Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Holmes gets more than 100 years

After proclaiming his innocence to reporters just a month ago, a Prescott man has offered no contest pleas to charges including the October robbery of the Red-E-Mart on Highway 24.

Lamar D. Holmes, 30, made an appearance in circuit court on April 2. Holmes was sentenced on an array of charges, including the robbery and felony escape from the Nevada County Jail.

Holmes appeared in court in an orange Hempstead County jail uniform and was shackled.

According to information on file at the Nevada County Circuit Clerks office, Holmes was implicated by acquaintances after the Red-E-Mart robbery.

The information indicates that the stores clerk said, A black male walked into the store wearing a black mask with only the eye holes cut out, black gloves, a dark colored hooded jacked and pointing a chrome colored handgun at the clerk. The man reportedly never said anything, just pointed the gun and pointed to the cash register.

The clerk gave the robber all the money in the cash register, - a total of $60 - according to the report.

Officers took photos of a muddy footprint from the store and later matched the tread to shoes owned by Holmes.

In January, Holmes was charged with eight separate counts, including two counts of theft by receiving, vehicular fleeing and unsafe operation of a vehicle. In early February, police filed the charges against Holmes for his role in the Red-E-Mart robbery. The day the charges were filed, Holmes overpowered a jailer and escaped from the Nevada County Jail. He was immediately charged with felony escape, terroristic threatening for his comments to the jailer and a new robbery count.

After his capture in Hempstead County, Holmes was charged in a burglary in that county. Holmes admitted to reporters that he had escaped and that he had committed a burglary while he was out. However, he maintained his innocence on the initial charges.

Holmes then requested a new attorney and Culpepper later granted that request. That new attorney, Anthony Bittle, was in court with Holmes April 2.

Holmes pleaded no contest across the board to all charges, with the exception of the charges Eighth Judicial District Prosecutor Chris Thomason agreed not to prosecute. The Hempstead County commercial burglary was one of those.

Some of the charges were enhanced as Holmes was charged as a habitual offender.

For the Red-E-Mart robbery, Holmes was sentenced to 10 years in the Arkansas Department of Corrections. The fact that he was in possession of a handgun at the time added 12 years to the sentence.

For the escape, Holmes received 20 years in the ADC. Culpepper sentenced him to 12 years in ADC for the threats to the jailer. A robbery associated with the escape was not prosecuted.

The original charges included two counts of theft by receiving with property valued at $500-$2,500 and Holmes was sentenced to 20 years in ADC for each of those counts. Illegal possession of a firearm netted him another 12 years in ADC.

Holmes was also sentenced to a year in jail for vehicular fleeing and an additional six months for unsafe operation of a vehicle, and was granted 103 days credit for the time hes already served in jail.