File photo by JEFFREY HASTINGS Dale Holloway Jr. listens with one of his attorneys, Brian Lee, to proceedings during a court hearing earlier this year.

Still, Holloway, who is charged with several offenses including attempted murder for allegedly walking into the New England Pentecostal Church in Pelham in October 2019 and shooting and seriously injuring the bishop presiding over a wedding, is in “fervent disagreement” with the approach Brown and Lee are taking in his defense.

“Unfortunately,” Judge Charles Temple wrote in his order granting – albeit reluctantly – Holloway’s motion for new counsel, Holloway’s “unwillingness to try to bridge the gap in his disagreement” with Brown and Lee has caused “an irremediable breakdown in the attorney-client relationship.”

Temple praised Brown and Lee throughout his 1 1/2 page order, in which he also noted that Holloway, on “multiple occasions” during the hearing, “asserted that he was being forced to represent himself.”

Temple also wrote in the order that although Brown and Lee have been effectively representing Holloway by “engaging in strategies to build defenses … filing appropriate motions at different stages” in the case and “other relevant pre-trial issues,” Holloway nevertheless “feels strongly that they are not acting in his best interest under his unique view of the applicable law.”

File photo by JEFFREY HASTINGS A sheriff's deputy escorts Dale Holloway Jr. from court following a hearing earlier this year.

The incident giving rise to the charges took place on Oct. 12, 2019, when Holloway allegedly went in the church, brandished a handgun, shot the bride then shot and seriously wounded Bishop Stanley Choate, the church’s 76-year-old senior pastor.

The charges Holloway faces include one count each of attempted murder, first-degree assault, second-degree assault, felon in possession of a firearm and simple assault.

Holloway is also a defendant in another case connected to the alleged Pelham shooting.

He is charged in Hillsborough North Superior Court in Manchester with one count of first-degree assault – serious bodily injury’ two counts of second-degree assault – serious bodily injury; and two counts of assault by prisoner – first (or) second-degree assault.

Those charges stem from allegations that Holloway attacked and severely beat his then-public defender, Michael Davidow, as the two met at Valley Street jail, where Holloway remains incarcerated.

As for the Pelham case, Holloway’s case summary doesn’t indicate whether the new attorneys have been appointed or the selection process is still ongoing.

The summary does state that Holloway’s next court hearing is a status conference, and that it is currently scheduled for 11 a.m. Dec. 15 in Judge Jacalyn Colburn’s courtroom at Hillsborough County Superior Court South.

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.

Newsletter