Accused shooter asks N.H. Supreme Court for protection from judges

Breanna Edelstein, The Eagle-Tribune, North Andover, Mass.
·3 min read

Feb. 25—PELHAM — Accused church shooter Dale Holloway, 38, recently made a jailhouse plea to the New Hampshire Supreme Court for protection from judges assigned to two pending cases against him.

He wrote to the highest court that four judges — Charles Temple, Amy Messer, Jacalyn Colburn and Diane Nicolosi — violated his Constitutional right for protection from abuse, neglect, unlawful conditions of confinement and cruel and unusual punishment.

Holloway, currently held at the Hillsborough County House of Corrections in Manchester, wants a virtual hearing scheduled to discuss the matter.

Additionally, he requested to be freed on personal recognizance bail pending trial, recusal of the four judges he mentioned and the dismissal of his indictment.

He argues in the hand-written request that his due process rights have been violated, along with his right to a speedy trial. Holloway also wrote that he is unhappy with his court-appointed attorneys.

Holloway is accused of opening fire during a wedding at a Pentecostal church in Pelham on Oct. 12, 2019.

Records show he faces numerous charges, including the attempted murder of church Bishop Stanley Choate, 75.

Authorities said Holloway walked into New England Pentecostal Ministries Church, 955 Bridge St., just after 10 a.m. and started shooting with a handgun, hitting Choate in the upper chest.

The bride, Claire McMullen, 60, was shot in the arm and released from the hospital the following evening. The groom, Mark Castiglione, 60, was struck in the head with a firearm. He was treated at a local hospital and released the same day, according to authorities.

Holloway was "gang tackled" by guests and parishioners, who pinned him to the floor until police arrived several minutes later.

Several weeks after his arrest, Holloway was criminally charged again, this time for assaulting his public defender Michael Davidow in a room for attorney-client meetings, according to records. The chief of security at the jail said Davidow was brought to a hospital with head and face injuries.

Court documents later list his injuries as "broken nasal cavity, subarachnoid hemorrhage, temporal lobe hemorrhage, left lateral eye hemorrhage, (a) laceration to his lower lip on the right side, and various contusions to his head."

In the church shooting, Holloway is also charged with being a convicted felon in possession or control of a firearm (after previously being convicted of a felony in Suffolk Superior Court in Massachusetts), second-degree assault on McMullen and simple assault on Castiglione, "by striking him in the head with a firearm."

Holloway did address a judge in court at one point, saying he was released from jail in Massachusetts in December 2018 and had no trouble with the law until "his father" was murdered.

Pastor Luis Garcia of the New England Pentecostal Ministries Church in Pelham has been identified by authorities as Holloway's stepfather. Garcia was murdered in Londonderry on Oct. 1, 2019 — two weeks before the church shooting. Brandon Castiglione, the son of Mark Castiglione, is accused of his murder and is awaiting trial.