EX-COURT EMPLOYEE AVOIDS JAIL TIME; COLOMA MAN ARRAIGNED ON OPEN MURDER CHARGE

Court action last week in Berrien County Trial Court included the sentencing of a former county probation program coordinator and the arraignment of a Coloma man for a May 1 murder.
Jessica Holmes, 35, of Eau Claire, was the Swift & Sure Program Coordinator before her arrest last fall on drug and other charges. She had pleaded guilty in late March to one count of delivery of a controlled substance, a 20 year felony, and one count of obstruction of justice, a five year felony.
Last week, Berrien County Trial Judge John Donahue sentenced Holmes to a probationary period that included time on tether but no time in jail. Berrien County Prosecutor Michael Sepic reported that Holmes was placed on 18 months probation including 120 days on tether. She must pay $1,046 in fines and costs.
The incident in the Holmes case occurred last summer when Holmes developed a relationship with a Swift and Sure probationer during and after the July 11 courthouse shootings that killed two Berrien County bailiffs and injured a sheriff’s deputy. Holmes was in the courthouse with the probationer at the time of the shootings.
Holmes delivered Norco, a controlled substance, to the man to sell for her. She also had a sexual relationship with him and gave him confidential information about his drug and alcohol testing.
Holmes was a 16 year veteran of the court and had been promoted to the Swift & Sure program coordinator position in the months before the incident. Her position with the court led to several Berrien County Trial Court judges disqualifying themselves and a probation department from another county writing the presentence report.
In the murder case, Derrick Bailey, 22, of Coloma, was arraigned on a charge of open murder in the death of an Eau Claire man, Nicholaus Kling, 37, of Eau Claire on May 1. Bailey is also charged with carrying a concealed weapon, a five year felony, and felony firearm, a mandatory two year consecutive sentence.
The open murder charge encompasses both first and second degree murder, charges that both carry a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Bailey is scheduled to next be in court May 12 for a pre-exam conference and May 18 for a preliminary hearing, both at the St. Joseph courthouse. His bond was set at $250,000, cash or surety.
In a press release, Sepic reported the details of the May 1 murder which occurred in the early evening hours of May 1 at the intersection of Red Arrow Highway and Benton Center Road in Benton Township.
Bailey, while in the front passenger seat of a stopped vehicle, was confronted by Kling at the intersection of Red Arrow Highway and Benton Center Road in Benton Charter Township.
While still in the vehicle, Bailey allegedly drew a firearm and shot Kling, who was outside the vehicle. Kling was shot three times in the chest and face causing his death. Bailey was the current boyfriend of the female driver of the vehicle and Kling was her recent ex-boyfriend.
Bailey was found at the scene and arrested by Benton Township police. A firearm was also recovered at the scene.