Defendant Faces Between 28 and 48 Years In Prison for Murder Outside Dollar Plus Food Market in 2022

By Andrew Michaels - September 25, 2023
Court | Daily Stories | Homicides | Shooting | Suspects | Victims |

A 26-year-old Baltimore man charged with a deadly fight outside a W. Pratt Street Dollar Plus food market in 2022 is expected to serve between 28 and 48 years in prison as stipulated in his plea agreement with the prosecution.

Quintell Holmes faces two sets of charges stemming from the initial incident on Dec. 29, 2022, when he was accused of shooting and killing 25-year-old Clarence Allen Adkins outside the Dollar Plus on the 2000 block of W. Pratt Street. The defendant was charged with first-degree murder, firearm use in a felony or violent crime and firearm possession with a felony conviction for Adkins’ death.

According to court documents, Adkins walked into the Dollar Plus around 1:50 p.m. when an unidentified man made a comment about Adkins wearing a face mask. As the two men argued while the victim was paying for his items, a second man—later identified as Holmes—came into the store and “asks the victim if he has an issue.” The argument between Holmes and Adkins continued outside where the two began a fistfight.

Holmes then pulled out a handgun and shot Adkins nine times even after the victim fell to the ground. The defendant later confessed to the killing with the Baltimore Police Department.

On Feb. 13, Baltimore Police Department (BPD) detectives executed a search and seizure warrant for Holmes’ DNA to compare to DNA found on items the defendant allegedly discarded at the murder scene. After a brief foot chase, detectives arrested Holmes and recovered a handgun.

Further investigation revealed that the shell casings found at the initial crime scene were a likely match with the firearm found on Holmes, who faced separate charges for having a handgun on his person, being a felon in possession of a firearm and possessing a firearm with a felony conviction.

Holmes and his defense attorney, Karyn Meriwether, appeared before Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge John A. Howard on Sept. 25 when the defendant pleaded guilty in both cases. For the murder case, the prosecution agreed to change Holmes’ first-degree murder charge to second-degree murder, offering him a plea of 60 years, suspending all but 28 to 48 years, with five years of supervised probation for second-degree murder and firearm use in a felony or violent crime.

The prosecutor informed the court that she would likely offer Holmes less than the maximum 15 years for the firearm possession with a felony conviction charge in his second case and that the two sentences would run concurrently. She also noted that Holmes’ involvement in this incident was in violation of his probation before Judge Althea M. Handy for a weapons and drug conviction from 2021. She told the judge she planned to request Judge Handy’s sentence run consecutively to the aforementioned sentence.

The defendant was not sentenced on Monday as Meriwether said she and her client were preparing their argument for a lesser sentence. A sentencing date was not scheduled, but is likely to occur in the new year due to the judge’s schedule.