Crime & Safety

Road Rage Killing: Suspect Recently Graduated from Citizen Police Academy

In an interview during visiting hours at Santa Rita Jail, murder defendant Cort Holbrook says he thinks about every minute of the road rage fight that left a Fremont man fatally stabbed.

Cort Holbrook keeps thinking about every minute of a fight that left him charged with murder in the stabbing death of a Fremont man.

There's not much else the Livermore resident can do at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, where he is being held without bail in the killing of a driver he got into a road rage fight with on .

"I think about every minute of that day. It's one of those things on my mind, among other things," Holbrook said Wednesday morning in a interview with Livermore Patch during visiting hours. "I think about how I survived and I wonder how my family is doing."

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Holbrook, 41, who is married and has two children, said he's lived in Livermore for 15 years. He said he volunteers for the Livermore Masons and graduated in December from the Livermore Police Department's Citizen's Police Academy.

Sgt. John Hurd coordinates the academy and confirmed Holbrook attended the program, which provides residents a better understanding of the responsibilities of the .

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Hurd would not comment further, citing a conflict of interest with the Police Department's current investigation.

Holbrook on Friday to murder at the Gale-Schenone Hall of Justice in Pleasanton.

His attorney, Eric Schweitzer, said in a previous interview that Holbrook was not the aggressor in the fight that left 48-year-old  mortally wounded, saying the stabbing was in self defense.

Holbrook this morning would not comment on details of the fight or stabbing, but according to police and witness accounts, he and Ziesmer got into a physical fight in a parking lot after a dispute occurred while the two were driving on First Street toward downtown Livermore. 

Wounds on his hands, forearms and face are visible.

"This is all from self defense," he said of the marks. 

Holbrook, dressed in a yellow inmate jumpsuit, also pointed across the right side of his torso and said that he still has bruises there from being kicked.

"I was very purple (after the incident), and I looked like a raccoon," he said. "I'm still on the mend. Diabetics don't heal fast."

Holbrook, who said he's never been arrested, said life in jail has been tough.

"I've never been in trouble before," he said. "It's a tough environment, but I'm holding up."

He shares a cell with another inmate in Housing Unit 4 under maximum security.

"I stay clean of trouble," he said of his experience behind bars. "Give respect and you get respect."

Holbrook said his typical day starts at 3 a.m., when he receives medication for diabetes.

A 30-minute breakfast follows at 4 a.m. and consists of oatmeal, fruit and a couple pieces of bread.

Lunch is served at 11 a.m. and includes a bologna sandwich, fruit and milk.

At 3 p.m., dinner is served: two pieces of fruit, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and "something warm."

"It's a mystery meat," Holbrook said. "We all don't know what it is. It's like cardboard more than anything else."

Holbrook appears to have lost some weight compared to his mugshot.

His daily activities usually end after dinner.

"I try to sleep," he said.

If that doesn't work Holbrook will read National Geographic magazines.

"Time goes by very slow," he said. "Every day is the same. It's like (the movie) Groundhog Day."

But for the most part he thinks about the fight and being separated from his family.

"I miss my family," he said. "Tell them that I love them."

Roshell Morgan, Ziesmer's girlfriend, was in the car and witnessed what unfolded the day of her boyfriend's death.

She said in an that Holbrook began honking at them when they merged into another lane on First Street in Livermore. Ziesmer and Holbrook exchanged words and eventually pulled off on Old First Street downtown near the and .

The two began to fight and Holbrook pulled out a knife, Morgan said.

A filed in court by Livermore Police shows Holbrook said Ziesmer started the incident by drifting into his lane several times and nearly colliding with him.

It also states that Holbrook said Ziesmer punched him several times when they got out of their cars and started arguing. Ziesmer punched Holbrook in the face twice, knocking him to the ground, according to the statement.

As the confrontation continued, Holbrook reached into his driver's door compartment, retrieved a dagger and stabbed Ziesmer in the upper chest and also stabbed the driver's side rear door of Ziesmer's car to prevent him from leaving.

Ziesmer got back into his vehicle and drove to  on East Stanley Boulevard in Livermore. The health center does not offer emergency services, which are based at ValleyCare's Pleasanton facility.

Ziesmer was transferred to Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley, a higher level trauma center, where he later died.

When asked for his initial reaction to the news of Ziesmer's death, Holbrook this morning said "profound."

"I think anybody would be shocked," he said.

Friends and family of Ziesmer couldn't be reached for comment on this story but have said on Patch that he was a caring man with a big heart.

"He was a guy with a huge heart and always wearing a beautiful smile," Marilyn, who identified herself as Ziesmer's mother, wrote in the comments section of a previous . "Regardless of the situation he was always there to help anyone even willing to give a stranger the shirt off of his back."

Holbrook is scheduled for a pre-trial hearing at 9 a.m. April 22 in Dept. 703 of the Gale-Schenone Hall of Justice in Pleasanton.


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