Court rejects appeal from man sentenced in 2022 carjacking

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A Waterford man sentenced to two years in jail for a Sussex carjacking unsuccessfully appealed his sentence after his fiancee was acquitted on the same charge.

Eric Holder, 38, of Creek Road in Waterford, was convicted in March 2023 of robbery and dangerous driving related to a Oct. 11, 2022, incident where a woman named Rebecca Stevens, 35, testified that he and his fiancee, Melanie Gionet, 37, cut her off in a rented Toyota RAV4 and demanded she hand over her Toyota Corolla.

At Holder’s trial in December, his lawyer, David Lutz, did not cross-examine Stevens nor provide a closing statement. In April, Holder was sentenced to two years less a day, which also included charges of meth possession and four breaches of release orders.

On June 23 of last year, Gionet was found not guilty of a robbery charge in the same incident. Holder appealed based on a claim of ineffective assistance from Lutz, and on April 25 the Court of Appeal dismissed his case in a ruling written by Justice Raymond French. Holder had argued that Lutz failed to cross-examine the complainant, and then prevented him from testifying.

According to the ruling, Lutz stated that Holder had told him the complainant’s story was truthful, and that not cross-examining her was a strategic decision to prevent the judge from finding that the robbery was “an unsuccessful and violent attempt to find drugs,” French wrote.

According to the ruling, Stevens had testified that she was driving home to Sussex after visiting her parents on Oct. 11, 2022, when she was cut off by a white Toyota RAV4, and that Holder and Gionet got out and approached her car, French wrote.

Stevens testified that Gionet got inside and demanded she hand over the car, according to the ruling. She said she started to drive away when Gionet allegedly started hitting her with her fists and hit the SUV in the process, damaging her vehicle and breaking the side mirror, French wrote.

When Stevens got to her house, she says the RAV4 hit her driver’s side door, and that she then crawled out over Gionet and ran into her home, according to the ruling. She testified she heard Holder say “take the car,” French wrote. When she looked back, she said the car was gone, along with her purse and phone, the ruling says.

Stevens gave a statement to a police officer who took photos of her injuries, according to the Court of Appeal ruling. The Corolla was found abandoned and the RAV4, which had been rented by Holder, was returned to the rental company with damage, French wrote.

At her trial, Gionet denied being in the car or sending the text message, saying she was asleep at the time. During her trial, Stevens testified that she, Holder and Gionet were acquaintances who had known each other for less than a year.

But Gionet testified that until September of that year, they had been seeing her as much as daily to buy cocaine from her and another person, and things had “got bad” when they stopped buying.

In acquitting Gionet, Judge David Walker said he believed her denials, saying her evidence had been clear and honest, while there were issues identifying Gionet as the woman in the vehicle.

Walker also said he had “concern” about whether the RAV4 and the Corolla had been forensically examined, with an officer testifying that a forensic identification services officer had checked and “he did not recall anything tying Gionet to the car,” the judge said.

In the Court of Appeal decision regarding Holder, his lawyer, Lutz, said in an affidavit that his client told him the statement Stevens gave to the RCMP was truthful, that Stevens “was his drug dealer” and that they thought they might find drugs in the car but did not.

According to the ruling, Lutz said he believed the evidence would result in a conviction and recommended a guilty plea to show remorse and “avoid the risk” of Stevens saying “this was a violent drug robbery,” French wrote.

Holder refused to plead guilty, believing that Stevens would not testify, according to the ruling. Unlike in Gionet’s trial, the defence agreed facts regarding the RCMP investigation, including the notion that Stevens was assaulted, photos of her injuries and photos of the damaged Corolla.

When Stevens did testify, Holder said in an affidavit that he told Lutz about inconsistencies, including that she called Holder an acquaintance she met a couple of months ago, “but she was actually our drug dealer” and he’d known her for more than a year, French wrote. He also said he was aware of another incident which caused the damage to the car, according to the ruling.

Lutz denied the conversation took place, and said he believed cross-examining Stevens would open “a Pandora’s Box,” according to the ruling. French noted that Gionet’s acquittal came from the strength of her denials, and that since the evidence against Holder was unchallenged, challenging Stevens’ credibility may not have worked the same way and may have made his eventual sentence worse.

“Given that Mr. Holder admitted to counsel that the events were substantially as described by the complainant, it is understandable that counsel concluded there was little to be achieved by questioning the complainant on their relationship without posing a risk to Mr. Holder,” French wrote.

Holder said that when Lutz refused to cross-examine, he asked to testify instead, and alleged that Lutz said “the judge will make you look like an idiot” and told him he was guilty. Lutz denied that conversation happened, but said he would not have put him on the stand because Holder had told him Stevens was telling the truth, and had he asked to testify Lutz would have ethically been forced to resign as his lawyer.

French noted that Holder states he wanted to testify, but doesn’t remember how the conversation ended and only “vaguely asserts” his right to testify was taken away, saying that the court is not persuaded on a balance of probabilities that Lutz explicitly prevented him from testifying.

French refused Holder’s effort to submit new evidence and dismissed the appeal.