STARKVILLE — Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District Superintendent Lewis Holloway was found guilty of two counts of simple assault Friday after he admitted to firing a handgun into the air during a confrontation with his neighbor last year.
Justice Court Judge C. Martin Haug rendered the guilty verdicts after hearing from five witnesses and reviewing a videotaped interview made by the law enforcement agents that responded to a 911 call made shortly after the Aug. 9, 2015, incident.
Holloway was fined $500 on each count.
Holloway declined to comment after the trial. His attorney, Roy Carpenter of Starkville, said he will appeal the conviction in circuit court.
Special Prosecutor Jackson Brown called four witnesses, while Carpenter called Holloway to the stand. The school superintendent’s version of events closely paralleled those of the prosecution’s witnesses, except for the key point of how the altercation escalated into gunfire.
Holloway disputed the prosecution’s narrative that said he threatened his neighbor, Roy Couvion, and his neighbor’s step-daughter before firing a shot into the air. Holloway said he fired his weapon because he was the one who had been threatened and that his actions were justified under the Castle Doctrine, which allows people to defend themselves as necessary, even with deadly force, if they are threatened by an intruder while on their own property.
The incident came after another alleged confrontation between the two in May. After his arrest last year, Holloway filed a simple assault charge against Couvion, claiming Couvion hit him with his fist and threw him to the ground.
Couvion testified he and his 16-year-old step-daughter were on their property, adjacent to Holloway’s residence on Mount Olive Road, when he noticed Holloway standing by his truck with one hand behind his back, staring at them.
Couvion estimated that Holloway was about 60 yards away and said neither man left their own property during the incident.
“I saw him staring at us as we were hooking up the trailer. Then I heard him say something, but I couldn’t hear what he said,” Couvion testified. “So (the step-daughter) turned off the truck so we could hear. (Holloway) appeared to be drunk. He was slurring his words, so I asked him, ‘What did you say?’ and he said, ‘I’ve got something for you.’ I asked him what he was talking about, and he said, ‘I’ve got a 9MM (handgun) with your name on it.'”
Couvion said he and Holloway began to argue before Holloway raised the gun and fired a single shot into the air.
According to his testimony, Holloway said he walked to his truck to retrieve his cellphone as Couvion and his stepdaughter were hooking up a trailer to a truck near his property.
“(Couvion) yelled out, ‘What the (expletive) are you staring at? Do you want me to come over there and whip your ass some more?’ He had assaulted me before, so I felt like I needed protection. So I got my gun out of the truck.”
Holloway, who admitted to drinking alcohol that day, said he fired a shot above his head because he felt threatened.
On cross examination, Brown asked Holloway if he had a concealed carry permit, and Holloway said he did. Brown then asked if he had any training during the process of obtaining that permit. Again, Holloway answered yes.
“During that training, were you ever told anything about drinking alcohol while handling a firearm?” Brown asked.
“Yes,” Holloway said. “They said they don’t mix.”
In her testimony, the step-daughter said after Holloway fired the shot, she called her father, an Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Department investigator, and then 911.
Carpenter questioned both Couvion and his step-daughter about their reaction after Holloway fired the shot, insinuating they did not fear for their lives since neither ran or sought shelter, instead staying at the scene for about 15-20 minutes as deputies responded.
OCSD Deputies John Rice and Shannon Williams, two of three officers who responded to the 911 call, both testified it was difficult to put together a clear picture of what happened during the incident, but Rice recorded video statements from both parties, which Brown presented as rebuttal evidence after the defense rested its case.
After the defense rested, Brown asked that the deputy’s videotape be entered as rebuttal evidence and he, Carpenter and Haug watched the evidence in Haug’s chambers.
Approximately 20 minutes later, they emerged into the courtroom where Haug announced the guilty verdict on both counts.
After the trial, Brown cited the video interview as the decisive piece of evidence.
“I think it sealed the case,” he said. “It corroborated the testimony, and it also provided some statements that had been forgotten.”
Couvion’s trial was set to be heard by Haug after the completion of Holloway’s case, but it was continued when Couvion’s Columbus-based attorney, Rod Ray, notified the court he was trying a different matter in Lowndes County Circuit Court and was not available.
After the charges against Holloway were filed last year, the SOCSD Board of Trustees suspended him for two weeks.
On Friday, board President Jenny Turner declined to comment on the conviction.
Holloway, 62, has been Starkville’s schools superintendent since February 2012.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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