Sixteen-year-old Jimmy Holman, sentenced as an adult in the beating death last summer of a Gardnerville man, has one chance to serve probation in a juvenile facility in lieu of adult prison.
District Judge Dave Gamble on Tuesday approved Holman's placement in a Rite of Passage facility for an indeterminate period.
"Please understand, you are entitled to one more opportunity," Gamble said. "You can continue to be an idiot, or you can go and change your life."
He ordered Holman to remain in Douglas County Jail pending placement in a Rite of Passage facility. Rite of Passage is a Minden-based agency that provides treatment for at-risk youth.
The program agreed to accept Holman after his second probation violation, and Gamble declined to send him to prison.
The judge said if Holman fails at Rite of Passage, he will send the teenager to prison.
Gamble said the Rite of Passage placement came up during discussions with prosecutor Tom Gregory, Holman's attorney Kris Brown, himself and juvenile probation officials.
Holman was 15 when he and three others were convicted in the June 22, 2009, death of Terrence Joe Howell.
Holman's codefendants - including another 15-year-old and Holman's stepfather - were sent to prison, but he was judged the least culpable and sentenced to probation.
Had Holman been adjudicated as a juvenile more options would have been open to him regarding placement and supervision.
He was arrested Feb. 28 after the car in which he was a passenger was stopped for failing to maintain a travel lane.
Searching the back seat where Holman was sitting, deputies found a large black knife with "N14" on both sides, a small plastic bag containing 1-1/2 tablets of Naproxen, a square piece of foil and burned or smashed Naproxen tablet, and a clear cylinder-shaped tube with ground-up pill residue similar to Naproxen.
"Predominately, he was arrested because he had drugs with him and he was using drugs," Gamble said. "At the probation violation hearing, the state dismissed the count and chose not to proceed. Other than the fact that the underlying crime is of a serious nature, there is no call to revoke probation because of the minimal nature of the violations."
Gregory asked Tuesday that Holman be sent to prison.
He said Holman had written a letter from jail to his sister that concerned him.
"He (Holman) said if he doesn't go to prison, he intended to 'kick back with his homies,'" Gregory said. "He signed it with his gang moniker 'Boogie.'"
Gregory said authorities tried to help Holman with probation, but it wasn't working.
"Trying to put a juvenile in adult probation is very difficult," said Brown. "Sometimes juveniles need hand-holding. I appreciate how juvenile probation did pitch in and for a short period of time, Jimmy had active involvement. He was in school and involved in the juvenile programs. But part of Jimmy still gets in trouble."
Brown said at Rite of Passage, Holman would be in the company of other gang members and he be forced to "get past that veneer" or he would fail the program.
"If he's sent to prison, it's not going to cure any fascination he has for gangs," Brown said.
Gamble said he was disappointed by Holman's gang references in his jail letter, but said the teenager also talked about taking advantage of educational opportunities.
"It was the meanderings of a 15-16-year-old, and another example of teenage stupidity," Gamble said.
