Sex-attack defendant waives hearing

0 Comments | Philadelphia Daily News, February, 2008 | by JULIE SHAW shawj@phillynews.com 215-854-2592

An 18-year-old North Philadelphia youth accused of brutally beating and sexually assaulting a Temple University student on campus in November waived his right to a preliminary hearing yesterday and may later plead guilty to some of the felony charges.

Steven Holmes, a short, stocky man, allegedly entered Temple's Anderson Hall, about half a block from where he lived on 11th Street near Berks, about 7 p.m. Nov. 1 and pounced on the 22-year-old woman.

Assistant District Attorney Bill Davis said after yesterday's court session that the victim "was closing up a classroom that she had been monitoring, and when she turned, she was attacked by a male who was wearing a makeshift hood over his head."

The student "was beaten very severely," then dragged into a bathroom,...