Ex-Marine Gets 6-Year Sentence in Soliciting Murder

A former Marine was sentenced Friday to six years in prison for offering an undercover investigator $5,000 to kill a Costa Mesa man who was planning to testify against him for the theft of 50 palm trees.

Eric Vincent Holt, 36, of Costa Mesa was convicted in September of soliciting the murder of Eugene Soliz, 36, but the jury acquitted him of charges that he stole the palm trees from a landscaper.

Soliz had led police to Holt--and the palm trees. Deputy Dist. Atty. Sheila Meskin said that Holt is suspected of wanting to retaliate against Soliz and eliminate him as a witness.

Holt has a history of unusual behavior and brushes with the law, according to court records. In 1986, Holt shot and killed a teen-ager driving away from his auto repair shop. Holt told authorities the 15-year-old youth was stealing wheels.

Court records also indicate that Holt, a Marine who had experience with explosives, bragged about setting off a bomb in a Costa Mesa parking lot--a crime police never solved.

Before being sentenced by Orange County Superior Court Judge John J. Ryan, Holt also pleaded guilty to possessing ammunition that authorities consider to be an explosive device, Meskin said.