Charlotte Man On Federal Supervised Release For A Firearms Violation Is Sentenced To More Than Nine Years In Prison For Illegal Gun Possession

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - James Earl Holmes, 45, of Charlotte, was sentenced today to 110 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for possession of a firearm by a felon, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.

Bennie Mims, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Charlotte Field Division, and Chief Michael Hudgins of the Pineville Police Department (PPD), join U.S. Attorney King in making today's announcement.

According to court documents and court proceedings, on May 30, 2021, PPD officers responded to 911 calls about a shooting in a parking lot of an apartment complex. When the officers arrived, they found a female, identified as F.L., in the backseat of a vehicle. F.L. had sustained two gunshot wounds. The victim and witnesses on the scene told PPD officers that Holmes had shot F.L. The officers located Holmes nearby seated in his wheelchair and recovered three 9mm casings from the area where F.L. was shot. F.L. was transported to the hospital and Holmes was taken into custody. Holmes repeatedly denied having a firearm. While at the police station, officers discovered Holmes to have a firearm in his diaper. PPD officers retrieved from Holmes a loaded 9mm pistol with a round in the chamber. Court records show that, at the time of the incident, Holmes was on supervised release for a federal firearms conviction in the Eastern District of Wisconsin. As a result of that conviction, Holmes was prohibited from possessing a firearm or ammunition.

During the investigation, F.L. told the officers that she was at the same party as Holmes and had rejected the defendant's advances. After F.L. left the party, Holmes approached the victim while she was sitting in a parked vehicle and shot her. The victim recalled that she had begged Holmes not to shoot her, but Holmes told her, "Don't be sorry now, b**ch," and then shot her.

According to court records, Holmes initially denied shooting the victim. However, the three 9mm discharged casings collected from the scene of the shooting, and a bullet fragment surgically removed from the victim's body, were submitted to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department's Crime Laboratory for analysis, which concluded that the three discharged casings and the bullet recovered from the victim's body were all fired from Holmes's 9mm pistol.

According to court records, Holmes committed numerous offenses while in pretrial custody at the Mecklenburg County Jail (MCJ). In 2021, Holmes threatened a detention officer after she told the defendant to put on a shirt. Holmes then spit at the detention officer, bit her, and stabbed her with a shank. Court records show that, in March 2022, MCJ detention officers were performing a safety and security check on Holmes because he was being transported to a hospital for medical treatment. During the search, a detention officer found a four-inch shank in Holmes's wheelchair. On yet another occasion, Holmes threw a brown liquid substance at a detention officer's head. Holmes also assaulted a nurse at the jail and has repeatedly refused to follow lawful orders while in custody.

On June 16, 2022, Holmes pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. At today's sentencing hearing, the government argued that the defendant possessed the firearm in connection with the attempted murder of F.L. The Court agreed, applied the sentencing enhancement, and sentenced Holmes to 110 months in prison.

Holmes will remain in federal custody until he is transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility. Holmes still faces a potential revocation of supervised release and additional prison sentence in federal court in Wisconsin.

In making today's announcement, U.S. Attorney King commended the ATF and the Pineville Police Department for their investigation of the case and the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department's Crime Laboratory for their invaluable assistance.

Assistant U.S. Attorney David Kelly of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Charlotte prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.