HUNTINGTON, W.Va. –A petition that was filed to prevent the release of convicted murderer in Cabell County was granted Tuesday morning.
Cherylethia “Bunny” Holmes was set to be released Wednesday April 9, after a parole board last month granted her the release. Holmes was convicted in 2004 of ordering the death of Wendy Morgan in Huntington. She is serving a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 15 years.
Cabell County Circuit Judge Chad Lovejoy granted the petition.
“I am enjoining the release of the defendant, I am ordering that her release that is scheduled for tomorrow (April 9th) be halted, that she remains in custody of the Department of Corrections,” Lovejoy said.
In the petition, which was filed by Cabell County Prosecuting Attorney Jason Spears Monday, stated that since Holmes was already in federal custody serving time in prison for a gun and drug charge, her current sentence would run consecutively to that sentence, which was ordered by retired Judge Alfred Ferguson. It stated that Holmes didn’t start serving her prison sentence for the killing of Morgan until 2011, which would make her only have had served 13 and half years so far.
Spears said that the reason they wanted the motion to be granted was because they wanted to take a look into the parole board and their decision behind granting her release.
“To find out exactly what happened and determine what was correct,” he said. “And by now giving us time to dive into how did they calculate, was it correct, did they follow Judge Ferguson’s order, did they not know about the order, those were all unknowns.”
After hearing Spears explain why the petition was filed, Judge Lovejoy, granted the motion after he found that releasing the defendant would have caused irreparable harm, to the victim’s family and the state.
He also gave reason that Holmes stated in a motion filed in February 2019 that she planned to leave the jurisdiction of West Virginia upon her release.
Lovejoy said that if they release her and she leaves, it would be hard to get her back to the state.
“If she were to leave the jurisdiction upon a release and if by then determined that the board was incorrect in its calculation, it would be almost impossible to regain jurisdiction,” he said.
Another reason that Spears wanted to have a hearing is because he believes that the parole board did not notify the victim’s family before the parole hearing was held in March, however he didn’t put that in the original filing. He did ask the judge to allow for him to amend the petition if they find that the parole board did not go about things the right way.
“That’s one reason I asked the judge for leave to amend as we dive further into that as we’re discussing with the DOC and the parole board on what happened, who go notification, who did not,” Spears said.
Spears said the relief they wanted was one, Holmes not to be released and two, a hearing going over the history of the case.
He said he was happy with the judges’ decision.
“I’m happy with the judge granted this motion I think it’s important that we find the truth of what happened and what we need to do to go forward,” Spears said.
If the hearing comes back that the parole board calculated wrong then Holmes would not be eligible for parole until November 14, 2026.
A hearing is scheduled for April 18 at 9 a.m.