Manslaughter defendant to serve three-year sentence
By By Suzanne Monk / managing editor
Aug. 29, 2002
A Meridian man was sentenced to three years in prison Wednesday for the New Year's Eve shooting death of Christopher Howard of 20th Street Extension Road.
Tavio Lashante Holmes, 24, pleaded guilty to manslaughter earlier this month.
Circuit Judge Robert Bailey imposed a 20-year sentence. Seventeen years were suspended, but the judge said Holmes will have to pay more than $6,000 to Howard's family to pay for his funeral in additional to a $2,500 fine and court costs.
A police spokesman said earlier this year that the sequence of events that led to Howard's death began during a New Year's Eve celebration at the Platinum City Bar in Meridian.
The dispatcher received a 911 call about a fight that apparently began inside the bar and continued outside, ending up in the parking lot of a car wash at 25th Avenue and Fourth Street where shots were fired.
Howard was struck by more than one bullet and transported by private car to Riley Hospital. He was pronounced dead in the parking lot about 2 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2002.
Holmes was shot in the buttocks during the altercation, but was treated and released. He was taken into custody at his home at 3511 Second St. on Jan. 3. A Lauderdale County grand jury issued a manslaughter indictment against him in March.
