Guilty Plea In Upstate NY Gay Bashing

Just as his assault trial was to begin, gay basher Joshua Holts was allowed to plead guilty to a lesser charge and now faces seven years in prison.

Joshua Holts pleaded guilty Monday to felony assault for beating a gay man outside a Springville bar last year, leaving the victim with facial injuries that required four surgeries. As Erie County Judge Thomas P. Franczyk was about to start his nonjury trial, Holts pleaded guilty to second-degree assault for the Aug. 3, 2008, beating. Holts, 26, a former Holland resident who recently moved to Poinciana Parkway in Cheektowaga, faces up to seven years in prison. Franczyk refused to give him a sentencing commitment but allowed Holts, a meat supervisor at a supermarket chain, to remain free on previously posted bail pending his Jan. 11 sentencing.Prosecutor Robin J. Deubler said Holts’ 48-year-old victim just underwent his fourth surgery to try to correct the left eye damage and partial facial paralysis caused by the attack. The victim, a carpet installer from Atlanta, was back home visiting his mother the day of the assault. Deubler said the victim likely will need further surgery.

Note the lack of hate crimes charges, despite the fact that a surveillance camera caught the attack and recorded Holts screaming anti-gay slurs.