United States v. Xavier Holley

── United States v. Xavier Holley ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Date: April 20, 2026 Category: General USCA4 Appeal: 24-4432 Doc: 44 Filed: 04/20/2026 Pg: 1 of 11 UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 24-4432 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff – Appellee, v. XAVIER HOLLEY, Defendant – Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at Norfolk. Rebecca Beach Smith, Senior District Judge. (2:11-cr-00073-RBS-LRL-3) Argued: March 18, 2026 Decided: April 20, 2026 Before THACKER, RUSHING, and BENJAMIN, Circuit Judges. Affirmed by unpublished opinion. Judge Rushing wrote the opinion, in which Judge Thacker and Judge Benjamin joined. ARGUED: David Iraola, Brian Joseph Young, CAPITAL ONE, McLean, Virginia, for Appellant. Emily Rebecca Gantt, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Norfolk, Virginia, for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Lesley Whitcomb Fierst, Matthew Bonness, McLean, Virginia, for Appellant. Erik S. Siebert, United States Attorney, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Alexandria, Virginia, for Appellee. Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. USCA4 Appeal: 24-4432 Doc: 44 Filed: 04/20/2026 Pg: 2 of 11 RUSHING, Circuit Judge: Defendant Xavier Holley was sentenced to 40 years’ imprisonment for his role in a conspiracy to rob a pawn shop that resulted in the murder of a store clerk. On appeal, he challenges his sentence and alleges ineffective assistance of counsel at sentencing. We affirm. I. Holley and his co-conspirators attempted to rob a pawn shop in Portsmouth, Virginia, on two occasions. The first attempt, on October 5, 2010, was aborted after the co-conspirators entered the store. The second attempt, the following day, ended with one of the co-conspirators shooting and killing the store clerk with Holley’s gun while Holley waited outside in the getaway car. Afterward, Holley tossed the gun into a sewer drain. A federal grand jury charged Holley with two counts of attempted Hobbs Act robbery, 18 U.S.C. § 1951, one count of conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery, id., one count of carrying a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, id. § 924(c)(1)(A)(i), and one count of using a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence causing death, id. § 924(j)(1). The trial jury convicted Holley on all counts, and the district court sentenced him to life in prison plus 60 months. This Court affirmed. United States v. Holley, 539 Fed. App. 192 (4th Cir. 2013). After the Supreme Court ruled that attempted Hobbs Act robbery is not categorically a crime of violence, see United States v. Taylor, 142 S. Ct. 2015 (2022), Holley’s two Section 924 counts were vacated and a new sentencing hearing was scheduled before the same district court judge who had sentenced him ten years earlier. This time, the court 2 USCA4 Appeal: 24-4432 Doc: 44 Filed: 04/20/2026 Pg: 3 of 11 sentenced Holley to 480 months’ imprisonment, composed of 240 months for each attempted robbery, to be served concurrently, and 240 months for conspiracy, to be served consecutively. Holley timely appealed. II. On appeal, Holley raises three challenges to the procedural and substantive