Meet the staff: TCPalm reporter Melissa E. Holsman is a veteran legal affairs journalist
Melissa is an award-winning legal affairs journalist with a background in radio and TV news who joined the Stuart News in 1999.
Prior to a career in news, Melissa spent 18 years in the hospitality business. She moved to Stuart in 1989.
She has been featured on several true crime documentaries and in 2019, she wrote and co-hosted “Uncertain Terms,” a true crime podcast that tells the stories of minors convicted of murder and sentenced to life who returned to court seeking to go free.
She has covered numerous death penalty trials, attended the 2012 execution of Vero Beach serial killer David Alan Gore and in 2013 was selected for the Lucy Morgan Award by the Florida Press Club for investigating death row appeals.
Melissa is a native of Kansas City, Missouri, a huge cat lover and a longtime space enthusiast, especially for NASA's Apollo era.
Q: Why did you choose to be a legal affairs journalist?
A: After about 22 years of covering legal affairs, I’m convinced it’s the best beat in journalism. The Stuart News hired me to cover local politics, which included covering the 2000 Florida vote recount in Tallahassee in the presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore. Two years later I filled in on the legal affairs beat, promptly fell in love with the law and never looked back.
Q: What do you like most about covering legal affairs?
A: It’s a fascinating challenge to explain the relevant law while revealing the human drama that unfolds in every legal story. From neighborhood spats to capital murder, what happens in court can change lives, bring justice to victims or leave people heartbroken. It’s my privilege to tell those stories.
Q: What is your most memorable story or topic?
A: From covering David Alan Gore’s execution, the 2006 slaughter of a family on Florida’s Turnpike, the prosecution of Tyler Hadley, who in 2011 killed his Port St. Lucie parents before throwing a party, and the 2016 insanity case of double killer Austin Harrouff, reporting on capital murder cases are the stories I will never forget.
Q: What do you like to do outside of work?
A: I’m a political junkie who spends too much time following the antics of lawmakers in Washington D.C. and Tallahassee. I am nuts about traveling and I’m an amateur baker, especially cheesecake. And I really love watching the Kansas City Chiefs win the Super Bowl!
Melissa E. Holsman is the legal affairs reporter for TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers and is writer and co-host of "Uncertain Terms," a true-crime podcast. Reach her at melissa.holsman@tcpalm.com.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Meet the staff: TCPalm reporter Melissa E. Holsman covers legal affairs
