CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A man charged with attempted murder in a church shooting attacked his public defender during a jailhouse meeting, sending the man to intensive care with severe head injuries and no memory of the beating, according to documents released Tuesday.
Dale Holloway, 37, of Manchester, assaulted public defender Michael Davidow on Monday morning at the Valley Street jail in Manchester, New Hampshire, the documents said.
No one saw the assault because the two men were in an unmonitored interview room, and the closest officer was at a desk facing away from the room, according to jail officials.
Attorneys generally turn the lights on and off or tap the glass to get the officer’s attention when a meeting ends, officials told police. In this case, the officer heard a knock and turned to see Holloway standing up and Davidow seated at the table, with his hands over his face and blood dripping onto the floor.
During the ambulance ride, Davidow told paramedics he was a public defender but didn’t remember going to work, and he was unable to answer questions about the year or time of day. At the hospital, he said he remembered putting his phone and keys into a locker at the jail before his meeting with Holloway, and then waking up in the ambulance.
The lawyer, who suffered a broken nose, a stroke caused by bleeding around the brain and other injuries, also told police that a previous meeting with Holloway hadn’t gone well, and that Holloway did not want him as his lawyer.
At his arraignment Tuesday in the beating case, Holloway denied assaulting Davidow and said he got the attention of the officer after noticing the attorney had a nosebleed, WMUR-TV reported.
The public defender’s office has withdrawn from the case, and it is not clear whether Holloway has a new lawyer for either the new jailhouse assault charge or the charges stemming from the church shooting.
He pleaded not guilty last week to attempted murder, assault and being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm after being accused of wounding a pastor and bride during a wedding Oct. 12 at the New England Pentecostal Ministries in Pelham.
Stanley Choate, 75, the presiding bishop, was shot in the chest. Claire McMullen, 60, was shot in the arm. Authorities said they are still investigating a motive.
They have said the groom, Mark Castiglione, is the father of a man recently charged with killing Holloway’s stepfather. Brandon Castiglione, 24, is accused of killing Luis Garcia, 60, in Londonderry on Oct. 1.
