An Augusta man was sentenced to 20 years in prison for a brutal attack on an Augusta woman after pleading guilty but mentally ill Monday, Feb. 13.
Rico Rodriguez Holmes, 42, was known in the area as a drug addict who sold items to buy drugs, Assistant District Attorney Jarryd Brown said. Approximately four years ago, after attempting to sell her a potted plant, Holmes barged into a Fenwick street home demanding money and sex from the young mother inside, Brown said.
When she began screaming, he held a large knife to her throat, saying, “Stop screaming, or I’m going to slit your throat,” Brown said. The victim gave Holmes the cash she had – $140 from her daughter’s Girl Scout cookie sales.
Holmes was indicted in April 2019 for armed robbery, home invasion, criminal intent to commit the offense of rape, kidnapping, aggravated assault, burglary and possession of a knife during the commission of a felony.
The victim spoke about the attack at Holmes’ sentencing Monday in Richmond County Superior Court.
“I resigned myself to being murdered on my eight-year-old’s bedroom floor,” she said. She thought about who would care for her children and dying with dignity.
Remodeling the house the family had owned for a decade and installing security cameras didn’t help her sense of fear and anxiety, she said. So they accepted a cash offer for the house moved away, she said.
“I lived that day – he didn’t complete what he set out to accomplish – but I paid a heavy price for it,” she said.
Superior Court Judge John Flythe questioned the negotiated plea Brown and defense attorney James Walker had agreed to.
“If my wife was in your position, I’m not sure I would be satisfied with 20 years in confinement,” Flythe said.
The victim said she agreed to the sentence in part for a sense of closure.
“I wanted to put it behind me,” she said, but “I don’t want him to hurt anybody else.”
Holmes’ younger brother spoke to the court, saying Holmes got hooked on crack at age 14 and suffered from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Brown said Holmes had repeatedly been found competent to stand trial despite his mental illness, but agreed mental illness was a factor in the crime.
Holmes’ mother, Daisy Wiggins, said she was “very sorry” for her son’s actions.
He’d been fine after prison while living with her, she said, but a jobs program found him an apartment, Wiggins said.
“He was doing good until they moved him away from me,” she said.
Holmes pleaded guilty but mentally ill to armed robbery, home invasion, attempt to rape, aggravated assault and the knife charge.
Flythe sentenced him to several concurrent 20-year sentences followed by 10 years on probation.
