MANCHESTER, NH — Dale Holloway pleaded guilty Wednesday to a vicious attack on a public defender that happened in 2019 in an interview room at the Valley Street jail where, at the time, he was being detained on charges related to the shooting of a Pentecostal bishop during a wedding in Pelham.
Holloway, 39, formerly of 549 Lake Ave., pleaded guilty in Hillsborough County Superior Court Northern District to two counts of first-degree assault in connection with the attack on public defender Michael Davidow, 53, on Oct. 21, 2019. Davidow suffered severe head injuries including a brain bleed and a broken nose in the attack, requiring hospitalization in the intensive care unit of the Elliot Hospital.
Under a plea negotiation, Holloway agreed to plead guilty to both first-degree assault charges in exchange for the prosecution dropping second-degree assault charges and a charge of assault by a prisoner. He agreed to a “cap plea” under which the prosecutor will recommend a sentence of 7 ½ to 15 years on one count and a suspended 5 to 10-year sentence on the other. Under a cap plea, the judge can accept the prosecution’s recommendation or impose what she wants as long as it does not exceed the 15-year maximum.
Because Holloway was previously convicted in Massachusetts of assault charges (armed assault to murder on May 14, 2003, in Suffolk County Superior Court and assault and battery on March 10, 2017, in Wrentham District Court) the first-degree assault charges carry a maximum sentence of 10 to 30 years and up to a $4,000 fine upon conviction.
Holloway acted as his own attorney in the proceedings. Judge Diane Nicolosi, in accepting the guilty pleas, said during the time she has seen and heard him in court she found him to be an intelligent and articulate man.
The case was continued until Thursday at 1:30 p.m. for sentencing so that Davidow and Holloway’s family can attend.
The assault happened on Oct. 21, 2019, at the jail. Davidow went there to speak with Holloway, his client. He told police he had met with him once before and that things had not gone well, that the two men did not get along and Holloway did not want him as his attorney.
Davidow initially did not remember the assault but as he recovered from his injuries he told investigators he remembered a “stunning blow,” trying to recover himself and then being struck additional times, according to Assistant Hillsborough County Attorney Brian Nicholas Greklek-McKeon.
Correctional officer Mark Phillips, 44, told investigators he did not see the incident because he was seated at his desk overseeing the cell block with his back turned away from the conference room.
The interview room, where attorneys meet their clients, is not monitored or recorded. An attorney and inmate meet alone in the secured room with an inmate handcuffed to the table only if he has shown signs of being dangerous.
To get the correctional officer’s attention, a lawyer turns the lights on and off or taps on the glass.
Davidow was in the room for about 20 minutes when Phillips said he heard a knock on the glass and turned and saw Holloway walking away from the window and toward the door.
Davidow was sitting at the table, his hands over his face, with blood dripping down onto the interview room floor. Phillips activated an alert, other officers entered the room and placed Holloway in a restraint chair
Davidow was taken by ambulance to the Elliot Hospital where he was hospitalized for a time in the intensive care unit.
Holloway is still facing charges in the Pelham case. The shooting took place on Oct. 12, 2019, at the New England Pentecostal Ministries church. Holloway is charged with the attempted murder of Bishop Stanley Choate, 75, who was shot in the chest; first-degree assault for knowingly causing injury to the bishop by means of a deadly weapon; being a felon in possession of a .380 caliber pistol; second-degree assault for recklessly causing injury to the bride Claire McMullen, 60, who was shot in the arm, and simple assault for striking the groom, Mark Castiglione, 60, in the head with a firearm.
The wedding took place the same day as the funeral was scheduled for Luis Garcia, 60, of Londonderry, Holloway’s stepfather, who died Oct. 1 at his home after being shot in the neck. Brandon Castiglione, 24, of Londonderry is accused of second-degree murder in Garcia’s death. Castiglione is Mark Castiglione’s son.