News
A state appeals court upheld the 24-year prison sentence originally awarded to Christopher Hollis in the case of the 2005 fatal shooting of Meleia Willis-Starbuck '07 on Wednesday, the San Francisco Chronicle reported on Thursday.
Hollis had argued that the original judge in the case, Judge Vernon Nakahara of Alameda County Superior Court, had made errors in his sentencing, which Hollis claimed violated his constitutional rights, the Chronicle reported.
The First District Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld Vernon's original decision in a 3-0 vote.
Hollis was convicted in April 2008 with voluntary manslaughter, assault with a firearm and being a felon in possession of a gun, and was handed his 24-year sentence the maximum sentence that can be awarded for this charge in July 2008.
Prosecutors had originally sought to convict Hollis of murder, but the jury in the case sided with the defenses' plea that the shooting had been unintentional, the Chronicle reported.
In California, jury members determine the suspect's charges, but do not make any sentencing recommendations.
The jury could have convicted Hollis of first-degree murder, second-degree murder or manslaughter, Hollis' attorney, assistant public defender Greg Syren, told The Dartmouth in July 2008.
Syren told The Dartmouth at that time that he was disappointed with the sentence, adding that he had "thought the judge might exercise a little temperance."
Hollis, 24, expressed remorse for his actions and pleaded for mercy from the judge in his original sentencing, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
