Vinson L. Holmes, Jr. v. Commonwealth of Virginia

CourtCourt of Appeals of Virginia
DecidedJune 7, 2022
Docket0951212
StatusUnpublished

This text of Vinson L. Holmes, Jr. v. Commonwealth of Virginia (Vinson L. Holmes, Jr. v. Commonwealth of Virginia) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Vinson L. Holmes, Jr. v. Commonwealth of Virginia, (Va. Ct. App. 2022).

Opinion

COURT OF APPEALS OF VIRGINIA

Present: Judges Russell, Ortiz and Raphael UNPUBLISHED

Argued at Richmond, Virginia

VINSON L. HOLMES, JR. MEMORANDUM OPINION* BY v. Record No. 0951-21-2 JUDGE STUART A. RAPHAEL JUNE 7, 2022 COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA

FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF KING WILLIAM COUNTY B. Elliott Bondurant, Judge

Charles E. Haden for appellant.

Rebecca M. Garcia, Assistant Attorney General (Jason S. Miyares, Attorney General, on brief), for appellee.

A jury convicted appellant, Vinson L. Holmes, Jr., of abduction, aggravated malicious

wounding, conspiracy to commit robbery, two counts of robbery, two counts of malicious

wounding, and six counts of using a firearm in the commission of a felony. Holmes claims that

the abduction conviction should be reversed because the facts supporting it were not separate and

distinct from those supporting the malicious wounding and robbery convictions. He claims that

the conspiracy-to-commit-robbery conviction should be reversed for lack of evidence of any

agreement. And he claims that all thirteen convictions should be set aside because the evidence

did not show that he willingly participated in the offenses or aided and abetted them. Finding the

evidence sufficient for the jury to convict Holmes on all charges, we affirm.

* Pursuant to Code § 17.1-413, this opinion is not designated for publication. BACKGROUND

We recite the facts “in the ‘light most favorable’ to the Commonwealth, the prevailing

party in the trial court.” Hammer v. Commonwealth, 74 Va. App. 225, 231 (2022) (quoting

Commonwealth v. Cady, 300 Va. 325, 329 (2021)). Doing so requires that we “discard the

evidence of the accused in conflict with that of the Commonwealth, and regard as true all the

credible evidence favorable to the Commonwealth and all fair inferences to be drawn therefrom.”

Cady, 300 Va. at 329 (quoting Commonwealth v. Perkins, 295 Va. 323, 324 (2018)).

On the night of July 10, 2019, Holmes and Damian Kelley participated in two separate

attacks on three victims at their homes in King William County. All thirteen convictions stem

from those two incidents.

The first attack occurred at about 9:45 p.m., as Kristopher Eiben arrived at his house on

Rosebud Run. As Eiben parked his car, he saw the head of a person later identified as Kelley

standing by the shed. When Eiben got out of his car, he saw a second person later identified as

Holmes standing about three feet behind Kelley. Eiben asked if he could help them with

anything.

Kelley then approached, pointing a gun at Eiben and ordering him to the ground. Eiben

went to his hands and knees, “keeping an eye on” his assailants. Eiben then dropped all the way

to the ground. Although he covered his head with his arms, Eiben saw that Kelley was standing

to his right and Holmes to his left. They attacked him. Eiben felt kicks to his right side and a

stomp to his head. He also felt kicks to his ribs on the left side of his body and to his ear. He

suffered blows to both sides simultaneously. The kicks coming from the left were more intense

than those from the right.

Once the beating stopped, Kelley and Holmes fled on foot. Eiben ran to his house and

called the police. He suffered visible injuries to his head and torso.

-2- Sergeants Wade Ellis and M.P. Boyle of the King William County Sheriff’s Office were

dispatched to Eiben’s home between 9:50 and 10:00 p.m. Eiben provided them with video

footage from his shed-mounted security camera that showed Kelley and Holmes as they crossed

in front of the lens. Kelley walked briskly with his right arm fully extended, his right hand

pointing a gun straight ahead; Holmes kept up with him, only one stride behind. The camera

also captured their fleeing the scene a short time later. Holmes could be seen well enough on the

video that the officers took a still image to use in locating him.

The second attack occurred just after 10:00 p.m. at a residence on Corann Drive, a short

distance from Eiben’s home. Daniel Ingram and William Dean were relaxing and drinking beer

in the garage of the house they shared. Holmes walked up the driveway to the garage—with

Kelley behind him—and asked to borrow jumper cables. Ingram agreed to help and got the

cables from his truck. Ingram did not see a car nearby, however, and the situation made him

nervous. He began retreating to his truck. At that point, Kelley and Holmes “spread out a little.”

Kelley pulled out a gun, ordered Ingram and Dean to the ground, and threatened to shoot them

both in the head.

Ingram and Dean complied, dropping to the ground. Each was then attacked, Ingram by

Holmes and Dean by Kelley.

Holmes kicked Ingram in the face. Holmes tried to kick him again, but Ingram blocked

the blow and rolled under a truck. Holmes then grabbed the wallet out of Ingram’s back pocket.

As Ingram tried to get up to get a shotgun, Holmes kicked him again on the side of his face.

As Holmes was assaulting Ingram, Kelley repeatedly kicked Dean in the face and ribs.

Kelley broke off the attack only briefly to help Holmes subdue Ingram. Kelley struck Ingram

with a hard object—Ingram thought it was the gun. The blow knocked Ingram unconscious and

caused his body to tumble into the woods.

-3- When Kelley joined Holmes to beat up Ingram, Dean got up to retrieve his shotgun. He

didn’t reach it. Once Ingram was knocked out, Kelley and Holmes jointly attacked Dean. They

pushed Dean to the ground, beating and kicking him from “head to toe.” During the assault, one

of them hit Dean with a hard object; Dean thought it was a gun. The blow knocked him

unconscious. After the attack, Dean’s wallet was missing from his back pocket.

As Ingram regained consciousness, he heard two things: footsteps running down the

driveway; and Dean screaming in agony. Dean was lying in a large pool of blood.

While still investigating the first attack at Eiben’s residence on Rosebud Run, Sergeant

Boyle got the call for assistance needed at the Corann Drive address. It took him less than a

minute to drive there. He found blood everywhere and testified that Dean’s face was

“unrecognizable.” Emergency medical personnel transported Dean to the hospital. Dean

suffered fractures to his ribs, jaw, nose, and orbital bones. The attack rendered him permanently

blind in his right eye. Although Ingram’s injuries were less severe than Dean’s, Ingram suffered

bruises, swelling, and cuts on his face.

Searching for the assailants, Boyle left the Corann Drive home on foot with a canine

tracking unit. The dog led him back to Rosebud Run. But as Boyle and the dog were returning

to Corann Drive, Boyle noticed a motion-activated light that had illuminated behind a residence

at 333 Oak Springs Drive, where he saw individuals running from the garage. The Oak Springs

residence was situated in between the victims’ homes on Corann Drive and Rosebud Run.

When Boyle approached the Oak Springs residence, he found a female sitting on the

garage floor. A black pistol lay on the floor behind her. At Boyle’s command, the female

moved away from the pistol, which turned out to be a pellet gun.

Captain Michael Hamm interviewed the female—Holmes’s girlfriend, Haley Johnson—

at 1:00 a.m. at the Oak Springs residence. Hamm also collected a blue backpack from the

-4- garage. The backpack contained the wallets of Ingram and Dean, as well as their IDs, bank

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