WHITE COUNTY, Ga. — The son of a White County commissioner pleaded guilty Thursday to felony vehicular homicide in the death of a 3-year-old boy he hit in a grocery store parking lot, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
James Holcomb, 37, also pleaded guilty to charges of DUI-drugs, reckless driving and driving with an expired license related to the case, the White County Superior Court clerk’s office confirmed. He is the son of District 2 commissioner Lyn Holcomb.
According to prosecutors, Holcomb hit 3-year-old Easton Cain on Jan. 17, 2017 as he stood behind a parked SUV in the parking lot of an Ingles in Cleveland, about 80 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta.
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The toddler was pinned between the front of Holcomb’s Chevrolet Avalanche and the back the SUV, an unoccupied Ford Explorer. In previous court hearings, Cleveland police Chief John Foster said Holcomb was “incoherent” and “slumped over” when witnesses pulled him from the car after the deadly incident.
At time of Cain’s death, Holcomb was out on bond for a 2016 drug-related incident in which witnesses said his own child was seen wandering in a motel parking lot. Holcomb also entered a guilty plea Thursday to methamphetamine possession in that case, the White County News reported.
Including the 2016 arrest, Holcomb had been arrested 12 times on drug- and alcohol-related charges over a period of 20 years before Cain’s death.
He was sentenced to 17 years, with 14 years to serve in prison in the vehicular homicide case. A judge tacked on an additional 3 years in the meth case, according to the White County News.
[ This story was written by Chelsea Prince for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. ]