Prosecutors conclude homicide case against Jacob Holmes

Defendant in 2006 killing will not testify

The brother of an Easton man gunned down outside a strip club in 2006 told jurors that Jacob Holmes Jr. vowed to avenge his friend’s death and later bragged about killing an accomplice in a downtown bar.

Brian Oliver said he was in prison when his brother, Jason “Baby J” Oliver, was killed. He spoke by telephone to Holmes, who was at the wake. In addition to offering his condolences, Holmes told Oliver that he would avenge Jason’s death, Brian Oliver testified Monday.

Asked by Assistant District Attorney Tatum Wilson what he understood that to mean, Oliver replied, “He was going to kill Miguel Aponte.”

Miguel Aponte Jr. was one of two men with Jason Oliver outside C.R. Fannies, a strip club in Wilson, when Jason Oliver was killed and Holmes was wounded in 2006. Homicide charges against Aponte were dropped, but the other man, John Logan, was convicted of the killing and is serving 40 years in prison.

Holmes, a nephew of boxing legend Larry Holmes, is charged with killing Aponte on March 30, 2009, less than three monthsafter Aponte was released from prison on less serious charges related to Jason Oliver’s murder. Prosecutors are seeking a death sentence for Holmes.

Prosecutors on Monday concluded their case, which included testimony from Frank Barndt, a self-admitted accomplice in Aponte’s murder, and also from an ex-girlfriend of Holmes’, who told police Holmes confessed to her.

Defense attorney Brian Monah an said he would not present any witnesses and Holmes told Judge Michael Koury he knowingly and willingly decided not to testify.

Closing arguments in the guilt phase of the trial are expected Tuesday. If Holmes is found guilty of criminal homicide, the case will proceed to a penalty phase where the jury must unanimously decide whether a death sentence is appropriate.

Brian Oliver told jurors Monday that he and Holmes were drinking beer and smoking marijuana in his back yard in October 2010 when Holmes told him about Aponte’s murder. He testified Holmes said he got a call from Barndt, telling him that Apontewa sat the East on Cafe on Northampton Street.

“He said he geared up, got his mask, gloves and gun,” Oliver testified.

Holmes told him he walked through a parking structure to the rear of the bar, where he went through the back door to shoot Aponte, he testified.

“He said it was an easy lick,” Oliver testified, explaining Holmes bragged that it was an easy crime.

Holmes also told Oliver that Barndt picked him up and drove him away after the shooting and that the murder weapon was thrown into the Delaware River.

Oliver said the last time he spoke to Holmes about Aponte’s murder was Jan 10, the 11th anniversary of his brother’s death. Both men were in Northampton County Jail when Holmes approached him on their cell block and embraced him.

Holmes said, “I handled my business. I couldn’t let it ride,” Oliver testified. He told jurors he understood that to mean Holmes killed Apontein retaliation for the 2006 shooting.

On cross-examination, Monahan questioned Oliver about his knowledge of the killing, eliciting his admission that the circumstances of the killing were widely known among people in Easton for years.

Monahan questioned Oliver about his decision to come forward with what he knew almost 11 years after Aponte was killed.

“You’re looking for some kind of deal, you had your attorney there ,” Monahan suggested. He previously questioned Oliver about his criminal record, including an aggravated assault case for which he is jailed.

Oliver testified that he decided to go to the district attorney’s office after he stopped using crack cocaine, which he said he used to mask his thoughts and emotions about the shooting.

He also admitted that although he has not been offered a deal, he would be open to one.

“I knowit’s far-fetched, but I’m hoping,” Oliver said.

Prosecutors also called pathologist Dr. Samuel Land to testify about the autopsy he performed on Aponte.

Land determined that Ap ont e’ s death was due to multiple gun shot wounds and the manner was a homicide. Hetoldjurors hefound six gunshot wounds to Aponte’s upper torso, right buttock, right calf and wrist.

At least five of the wounds were caused by bullets fired from behind, and two would have caused Aponte to bleed to death.

Koury ruled Monday morning that prosecutors would not be allowed to play a prison security video that showed the cellblock meeting between Holmes and Brian Oliver. The judge determined the video would violate a U.S. Supreme Court ruling against showing defendants in prison clothes.

Prosecutors, however, called Northampton County Jail investigator Charles Horvath, who testified that here covered the video after the district attorney’s office requested it. Horvath said the footage, which does not include audio, showed Holmes approach and embrace Oliver and quickly moveon. Oliver testified the meeting took about five seconds.

Although Holmes, 40, was publicly identified as a suspect in 2013, it took police years to charge him because the brazen nature of the crime left many too frightened to say what they knew, according to police.

Bar nd ts te pp ed forward in 2016, two years after he started serving a prison sentence for conspiracy to commit criminal homicide in Aponte’s killing, and offered investigators the evidence they needed to charge Holmes.