Houston Serial Rapist Sentenced to 99 Years

A serial rapist who assaulted at least four women in 2021 was sentenced this week to 99 years in prison and a $10,000 fine, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced.

“This man is a true predator who planned, plotted and schemed to rob and rape women, and this prison sentence ensures that he will be behind bars for decades,” Ogg said. “We are so very proud of the victims who came forward in this case and in similar cases. It’s hard to do, but it’s so important.”

Morris “Mack” Lamour Holton III, 39, was convicted by a jury earlier this month of aggravated sexual assault for raping a woman in 2021. During the punishment phase, jurors also heard about three other victims. Holton was formally sentenced on Monday after several victim impact statements.

Holton was on parole at the time of the 2021 assaults after spending seven years in prison for a 2011 rape.

In that first case, Holton was convicted in 2013 and sentenced to 12 years in prison for using a knife to hold an acquaintance against her will at her apartment, tying her up and raping her. Before that, he had a lengthy criminal record.

After he was released from prison on parole in 2020, Holton began luring women to motels or going to their homes to rob and rape them at gunpoint.

In March 2021, he contacted a massage therapist who worked out of her home and made arrangements to go to her home for a massage. When he arrived, he pulled a loaded gun, tied her wrists and ankles with zip ties and raped her.

Less than two weeks later, he met another woman online and persuaded her to meet him at her hotel. Once there, he again brandished a loaded gun and tied her wrists and ankles with zip ties and raped her.

Less than a week later, he met another woman online and persuaded her to meet him at her motel where he used a gun to rob her. However, during the robbery, she fought him off while he tried to zip tie her and rape her. Holton then beat the woman severely.

A month after that incident, he met a 16-year-old runaway and began repeatedly sexually assaulting her. Holton took video of himself raping the teen, which was later used as evidence against him.

Assistant District Attorney Steven Denman, who is assigned to the DA’s Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation Division, said Holton not only planned his crimes and committed them in basically the same way every time, but he took photos of each victim as “trophies.”

“We know there are more victims who were too afraid to come forward, so we are glad the jury sent a clear message that this man should never be free again,” Denman said. “He’s had a second chance and even a third chance, and this is just who he is—a habitual offender with no remorse—in fact, he bragged to each of these victims that this is what he does.”

After Holton was convicted of aggravated sexual assault, a first-degree felony punishable by up to 99 years in prison, jurors heard about his other charges before sentencing him to the maximum prison time possible.

Those extra charges, about which the jury heard evidence before they deliberated Holton’s sentence, were dismissed after the trial.

The 39-year-old must serve at least 30 years in prison before he will be eligible for parole.