Norfolk man gets life sentence for Ocean View murder

NORFOLK

A judge sentenced a 24-year-old man to life in prison Friday for a killing during an attempted street robbery in Ocean View.

Brian Snowden was given life in prison for the first-degree murder of Andre Holloway, a Hampton man who was on a first date with a woman in May 2009. A Norfolk jury convicted Snowden of murder, attempted robbery and weapons charges in May of this year. The jury recommended life in prison.

Holloway, 20, was meeting a woman for the first time after several online and phone conversations, according to court testimony. Snowden approached the couple as they talked near Holloway's car, parked on the 1000 block of Balview Ave. Snowden demanded money and Holloway told his friend to run away, according to testimony.

The woman ran, and Snowden shot Holloway six times, court records state.

Doris Holloway told the court Friday that her son was an excellent student and a good football player at Phoebus High School in Hampton. He attended Christopher Newport University for a year and also played on the football team, she said.

Holloway had recently left school and worked at a Home Depot in Hampton, she said. After he was killed, co-workers and customers signed an orange apron with memories and condolences for the family. Prosecutors showed the apron in court.

"My son was murdered. My son didn't deserve to be murdered," Doris Holloway said from the witness stand. "As a mother, I just don't understand it."

Prosecutor Lyn Simmons told the court that Snowden had a criminal record before he became an adult and failed to take advantage of several attempts at rehabilitation.

"He does not deserve to live among us," she said.

Louis Hansen, (757) 446-2341, louis.hansen@pilotonline.com