LANCASTER—In December 2022, Ronald Edward Holmes Jr. of Lancaster was found guilty by a jury in Lancaster County Circuit Court of rape and forcible sodomy of a Lancaster woman. During the trial, accounts emerged of Holmes’s criminal history, institutionalized past and trouble adjusting to life outside prison.
Holmes will almost certainly remain in those familiar institutional surroundings for the rest of his life. On Friday, July 21, Judge R. Michael McKenney gave Holmes a life sentence for the rape conviction as well as a life sentence with all but 10 years suspended for the forcible sodomy conviction. The sentences will be served consecutively.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Anthony Spencer agreed with the lengthy sentence, saying Holmes “should never be free from incarceration. He is broken and will never be rehabilitated. Recognizing the danger that Holmes presents, Judge McKenney imposed the appropriate sentences.”
