Ronald Holt walked into the Cook County Criminal Courts Building this morning with his son still fresh on his mind.
Jury selection soon was to get underway today for the trial of a 17-year-old accused of gunning down Holt’s16-year-old son, Blair, on a CTA bus in May 2007.
Holt expected to sit through hours of jury selection; instead, he received an unexpected surprise.
The defendant, Michael Pace, pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated battery.
Pace faces 45 years to life in prison for the murder charges and an additional 6 to 30 years for the aggravated battery charges.
On Monday, Pace's co-defendant, 17-year-old Kevin Jones, had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
When I spoke to Ronald Holt this morning, his head hung low. He said no one wins with cases like these and his family just wanted to move forward and remember Blair.
Life will never be the same for Ronald Holt and his family, but I hope today's criminal proceedings help them to move forward, at least a little bit.
Comments (1)
I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Holt; this is a sad day for both family's and no one win. The Holt family has loss a beautiful and intelligent son whom they loved and cherished who had his whole life ahead of him. And along comes these young men with no guidance, or morals and they take the life of a promising young man. My prayers go out to Mr. & Mrs. Holt and also, to the parents of the young men who were involved. When will we become the village I knew as a child in the 60's your child was my child and vice versa. Today parent need more assistance with their children such as; parenting classes, mentors; we must all come together to give youth the opportunity to express love for one another rather than violence. God bless us all. Because Lord knows that could have been my son, my husband, my daughter, my cousin, my nephew etc.
Keep Prayer Alive
Posted by Bobby Ward | June 20, 2009 10:31 AM
Posted on June 20, 2009 10:31