SC court upholds Rock Hill man’s 20-year sentence for disabled child sex assault
The S.C. Court of Appeals has upheld the conviction and 20-year sentence against a Rock Hill man found guilty of sexually assaulting a disabled girl.
Judge Dan Hall sentenced Xavier Lamar Holbrooks, 57, to the maximum of 20 years in 2024 after a York County jury found Holbrooks guilty of second-degree criminal sexual conduct against a minor between ages 11 and 14.
The child, who was 13 years old at the time of the 2021 incident, has intellectual disabilities and was ruled by the judge to be incompetent to testify, prosecutors said at the time of the trial.
York County prosecutors Misti Shelton and Landon Finnie introduced DNA evidence that linked Holbrooks to the crime, and showed the jury a picture of the child.
Holbrooks appealed, claiming the photo prejudiced his right to a fair trial, court documents show. A three-judge appeals court panel unanimously said in a ruling released Tuesday that the judge allowed the photo into the trial because it “tended to prove the victim’s age at the time of the sexual battery and her age is an essential element of the offense the State is required to prove.”
The appeals court stated the picture presented a low danger of prejudice against Holbrooks, “because the photograph was a school headshot that did not depict the victim in a manner that would suggest the jury made their decision on an improper basis.”
Holbrooks remains in the custody of the S.C. Department of Corrections. Efforts to reach his appellate lawyer with the S.C. Department of Indigent Defense were unsuccessful.
