A Harris County jury found Efrem Holmes not guilty in a 2011 confrontation with a drunken cadet who verbally abused LaBelle at a Houston airport terminal.
- Nov 12, 2013
AceShowbiz - Patti LaBelle's bodyguard has been cleared in a 2011 confrontation with a drunken cadet, Richard King, at a Houston airport terminal. On Monday, November 11, a Harris County jury returned its verdict, acquitting Efrem Holmes of misdemeanor assault charge against him.
LaBelle and her son Zuri Edwards had previously testified in the trial for the case. In his testimony, Edwards said King was "intoxicated, loud, obnoxious" and launching racial epithets at his mother. He added that when he tried to block King's way, King punched him on the right side of his face.
That's when Holmes sprang out and punched King several times. King landed in a hospital with a head wound as the result of the clash. He later filed a civil lawsuit against LaBelle and Holmes, but the singer countersued.
Holmes' attorneys said their client was defending LaBelle and Edwards from King's onslaught. Moreover, trial evidence revealed that the 23-year-old West Point cadet had a blood-alcohol level of .28 percent, more than 3 times Texas' legal threshold for intoxication. During his testimony, King said he didn't remember what happened on the day of the incident.
