Holmes murder trial set for late summer

Aug. 9 - 12 is when Brandon Jamar "BG" Holmes, 21, will stand trial for the Oct. 23, 2009, slaying of Gary LeTron Cordelle "Tron" Thomison, 23, of Shelbyville.

Holmes appeared briefly Monday with defense attorney Mary White before Circuit Court Judge Robert Crigler, who set the trial dates.

Attorney Robert Marlow, who is defending Holmes, was not present due to a death in his immediate family.

According to Shelbyville Police Detective Sgt. Brian Crews, Holmes confessed to shooting Thomison on Oct. 23 at Oak Hill Village Apartments, Burt Street, and surrendered in Chattanooga after seeing himself on the news.

Crews testified during a preliminary hearing in December that the slaying was related to a dispute over drug dealing territory and a strong arm robbery that Thomison allegedly committed against Holmes the day before.

Moments before the shooting, Thomison had allegedly pushed a woman into Holmes' vehicle, and Holmes allegedly fired five shots into Thomison's torso with a .45-caliber gun, fled and left his SUV in a parking lot on Madison Street.

According to Holmes' written statement, "he (Thomison) rushed me, so I fired."

"I was scared for my life, that guy had been messing with me for a while," the confession reads.

Holmes allegedly contacted Sergio White to take him to Murfreesboro after the shooting and on the way, they stopped at an unknown location to dispose of the murder weapon in a drainage ditch. From Murfreesboro, Holmes then fled to Chattanooga.

White was arrested last Thursday on the charge of accessory after the fact and is being held on $50,000 bond.

Holmes had apparently only been in Shelbyville for three weeks before he allegedly shot and killed Thomison.

Another man was held for several days in connection with the case, but was not charged with the murder.

George "G" Simpson, 24, of Murfreesboro, is charged with unlawful possession of a weapon. Simpson was present when the shooting occurred, Crews said, but did not fire a weapon.

Crews explained that a .45-caliber gun found in a Murfreesboro apartment where Simpson was arrested last October was not the murder weapon and was not Simpson's.