A Williamsburg man pleaded guilty to the 2011 second-degree murder of 25-year-old Elston “Deon” Brown in Williamsburg-James City County Circuit Court on Wednesday.
Desmond Glenn Holland, a 20-year-old man who had been charged with first-degree murder, use of a firearm in commission of a felony and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, accepted a plea deal that changed the murder charge to second degree and dropped the firearms charges.
“[The firearms charges] would have been easy charges to prove, but giving up those charges for the certainty of the murder conviction was something I thought was appropriate,” said Williamsburg-James City County commonwealth’s attorney Nate Green.
A first-degree murder implies the killer was pre-determined to kill the victim. Green said his office could have made the argument the decision to pull out the gun and fire it in the direction of the victim showed enough of a plan for a first-degree murder charge, but the plea ensures the murder charge will stick.
The charge stems from a 2011 incident at an address on the first block of Theodore Allen Road in James City County. Holland was at that residence with some other individuals, and they were outside when Brown, who lived at his grandmother’s nearby Centreville Road house, came over. They all went in the backyard where an argument started between Holland and Brown, Green said.
The argument continued until Holland pulled out a handgun and fired twice. One of the bullets struck Brown at the waist level, exiting his body in a through-and-through wound. Brown was able to make it back to his grandmother’s house where he lost consciousness before paramedics arrived, Green said. Brown was pronounced dead at Williamsburg Sentara Hospital.
Shortly after the altercation, Holland turned himself in to the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail. Holland told authorities Brown had allegedly bullied and assaulted him in the past and Brown had pulled a gun on him at a previous date.
Holland will be sentenced 9 a.m. April 17 in Williamsburg-James City County Circuit Court.
