Given the violence that erupted in his family’s Belchertown home one day last September, Zachary Holmes could have been sent to prison this week to begin serving a 12-year sentence.
Instead, this bearish, 22-year-old man with autism will continue to receive care from the state Department of Developmental Services, the agency that supervises his new life in an Amherst apartment. And in six months or so, if a judge allows it, Holmes may once again be able to hug an extraordinary person in his life.
That would be his mother, Joann Holmes. Though she suffered injuries to her chest, abdomen and wrists when her son attacked her with a knife Sept. 3, Joann Holmes chose not to see herself as her son’s victim. Rather, she rallied to his defense through the eight months he spent in jail awaiting a resolution to this heartbreaking case, sending him messages of love and support.
Our judicial system is designed to protect people from even their own misjudgments. And so Joann has had to keep her distance, unable to deliver what has long been her motherly benediction, a kiss on her son’s forehead.
Zachary Holmes faced a stack of dire charges – attempted murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and assault and battery. All appear to have been supported by the violent acts he committed last September inside this family home, all of which he acknowledged in court Monday. “I am guilty, and I admit to what I did,” he told Judge Richard Carey.
It took almost a year, but the legal system came around to seeing Zachary’s violent outburst as an aberration. While he was found competent to stand trial, the local district attorney’s agreed to de-escalate this case, entering into a plea agreement that gives this defendant a chance to find his way back, in time, to a normal life. That next chapter for Zachary Holmes starts with six months of house arrest, during which time his conduct will continue to be monitored. Once he regains his liberty, Holmes will remain on probation for five years. That is ample time for the court to reconsider its decision, if presented with evidence of erratic behavior.
Judge Carey paused this week in court to note a key aspect of this unusual case. Rarely, he said, does he witness “the intense love of a mother for her son.” He had just heard Joann Holmes – this mother who refuses to be seen as a victim – declare: “I’m Zachary’s mother. I love him with all my heart,” Joann said. “I am not afraid of my son.”
Love makes powerful testimony indeed.