Wade Holliday, responsible for a 2019 shooting, was sentenced to Anthony Correctional Center on Friday, Oct. 29.
Holliday was arrested in July 2019 in relation to a non-fatal shooting.
According to the criminal complaint, officers responded to the Greenbrier Valley Medical Center, where a patient was being treated for a gunshot to the leg. Although the victim was unable to continue with the interview due to their condition, officers were able to interview Wade G. Holliday, and ultimately arrested him.
“The defendant stated he obtained a firearm, went to [the victim’s] residence located along Caldwell Hill Loop Road and entered the same with the intent to shoot [the victim] due to an ongoing argument between [the victim] and [their] cohabiting partner,” the complaint reads. “The defendant further stated he then proceeded to shoot [the victim].”
In July 2021, Holliday plead no contest to the indictment, meaning he accepted responsibility without admitting he was at fault. Greenbrier County Circuit Court Judge Jennifer Dent found him guilty as a result and the case will proceed towards sentencing on October 29.
Although initially charged with malicious wounding and wanton endangerment involving a firearm, Holliday entered a plea to only the second charge in July. Prosecuting Attorney Patrick Via explained the initial charges had been reduced for the plea deal, citing the victim as the primary reason.
“[Defense Attorney Eric Francis] mentioned that the crime didn’t really mention any maliciousness — he may well be right about that,” Via noted. “This was reduced from the original charge of malicious wounding primarily, if not exclusively, based on my consultation with the victim, who was very accommodating for the decision in the case. … He was not, in any way, seeking a maximum conviction and certainly not a maximum punishment. He was a quite lenient victim.”
Despite this, the state pushed forward with the charges, the indictment, and the plea deal.
“However, one thing is unmistakably clear, regardless of the fact that this was a Kennedy plea, it’s rather clear that due to the reckless use of this firearm, Mr. Holliday shot [the victim], and he did so in a matter that qualified, unquestionably, as wanton endangerment.”
Both the prosecution and defense entered a joint recommendation for a three-year sentence emerging from the plea deal. Rather than the jail time, however, Dent looked to another program.
“The nature of this offense is use of a firearm, someone has a physical injury as a result of use of that firearm, and simply the nature of the offense does not warrant any type of alternate sentence in this court’s opinion, incarceration or otherwise. … I am going to sentence you to the penitentiary of this state for a determinate period of three years, the amount of time that the parties have agreed upon. However, Mr. Holliday, I note your age is 22-years-old, and I’m going to allow you to discharge that sentence in the youthful offender program at the Anthony Correctional Center for a period of not less than six months, no more than two years.”
