News-Record.com

The violent assault on Holi Grant at Leslie's House in High Point last Friday was terrible enough. She was badly beaten by a man who forced his way into the women's shelter run by West End Ministries, and the alleged assailant had been released only three days earlier on a written promise to appear for an alleged assault on Grant March 30.

You can read today's news story and editorial about the case.

What may be more disturbing is how many dangerous criminal suspects are out on the streets, sometimes because our jails don't have room to keep them.

The Grant case is another argument for building a new jail, a courthouse official told me the other day.

I agree in a symbolic sense. But jail overcrowding wasn't the reason alleged assailant Phillip J. Holland wasn't jailed after his first arrest April 15.

From what I've gleaned from various sources, I believe there were three reasons, all bad:

* The magistrate thought the March 30 incident wasn't very serious, that Grant was exaggerating the assault or that she didn't want Holland prosecuted and that the case would "go nowhere," in the words of one courthouse official, without her cooperation.

These can be difficult cases because, sometimes, women do make false charges against men. But sometimes they back away from legitimate charges because of fear or because they let themselves be sweet-talked into reconciliation. How can a court official tell? That leads to the next point.

* The magistrate didn't do an adequate background check. It would take very little effort to pull up Holland's Department of Correction record to see he had a history of violence, including assault on female. Anyone with Internet access can do this. It would have informed the magistrate that this was not an isolated incident but part of a pattern of behavior.

* Finally, the March 30 incident was not officially classified as "domestic violence," which applies to situations in which the couple lives together or has had a long-term relationship. Grant and Holland had dated a short time.

The DV label makes a big difference in how the case is handled. For starters, the suspect is automatically held in custody for 48 hours before he sees a judge. This is for cooling down and immediate protection of the victim. Then, prosecution MUST proceed, even if the victim wants the charges dropped.

The DV definition was applied too narrowly in this case. The March 30 incident occurred at Grant's residence. The responding officer found a man and woman who'd been having a dispute. (Correction: He had left the scene; police went to his last known address and put out a lookout for him but couldn't find him.) What has the dispute about? I'm told Grant was upset that he was seeing another woman. That sounds like she thought their relationship was more than casual. In his report, the officer indicated the victim's relationship to the offender was "BG," for boyfriend/girlfriend. This should have been considered DV, and Holland should have been jailed for 48 hours. After those 48 hours, he would have been brought before a judge, rather than a magistrate, who surely would have seen his complete file and set an appropriate bond.

After last Friday's attack, of course, the response was completely different.

"Once we got our hands on him the second time we were in immediate contact with the DA and everyone was aware of his background," High Point police Capt. Larry Casterline told me yesterday.

Too bad police had to get their hands on him a second time.

Worse that he got his hands on Holi Grant a second time ... allegedly.