SEX PREDATOR HEADS BACK TO LOCKUP PLEA DEAL CALLS FOR 14 YEARS IN PRISON.Byline: KAREN MAESHIRO Staff Writer LANCASTER - A 21-year-old convicted rapist is heading to prison for 14 years after admitting he assaulted two women less than a week after his last release from behind bars. Fought off by the women he accosted ac·cost tr.v. ac·cost·ed, ac·cost·ing, ac·costs 1. To approach and speak to boldly or aggressively, as with a demand or request. 2. To solicit for sex. in a parking lot and on a sidewalk, Devine Holmes was arrested last August less than a week after his placement in a California Youth Authority group home in east Lancaster, where he was staying as a condition of release from a locked CYA CYA Cover your ass. See Defensive medicine. facility. ``The evidence was against him, so it wasn't in his best interest to risk spending the rest of his life in prison,'' said Holmes' attorney, Larry Sperber. ``One of the charges carried a maximum of life in prison. If he was convicted on that alone, there was a potential of never getting paroled. This way at least he will know in a certain amount of time he will be able to get out of prison and get on with his life.'' Holmes was sentenced Tuesday after pleading no contest to kidnapping kidnapping, in law, the taking away of a person by force, threat, or deceit, with intent to cause him to be detained against his will. Kidnapping may be done for ransom or for political or other purposes. , assault with intent to commit another crime, assault with a deadly weapon Assault with a Deadly Weapon is the term used to describe the act of threatening to harm one or more people by using a weapon (usually a firearm). Here, assault must be differentiated from battery as they are often confused. Assault is threatening to use force. , attempted kidnapping, attempted carjacking The criminal taking of a motor vehicle from its driver by force, violence, or intimidation. The u.s. justice department categorizes the crime of carjacking as a "completed or attempted Robbery of a motor vehicle by a stranger and false imprisonment false imprisonment, complete restraint upon a person's liberty of movement without legal justification. Actual physical contact is not necessary; a show of authority or a threat of force is sufficient. The person falsely imprisoned may sue the offender for damages. . A charge of kidnapping to commit rape, which carries the potential life term, was reduced to regular kidnapping under the plea bargain plea bargain n. in criminal procedure, a negotiation between the defendant and his attorney on one side and the prosecutor on the other, in which the defendant agrees to plead "guilty" or "no contest" to some crimes, in return for reduction of the severity of the , Sperber said. ``It's a pretty stiff sentence. I don't think we could get a plea much more than that,'' Deputy District Attorney Fred Mesropi said. Sheriff's deputies said Holmes was linked to the crimes by a bite mark on his hand left by the second woman as she fought him off. The first incident occurred about 11:15 a.m. Aug. 1 in the Wal-Mart parking lot in east Lancaster. A woman was in her car when a man forced his way into it and tried to keep her inside. She fought him, and he left on a bicycle, deputies said. About 30 minutes later, a woman was pushing her baby in a stroller on a sidewalk near Lancaster Boulevard and 15th Street East when a man came out from behind some bushes, grabbed her, dragged her into the bushes and left the baby on the sidewalk, deputies said. The assailant hit the woman in the face almost a dozen times, but she fought him off - biting his thumb - until he left on a bicycle. A witness tried to follow, but the man got away, deputies said. Several hours later, deputies got a call from firefighters at the CYA group home about a man requesting medical attention for what he claimed was a dog bite dog bite Public health The clamping of skin and subjacent soft tissues between the upper and lower mandible of a canine, which may cause infections, acting as a disease vector or even death. See Dog. , but firefighters said the wound did not appear to have been inflicted by a dog. Holmes later was identified by the two victims as the attacker, deputies said. karen.maeshiro(at)dailynews.com (661) 267-5744 |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion