Serial rapist sentenced to 99 years in prison for assault in 2021 | Upper Gulf Coast

HOUSTON, Texas – A serial rapist who attacked 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, schemed and plotted to rob and rape women, and this prison sentence guarantees he will spend decades behind bars,” Ogg said. “We are so proud of the victims who have come forward in this and similar cases. This is hard, but so important.”

Morris “Mack” Lamour Holton III, 39, was found guilty by a jury earlier this month of aggravated sexual assault for raping a woman in 2021. During the penalty phase, jurors also heard from three other victims. Holton was formally sentenced on Monday after several victims testified.

Holton was on parole at the time of the 2021 attacks after serving 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 holding, tying and raping an acquaintance against her will in her apartment with a knife. He previously had a long criminal record.

After being 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 from home and arranged to visit her at home for a massage. When he arrived, he pulled out a loaded gun, bound 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 pulled out a loaded gun, bound 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 robbed her with a gun. During the robbery, however, she resisted while he attempted to bind her with zip ties and rape her. Holton then brutally beat the woman.

A month after this incident, he met a 16-year-old runaway and began to sexually abuse her repeatedly. Holton filmed himself raping the teenager, which was later used as evidence against him.

Assistant District Attorney Steven Denman, assigned to the Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation Unit, said Holton not only planned and committed his crimes in essentially the same manner each time, but he also took photographs of each victim as “trophies.”

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

After Holton was convicted of aggravated sexual assault, a first-degree felony punishable by up to 99 years in prison, jurors heard his other charges before sentencing him to the maximum possible prison term. Those additional charges, on which jurors heard evidence before deliberating Holton’s sentence, were dropped after the trial.

The 39-year-old must spend at least 30 years in prison before he can be released on parole.