×
×
homepage logo
LOGIN
SUBSCRIBE

Holloway sentenced to 7 1/2 – 15 years in first-degree assault case; victim recounts harrowing details of jailhouse attack

By Dean Shalhoup - Senior Staff Writer | May 28, 2021

Photo by JEFFREY HASTINGS Dale Holloway Jr., who was sentenced to State Prison Thursday, speaks with his stand-by lawyer, Brian Lee, during the sentencing hearing. (Photo by JEFFREY HASTINGS)

MANCHESTER – Dale Holloway Jr. showed “flashes of anger” during his jailhouse meeting with Attorney Michael Davidow that Monday morning in October 2019.

Davidow, a public defender for 20 years, had been appointed to represent Holloway in his attempted murder case, which stems from a church shooting in Pelham a week earlier.

Davidow arrived at Valley Street jail, checked in and waited as Holloway was escorted to one of the meeting rooms, a small space where a fairly routine, if somewhat contentious, attorney-client discussion would suddenly take a horrible turn for the worse.

“Suffice it to say, he received information from me that he didn’t like,” Davidow recalled Thursday in a hushed Manchester courtroom as he described the moments leading up to the assault that nearly claimed his life.

Holloway sometimes challenged what Davidow told him; that’s when the “flashes of anger” burst forth.

Photo by JEFFREY HASTINGS Sheriff's department officers escort Dale Holloway Jr. into the courtroom Thursday for his sentencing hearing. (Photo by JEFFREY HASTINGS)

The last thing Davidow recalls is shaking his head in response to something Holloway told him.

That’s when Holloway pounced.

“He attacked me, in the middle of the conversation,” Davidow said.

He never saw Holloway coming.

“I don’t know how he got around the table, but it must have been very fast,” the career lawyer said.

Photo by JEFFREY HASTINGS Dale Holloway Jr. awaits the start of his sentencing hearing in Superior Court Thursday. (Photo by JEFFREY HASTINGS)

Seconds later came the first blow, “the stunning blow” to Davidow’s head. Oddly, it didn’t hurt.

“At first there was no pain … there was just a sudden, an abrupt, change in my consciousness,” Davidow recalled.

Then, a brief pause, the quiet before the proverbial storm.

“It was a matter of seconds … then the blows came raining down on my head, one after the other, over, and over,” Davidow said.

“There were three times I thought I was going to die … I pictured my 6-year-old son growing up without a father. I pictured my wife alone.”

Davidow stood before Judge Diane Nicolosi and addressed the court for about 20 minutes early Thursday afternoon while Holloway, 39, sat quietly at the defense table with his stand-by lawyer, Attorney Brian Lee.

Less than an hour later, Nicolosi handed down the State Prison sentence that prosecutors had asked her to impose upon the troubled man with a long criminal history: 7 1/2 to 15 years in New Hampshire State Prison.

But because Nicolosi, at the request of Lee, agreed to credit Holloway for the 584 days he has already spent in jail, the minimum portion of the sentence is in the neighborhood of 5 years.

Holloway’s attempted murder case, meanwhile, is proceeding separately in Hillsborough County Superior Court South in Nashua. He faces several charges in addition to attempted murder, stemming from allegations he walked in to a Pelham church during a wedding and fired shots, seriously injuring the bishop conducting the wedding and injuring two other people.

Nicolosi, in sentencing Holloway Thursday, referred to him as “a very complicated man … I’ve seen you be very unrealistic, paranoid, but I’ve also seen you be respectful,” she said.

Holloway chose to briefly address the court, beginning by saying “I just want to apologize to everyone involved. I apologize to the victim once again.”

Without elaborating, Holloway told the court that his “true story may not be told … I may die in prison … then I can’t tell it,” he said.

“I just hope I can get past this situation and get on with my life.”

Roughly 24 hours before Thursday’s sentencing hearing, Holloway stood before Nicolosi in the same courtroom and entered pleas of guilty to two counts of first-degree assault.

He had been scheduled for trial in June, but reached an agreement with prosecutors that Nicolosi accepted.

In exchange for the two guilty pleas, prosecutors agreed to nol pros, or dismiss, the remaining three charges: Two counts of second-degree assault and one count of assault by a prisoner.

One of the charges carries the stand-committed prison time, while the other comes with a prison term of 5 to 10 years, all of which is suspended on condition Holloway abides by the terms of sentencing and remains on good behavior.

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

Newsletter

Join thousands already receiving our daily newsletter.

Interests
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *