Philly man seeks new trial in drug case
Holmes was sentenced to 19 to 38 years for drug trafficking in July
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HOLLIDAYSBURG -- A Philadelphia man convicted earlier this year of trafficking nearly $74,000 worth of narcotics requested his sentence be vacated in documents filed Monday.
Following a two-day trial in May, a Blair County jury found Damar Michael Holmes, 34, guilty of five felony counts of possession with intent to deliver, three felony counts each of conspiracy to commit possession with intent to deliver and criminal use of a communication facility, two misdemeanor counts of possession of a controlled substance and a misdemeanor count of possession of drug paraphernalia across three joined cases.
Judge Jackie Atherton Bernard sentenced Holmes on July 30 to 19- to 38-years' incarceration in a state correctional facility with credit for time served at the Blair County Prison.
First Assistant Public Defender John Siford filed paperwork on Holmes' behalf, in which Holmes made a motion for a new trial. Siford wrote that Holmes believed the verdicts handed down were "against the weight of the evidence" as testimony given during trial was "inconsistent, incomplete and contradictory." He wrote that the prosecution failed to present "competent evidence or testimony" from either the confidential informant or cooperating witness.
Holmes also made a motion for reconsideration of his sentence, saying Bernard "committed an abuse of discretion" in running his sentences at each of his conspiracy charges consecutively to each other as "there existed a single conspiracy over the approximately 11-day span these events occurred."
Bernard further committed abuse of discretion by running his sentences at his possession with intent to deliver charges consecutively and by not "properly considering his history and rehabilitative needs," Siford wrote.
In the motions, Holmes requested that his sentence be vacated, that he be resentenced or that he receive a new trial.
The charges stem from a city-wide saturation detail Altoona and Blair County Drug Task Force officers conducted in mid-December 2024. During that operation, Holmes was found in a vehicle that was stopped after the driver failed to use a turn signal. A K9 officer alerted to the presence of narcotics in the vehicle and a search warrant was secured, court documents state.
When the search warrant was executed, officers found the following inside Holmes' backpack: 1,262 packets of heroin, 414 grams of crystal methamphetamine, 63 grams
of cocaine, 62 grams of crack cocaine, 26 pressed fentanyl pills and four suspected fentanyl pills, as well as $366 in cash. The street value of the drugs was about $73,776, court documents state.
Testimony given at trial showed that Holmes had at least one drug runner, co-defendant Aleah Moore, 39, working for him and that Moore sold drugs to a confidential informant on different occasions under Holmes' direction.
Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor-Musselman is at 814-946-7458.