[PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR ...

parents and placed in foster care. Also included in those records are Holladay’s
early run-ins with the law. At the age of thirteen, he was placed on “indefinite
probation” for throwing rocks and placing spikes and other things on the railroad
tracks. He also apparently hopped on and crawled under moving trains. Two years
later, when he was fifteen, Holladay was arrested for committing a series of
burglaries. As a result of these incidents, Holladay was sent to the Alabama Boys
Industrial School for a year; a year after that he returned for another stint.
The school records present a picture of a child with severe learning
difficulties. Holladay repeated both first and second grade and earned “F” in all
academic subjects with the exception of one “C-” in third grade math. Initially he
was cooperative, but by the time he reached fifth grade, he had become disruptive.
One teacher reportedly had him wash her car during class rather than have him
present during lessons. Indeed, notes in the record state that he was “somewhat of
a retarded child,” that his promotions were social, and that it was “doubtful that he
[would] be able to do anything except present a problem in the classroom.” His
education ended after sixth grade, a year in which he was placed in a special
education class. Before then, his elementary school principal had tried to have him
placed in a special education school but it was full. The principal had noted that
Holladay was “definitely mentally retarded” and another teacher wrote that he “did
26