A 30-year-old man today pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison plus five years on probation for his role in the December 2011 armed robbery of the Wendy’s restaurant on U.S. 80 on Wilmington Island that left him with gunshot wounds and his accomplice dead.
Ronnie James Holder entered open-ended pleas - there was no agreement on sentence - before Chatham County Superior Court Judge Timothy R. Walmsley, said Daniel Baxter, spokesman for the district attorney.
Walmsley sentenced Holder to life in prison on an armed robbery charge plus five years on probation for possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony in the robbery that occurred about 1 a.m. Dec. 29, 2011. Holder and an accomplice entered the restaurant, put a gun to the 22-year-old assistant manager’s head, forced him into a back office and demanded cash.
After taking an undisclosed amount of money from Assistant Manager Robert Dasher, Holder and 27-year-old William Martin Clark fled the restaurant heading east toward Johnny Mercer Boulevard. When the manager pursued the suspects, Clark pointed his gun at Dasher and Dasher fired his .40 caliber handgun multiple times at the fleeing bandits. Clark died in the parking lot, clutching a silver revolver. Holder fled despite being shot several times.
Testimony at a Jan. 26 preliminary hearing showed Dasher told police he fired four gunshots and the bandit "dropped." He said he purchased the weapon a week earlier and only fired it once before the fatal shooting, testimony showed.
Holder was captured on Jan. 4, 2012, in a mobile home park near Milledgeville in Baldwin County.
Police also arrested former Wendy’s employee Tony "Cadlillac" Conyers, 32, who worked as a cook at the restaurant and charged him with being a party to the crime of armed robbery and other related offenses. Conyers pleaded guilty earlier this month as part of a negotiated plea and was sentenced to 20 years to serve.
The restaurant manager’s actions were reviewed by the district attorney and charges were not filed.