Man admits assault in Temple's Anderson Hall

0 Comments | Philadelphia Inquirer, The, May, 2008 | by Joseph A. Gambardello Inquirer Staff Writer

Though his lawyer said the defendant did not remember the attack, an 18-year-old North Philadelphia man pleaded guilty yesterday to brutally beating and indecently assaulting a Temple University student Nov. 1 in a campus building. Steven Holmes faces up to 97 years in prison when he is sentenced Aug.

22 for the assault, and for escaping from a youth detention facility in October and threatening a witness in December. Holmes, who is schizophrenic and told the court that he needs medication to prevent him from hearing voices and seeing visions, firmly answered, "Yes, ma'am," when Common Pleas Court Judge Karen Shreeves-Johns asked him a series of questions as part of the plea. His 22-year-old victim sat quietly with her father and brother in the back of the courtroom during...