The man accused of nearly beating his 2-year-old daughter to death last month at a Salmon Creek motel was ordered Friday to undergo a competency evaluation. His daughter, Trinity Compani-Holder, remains in critical condition at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland.
Kyle Stephen Brian Holder, 32, was in Clark County Superior Court to be arraigned on a charge of attempted first-degree domestic violence murder. However, the defense and prosecution voiced concerns over Holder’s mental state and asked that he instead be evaluated.
Holder appeared separate from other inmates, handcuffed in a wheelchair. He wore a suicide-prevention smock, which is given to prisoners who may try to harm themselves with standard jail clothing.
Judge Scott Collier granted the evaluation and set Holder’s next court date for July 15.
On June 28, Trinity and her mother, Barbara Keller, were sleeping in their room at the Sunnyside Motel, a residential motel at 12200 N.E. Highway 99, when Kyle Holder walked in, grabbed the girl, and threw her out an open window onto a concrete walkway, according to a probable cause affidavit. He then walked outside and continued the assault, the affidavit said.
A man in a neighboring room stopped the attack by hitting Holder with a baseball bat.
Holder told law enforcement officers that he didn’t want to kill the girl, but he had to, the affidavit states. “I had to hold my daughter and crush her head so she could go up to the sky,” he allegedly told officers.
The girl’s grandmother, Deborah Holder, told The Columbian on Thursday that Trinity has a long road of recovery ahead of her, and it’s still unclear if she will fully recover. Doctors performed surgery on the girl’s facial bones last week and are keeping her heavily sedated. They are monitoring her brain waves, which have been slow, she said.
