Convicted Murder Defendant Receives Life Sentence in 2020 Shooting Case

By Neoline James [former] - March 20, 2023
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

A prosecutor read a father’s impact statement before the court on March 13 during the sentencing of the defendant convicted of the murder of his son in July 2022.  

At defendant Arthur Holt’s sentencing, the prosecution read the victim’s father’s impact statement, in which he stated that the defendant “destroyed every inch of my soul.” The father said that his son had dreams “he will never see” and that Holt deserves his sentencing.

Holt apologized to the victim’s father, who was present in the courtroom, and stated that the events of that day were “not my intention.”

The prosecution said that Holt and his co-defendant, Keith Gladden, pistol whipped and shot the victim, Dontrell Toliver, on April 6, 2020, in the 400 block of North Montford Avenue. In March 2022, Gladden, then 35, pleaded guilty to murder and received a sentence of life, suspending all but 50 years.

Holt, 29, was found guilty by jury trial on July 29, 2022, for two counts of first-degree murder, use of a firearm during a violent crime, and possession of a firearm with a felony conviction. 

Given Holt’s prior criminal history, which includes a manslaughter conviction in 2014, the assistant state’s attorney asked Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Barry G. Williams for a life sentence with an additional 35 years. 

Judge Williams ultimately gave Holt a life sentence for first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, along with a 20-year sentence that will run consecutively for the use of a firearm during a felony violent crime and a 15-year sentence that will run concurrently with the 20 years.