THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 7, 1996 TAG: 9602070404
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Short : 33 lines
A member of a Peninsula drug gang who pleaded guilty last year to drug conspiracy was sentenced Tuesday to prison.
U.S. District Court Judge Raymond A. Jackson sentenced Henry M. Holland Jr. to nine years and two months without parole. Holland, 21, pleaded guilty Nov. 3.
Holland will begin serving his federal sentence after completing a 2-year sentence imposed in state court on drug charges, Jackson said.
Holland was a co-defendant of Anthony L. Olvis and Angela D. Palmer, whose indictments charging drug conspiracy and money laundering were dismissed Dec. 20 by Jackson. Jackson said at the time that federal prosecutors' refusal to turn over papers made it impossible to tell whether Olvis, Palmer and other defendants in the case were unfairly prosecuted because they are black.
Federal prosecutors appealed the decision to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and Jackson delayed the trials of about 20 other co-defendants until the appeals court rules. No date has been set for arguments.
Holland was the third co-defendant in the case to be sentenced within a week. On Thursday, Raymond S. Paige, who pleaded guilty Oct. 25, was sentenced to 14 years. On Friday, Christopher M. Jones, who pleaded guilty Nov. 2, was sentenced to 17 1/2 years.
KEYWORDS: DRUG ARREST DRUG GANGS TRIAL SENTENCING by CNB