Man to serve decades in prison for shooting at Pelham wedding

NASHUA, N.H. — Dale Holloway, convicted in the shooting of Pentecostal Ministries Bishop Stanley Choate at a wedding at New England Pentecostal Ministries in Pelham in 2019, was sentenced Monday to 40 years to life on an attempted murder charge.

He also was given two, 10 to 30-year sentences on charges of first-degree assault and felon in possession of a dangerous weapon, with pre-trial credit of 1,571 days on both. However, the judge did not give him that pre-trial credit on the attempted murder charge.

Holloway was also given a 12-month suspended sentence on the simple assault charge for pistol-whipping the groom.

Holloway, 41, asked to be sentenced in absentia, meaning he was not present for the hearing in Hillsborough County Superior Court South.

Judge Charles Temple, prior to issuing the sentences, noted Holloway’s absence in speaking directly to Bishop Choate.

“A heinous crime was committed against you that day by a man who didn’t have the courage to be here today, to face you today,” he said.

WMUR-9 live-streamed the hearing.

Holloway was found guilty last November of the Oct. 12, 2019 attempted murder of Bishop Choate, then 75, who was shot in the chest; first-degree assault for recklessly causing injury to the bride, Claire McMullen, then 60, who was shot in the arm; being a felon in possession of a .380 caliber pistol; and simple assault for striking the groom, Mark Castiglione, then 60, in the head with a firearm.

He filed an insanity defense but the jury found he was sane at the time of the shooting.

The wedding was to precede the funeral of Luis Garcia, 60, of Londonderry, Holloway’s step-father, who was killed Oct. 1, 2019 when he was shot in the neck in his home.    Garcia was also a clergyman at the Pentecostal church.

Brandon Castiglione, 24, of Londonderry, Mark Castiglione’s son, was arrested on a second-degree murder charge in Garcia’s death.  He was found guilty and sentenced to 42 years to life in prison.

Holloway thought it was disrespectful to hold the wedding just prior to his step-father’s funeral.

Bishop Choate, who gave a victim impact statement at the sentencing, said Holloway was unaware the Garcia family had requested that date.  They were told that the date was already taken for a wedding but the Garcia family wanted the funeral held that day.

Choate is still recovering from his injury.   He walks with a cane and said he still wears braces on both legs.

“The whole family has been emotionally scarred by what took place,” he said.

What caused him to be “very much disturbed,” he said, was Holloway accusing the Choates of planning the execution of Garcia.

“It’s impossible for us to plan to kill our best friend, as if we were some sort of gangsters,” Bishop Choate said. “Garcia was a great man in the church and known for his generosity in the congregation.  He (Holloway) accused us of dishonoring the funeral of his stepfather not realizing they had chosen that date for the funeral and Mark had chosen that date for their wedding.”

The point, he said, is they were accused of setting “this thing up to dishonor Garcia.  That isn’t true at all.    They accused us of trying to assassinate Garcia. I was very much angered by that; that caused us to be separate from the Garcia family for a long time.”

The shooting, which happened in front of about 30 to 40 people including children, traumatized people so much they didn’t come back to church, the bishop said.

McMullen also spoke at the hearing.  She said Holloway’s actions affected her emotionally, that she became fearful, was afraid to be alone and afraid to go on her daily walks.  She said she eventually overcame those fears.

However, she said she was shot in the right hand which caused nerve damage and ended her 34-year career caring for young children.  It has and will continue to affect her finances, she said.

“My hope is he will remain incarcerated forever so he can never affect another innocent person,” she said.

Others who spoke included Bishop Choate’s wife Ruth, also a minister, his two sons and his daughter.

The judge, in issuing the lengthy sentences, said the goal of sentencing is punishment and ultimately rehabilitation.  He noted that Holloway had a hard upbringing and suffered from mental illness from the time he was a child.

However, he said Holloway led a life of crime – violent crime – as far back as 2009.

While the goal of any sentence is rehabilitation, he said in Holloway’s case it should occur in prison.