Ex-boyfriend acquitted in Megan McDonald murder case even though juror ‘did not think he was innocent’

An upstate New York jury on Wednesday found the ex-boyfriend of the 20-year-old daughter of a former NYPD detective not guilty of her violent murder — 23 years after the grisly crime.

Edward Holley, 45, broke down in tears as the jury acquitted him in the March 14, 2003, bludgeoning death of Megan McDonald — his second trial in three years, the Albany Times-Union reported.

The exhausted panel deliberated for a total of 14 days and reported being hopelessly deadlocked before announcing the verdict on Wednesday, the outlet reported.

“Most of us did not think he was innocent, but we didn’t have enough evidence,” juror Barbara Carter said.

Another juror told Times Union the prosecution’s case had “a lot of holes.”

Holley was first arrested in the cold-case murder in April 2023, two decades after McDonald was beaten to death inside her 1991 Mercury Sable and dumped along a dirt path in upstate Walkill.

State police said she had been at a party with friends but left to buy marijuana from Holley.

McDonald — the daughter of former detective Dennis McDonald, who died a year before his daughter was killed — was last seen alive pulling into an upstate apartment complex.

Holley, her ex, was an early suspect in the case who was grilled but never charged at the time.

Orange County prosecutors reopened the case citing DNA found in McDonald’s car and on her cellphone. They charged Holley, who is now bound to a wheelchair following a 2007 traffic accident.

His first trial ended in a hung jury in 2024, prompting this year’s second trial and this week’s acquittal.

The jury at the new trial began deliberating on Feb. 27, and just a few hours later the judge received the first note that the panel was having difficulty reaching a verdict — the first of several deadlock notices.

According to Times Union, there were more than two dozen notes during the deliberations and one juror had to be replaced by an alternate before the verdict was announced.

Holley would have faced a sentence of up to 25 years to life if convicted of second-degree murder.