators she dumped the stolen car shortly after and was walking through the neighborhood when Holtermann called her cellphone moments before the shooting. She said he told her, “I see deputy coming toward me,” and said he loved her.3WFTV. Girlfriend of Orange County Deputy’s Killer Details Night of Shooting
Pine, 34, had chased Holtermann through a residential backyard after an investigatory stop. Holtermann turned and fired, hitting the deputy three times with a 9mm handgun. Two rounds struck Pine’s bulletproof vest, but a third entered under his arm and into his chest. He was pronounced dead at Orlando Regional Medical Center. Holtermann was found a short distance away, dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.4WFTV. Details Emerge in Slaying of Orange County Deputy Jonathan Pine
Pugh also confessed to taking part in an armed robbery that occurred days before the shooting and was separately charged with aggravated assault with a firearm and robbery with a firearm in that incident. A judge ordered her held without bond and revoked her pretrial release on earlier, unrelated charges for cannabis possession and retail theft.5WESH. Alleged Accomplice to Deputy’s Killer Held Without Bond
How She Was Charged With First-Degree Murder
Later in 2014, a grand jury indicted Pugh for first-degree capital murder under Florida’s felony murder statute, even though she was not at the scene of the shooting and did not fire the gun. The theory was that because Pugh and Holtermann were committing felonies together at the time of the killing, each was equally responsible for the outcome. Legal analyst Richard Hornsby told WESH that the indictment sent “a message” that anyone involved in the death of a law enforcement officer would be held accountable, though he considered it “highly unlikely” that State Attorney Jeff Ashton would seek the death penalty given that Pugh was not the shooter.6WESH. Girlfriend of Man Who Killed Deputy Charged With Murder
The case turned on two legal questions. One was whether the underlying felonies were still in progress at the time of the shooting. The other was whether Holtermann’s decision to shoot a deputy was an unforeseeable “independent act” outside the scope of the plan to steal from cars. Pugh’s own words would complicate the first.
The Jailhouse Interview That Hurt Her Case
Days after her arrest, Pugh agreed to a lengthy jailhouse interview with investigative reporter Tony Pipitone of ClickOrlando. Asked whether she and Holtermann had been trying to escape when the confrontation with Pine occurred, Pugh said, “No, at that point we both knew there was no turning back, there was no getting away.” That answer undermined any defense argument that the burglaries had wrapped up before the shooting.3WFTV. Girlfriend of Orange County Deputy’s Killer Details Night of Shooting
In the same interview, Pugh referred to the slain deputy using a derogatory term for police officers, which drew public backlash. She also voiced anger at Holtermann for killing himself, saying, “He’s so selfish he had to kill himself. I have to get through all these charges by myself.”2WFTV. Woman Charged in Deputy’s Killing Details Night Out
The Plea Deal and 15-Year Sentence
On January 14, 2015, Pugh pleaded guilty to manslaughter, burglary, and grand theft under an agreement with the State Attorney’s Office, resolving the first-degree murder charge. Circuit Judge Wayne Wooten sentenced her to 15 years in prison at the Orange County Courthouse.7Orlando Sentinel. Woman Sentenced to 15 Years in Orange Deputy’s Killing
Pine’s widow, Bridget Pine, told the court the sentence was “not enough time to spend in prison for killing my husband” and said Pugh “will get to live her life in 15 short years and go back to normal. Me and my family year after year will spend our life and celebrate birthdays and achievements of life and holidays spent at a cemetery in tears.”8WFTV. Erica Pugh Pleads Guilty to Manslaughter in Death of Orange County Deputy Deputy Yehuda Green, a colleague of Pine’s, testified about the toll on the deputy’s young son Ryker, who would never learn to throw a baseball from his father.
Pugh addressed the courtroom, apologizing to the deputy’s family. “Your children don’t deserve to be without a father,” she said. She called Holtermann a “coward” and told the judge, “I thank you for putting me in prison for 15. I know it sounds weird but it would help me get closer to God.”9WESH. Erica Pugh Sentenced to 15 Years in Deputy’s Shooting Death Judge Wooten told her, “Sorry can’t fix everything in life. You made a very poor series of decisions.”7Orlando Sentinel. Woman Sentenced to 15 Years in Orange Deputy’s Killing
State Attorney Jeff Ashton said the sentence was “an appropriate resolution for the facts and the law as applied to her case” but added that “no punishment the court system can impose would ever satisfy us or our community for the immense loss of Deputy Pine’s life.”1Spectrum News 13. Erica Pugh Plea Deal Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings acknowledged that 15 years “does seem like a light sentence” but agreed with the Pine family that ultimate accountability would come from “a higher justice.”7Orlando Sentinel. Woman Sentenced to 15 Years in Orange Deputy’s Killing
Background Before Orlando
Both Pugh and Holtermann were originally from Maryland’s Eastern Shore, near the Delaware border. Holtermann was ten years her senior and had a substantial criminal history.10Baltimore Sun. Couple With Maryland Ties Connected to Florida Officer Murder He was convicted in 2009 of robbing the same Provident Bank teller twice within four months and served three years in a Maryland prison. After his release in November 2012, the Maryland Department of Public Safety classified him as a “lower-risk offender.” He maintained contact with his probation officer until August 2013, when he absconded.11Orlando Sentinel. Mother of Cop Killer: We Are Tremendously Sorry
Pugh’s mother told reporters her daughter’s ankle monitor from a prior legal matter was removed in April 2013, and that Pugh disappeared that same day. Pugh later told investigators the couple came to Central Florida from Maryland before Christmas 2013 because she disliked cold weather. Once in Orlando, detectives linked the pair to a roughly two-month run of car burglaries along the South Apopka-Vineland Road corridor in southwest Orange County.12WESH. Woman Sentenced to 15 Years in Orange County Deputy’s Shooting Death Pugh described the couple as homeless, breaking into cars for money and sleeping in vacant homes. She called the crimes a way to “survive.”