[Lady Sidhe]

Inmate pleads guilty in 1989 murder; linked by DNA match

Baltimore - A prison inmate has entered a guilty plea in a Baltimore rape and murder that happened more than 14 years ago.

Fifty-seven-year-old John Holmes pleaded guilty yesterday to the fatal stabbing of Shirley Myers in December 1989 on Montpelier Street in northeast Baltimore. He was convicted of second-degree murder and first degree rape and was given a life sentence -- suspended after 25 years.

Holmes has already been serving a 25-year prison sentence since 1990 for armed robbery. He was linked to the Myers case through DNA tests.

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Woman Pleads Guilty To First-Degree Murder In Husband's Death

POSTED: 6:35 am PDT June 17, 2004
UPDATED: 6:52 am PDT June 17, 2004
LOS ANGELES -- A woman accused of murdering her husband with the help of a man she met on the Internet is facing 25 years to life in prison after pleading guilty to first-degree murder.

Cathleen Quinn also agreed to testify against her alleged accomplice Wednesday.

A judge told Quinn during a hearing in West Valley Superior Court that she would reduce the charge to second-degree murder and sentence her to 15 years to life if she testifies truthfully during the upcoming trial of Alan Lee Lama.

Prosecutors say Quinn met the 35-year-old former radio announcer over the Internet and the two hatched a plot to assault 36-year-old James Quinn of Victorville, Calif.

Cathleen Quinn confessed to detectives that on January 24, 2003 she was driving her husband home from dinner when she took him to an isolated spot where Lama was waiting to rough him up. She said Lama attacked James Quinn with a knife and then used the cord from his sweat shirt to strangle him.

Lama has pleaded not guilty and denied any role. Now that Quinn has pleaded guilty, Lama's jury will be allowed to hear her confession and implication of Lama.