Murder suspect in Columbus cold case removed from court after cursing at detective
The alleged triggerman in a Columbus cold-case slaying was removed from the courtroom during his preliminary hearing Thursday when he started cursing at the detective testifying against him.
Charged in the 2008 death of 67-year-old Paul Hill Sr., Emanuel Holloway started shouting at Detective Stuart Carter after Carter said Holloway’s codefendant in the murder case had “hinted” to police that Holloway fatally shot Hill.
After deputies pulled the 46-year-old suspect out of the courtroom, defense attorney William Kendrick said his client was upset because investigators had little evidence tying him to Hill’s homicide.
According to Carter, the evidence implicating Hill is not limited to what codefendant Shanita Wyatt told detectives, but also what others witnessed the night Hill likely was killed.
Kendrick countered that none of that evidence was new, nor was it sufficient to justify Holloway’s murder charge.
Under Kendrick’s questioning, Carter said both Holloway and Wyatt denied killing Hill, but Wyatt had implicated Holloway in the homicide. That’s when Holloway lost his composure.
Kendrick said Holloway justifiably was angry, as he faced the prospect of spending years in jail awaiting trial, and had planned to get married in a week.
“You see how upset he is, couldn’t hold it in,” Kendrick told Judge Julius Hunter, asking that the murder charge be dismissed for lack of evidence.
Explaining evidence
Police had no witnesses to say they saw Holloway shoot Hill, as Wyatt had denied she was involved, he said. Officers also had no physical evidence tying Holloway to the crime, he noted.
“It’s no more evidence than they had in back in 2008,” Kendrick said.
Carter said Wyatt in 2008 gave witnesses a detailed account of what happened at Hill’s home, before the victim’s body was found. “She does implicate Mr. Holloway as being involved,” he said.
He and prosecutor Nicholas Hud argued police don’t have to reveal all the evidence they have in a preliminary hearing, where they have to show only “probable cause” that Holloway was involved in a crime.
Hunter agreed, saying Kendrick’s arguments were better suited to a jury trial than a Recorder’s Court hearing. The judge found probable cause to send the case on to Muscogee Superior Court as Holloway is jailed without bond.
The homicide
Hill, a longtime Columbus car mechanic, was found bludgeoned, stabbed and shot around 2 p.m. April 2, 2008, in his home at 3300 Marathon Drive, where police forced open the locked door after Hill’s son called them to report he had not heard from his father.
Last seen alive the previous March 25, Hill had been dead for days, Carter said.
Police in 2008 interviewed three witnesses who’d been at an Elvan Avenue house near Marathon Drive, the night Hill is believed to have been killed, and they told officers Holloway and Wyatt had come by the home to say they were going out to buy drugs, Carter testified.
When they returned an hour or two later, Holloway stayed on the porch as Wyatt went in, obviously upset, and told the witnesses that the pair were “doing a lick” that “went bad,” and Holloway had killed their victim, Carter said. “Doing a lick” is slang for committing a robbery.
Police later recovered some jewelry Wyatt had taken from Hill’s home, and collected other evidence that has been sent to a crime lab for DNA testing, Carter testified. Police still await the results of those tests, he said.
He said investigators considered charging Wyatt and Holloway in 2008, but decided then to try to find more evidence, particularly the small-caliber gun used to shoot Hill. People who knew the pair said they used a small-caliber pistol to rob Wyatt’s customers when she was a sex worker, Carter said.
Wyatt, also known as Shanita Cannon, has been arrested on prostitution charges at least twice before. Carter said she was known by the street name “Cookie,” and Holloway was known as “Smallframe” because of his stature.
Wyatt, 40, was jailed on a drug charge when police arrested her in Hill’s slaying on Feb. 17. Holloway was arrested Tuesday after being summoned to see his probation officer, Carter said.
Kendrick said anything Wyatt told investigators after her arrest last month was questionable, because she was in jail and could have lied under pressure: “This is not a case that can get past a jury,” he said.
Wyatt had “every motivation to lie,” and Holloway had every right to be outraged, he said.
“He’s very emotional. He’s upset,” Kendrick told reporters after the hearing. “Like I said, he’s about to get married in a week.”
This story was originally published March 11, 2021 at 12:22 PM.