Man gets 12 years after taking plea in 2006 killing

Superior Court Judge James Harden sentenced Monte LeShawn Riggsbee, 26, to a minimum of 12 1/2 years to a maximum of almost 16 years in the N.C. Department of Correction.

Riggsbee, who was represented by attorney Robert Collins, testified that Hollar was purchasing crack cocaine from him at the time of the shooting on Nov. 11, 2006.

Riggsbee testified that he wasn't employed at the time of the shooting. He said that he earned money by selling crack cocaine, which he started doing when he was 14. That's why he left his girlfriend's house on Cates Avenue in Burlington at around 11:30 p.m. Nov. 11, 2006. He was going to sell drugs.

He ran into Hollar shortly before midnight.

"He asked me if I had a 50 of crack," Riggsbee said.

Riggsbee got in Hollar's Buick LeSabre and was sitting in the passenger's seat pulling the crack out of his pocket when Hollar pulled a gun on him. Riggsbee said he held Hollar's right arm while reaching for his own .45-caliber pistol. Riggsbee shot his gun three or four times and jumped out of the vehicle.

After Riggsbee jumped out of the car, it kept going on Cates Avenue and eventually hit a tree. When police arrived, Hollar was dead.

Riggsbee, who was shot in the forearm during the scuffle, went back to his girlfriend's house to change his clothes and get bandages for his arm. Riggsbee testified that he didn't know if Hollar shot him in the arm or if he shot himself.

Assistant District Attorney Craig Thompson asked him why he didn't go to the hospital.

"I was scared," Riggsbee said.

He ended up going to Chapel Hill and on his way there he threw the .45-caliber gun he shot Hollar with off a bridge and into a river. An Orange County bail bondsman later reported the .45-caliber pistol stolen to police, Thompson said.

Riggsbee was arrested Nov. 17, 2006 after the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force found him in Chapel Hill.

During a search of Hollar's vehicle, Police found a cap and a holster that belonged to Riggsbee on the passenger's side of the car. They also found a 9 mm gun, which Riggsbee said was Hollar's.

Thompson told the judge that Hollar, who was 47 when died, used to have a drug and alcohol habit, but he had kicked it many years before his death. He described Hollar as a black belt in karate and a "man who would give his shirt off his back."

Thompson showed the judge photos taken of a cross at Hollar's home. He said that since February 1997 until the night he died, Hollar lit the cross.

"Even if you believe he was trying to buy 50 dollars worth of crack cocaine, he didn't deserve to die for it," Thompson said.

Hollar's blood alcohol was .08 at the time of his death, according to toxicology results, but there weren't any drugs in his system.

Thompson said that because Hollar is dead, authorities only have Riggsbee's account of what happened in the car. He described Riggsbee as a "career criminal."

"It's the version of events given by a 24-year-old who by his own admission has sold crack since he was 14," Thompson said. "... He knows the system. He's been in the system."

Hollar was a part-time instructor for Lee Brothers Martial Arts. When police went to his home after he was shot, they found the television blaring. The house was extremely neat, Thompson said.

"The fact that a man, who kept an immaculate home, decided to pull a gun and rob Mr. Riggsbee stretches credibility," Thompson said.

Fifty dollars - two $20 bills and two $5 bills - were found folded in Hollar's wallet.

Before Harden sentenced Riggsbee, Collins argued that while Riggsbee shouldn't have been selling drugs, the shooting wasn't something he planned or did in "cold blood." He asked the judge to sentence his client to 114 months, which is less than 10 years and the minimum allowed for the charge.