UPDATE: Elton Wayne Holmes Jr. has been re-arrested for violating the conditions of his bond. Holmes has been taken to the Nueces County Jail.
KRIS 6 Investigates looked into how the bond was set for a man accused of running over two King High School students, killing one and injuring the other.
About 12 hours after 16-year-old Rai-Ane Garza died in the arms of by-standers, Elton Wayne Holmes Jr., 42, was in the process of being released from Nueces County Jail. Here’s what led up to it:
On Tuesday, Corpus Christi Police arrested Holmes on two counts of an accident involving death or injury, a third-degree felony. He was taken to the City Detention Center, and at about 2:45 a.m. Wednesday he appeared before a city judge who set his bond at $100,000.
Presiding City Judge Gail Loeb would not name the judge, who decided the bail, but she said each case is different and there are legal parameters that guide a judge’s decision, such as criminal history and whether that person is a threat to the public. As KRIS 6 News has reported, Holmes has a lengthy criminal history that includes prison time.
Loeb couldn’t talk about what the deciding factors were in Holmes’ case because she said judicial ethics prevent her from speaking about specifics. But, in general, the final decision comes down to one thing.
"It’s all discretionary,” Loeb said. “That’s what the judge does in their own mind. They have to evaluate all of these factors and decide what’s appropriate in that case, for that defendant."
Once Holmes’ bond was set – he was transferred to the Nueces County Jail. By about 7:30 a.m., Holmes had posted bond, which typically is about 10 percent of the total amount or in this case about $10,000. By then, the case had been assigned to Nueces County District Court Judge Sandra Watts who stepped in and set conditions for his release on bond.
Those conditions included house arrest for Holmes who also has to wear an ankle monitor and another court-ordered device that checks for use of alcohol. He also has a curfew and is required to check in with pre-trial services once a week.
