Elyria woman gets 10 -15 years in prison for May 2020 fatal stabbing

An Elyria woman charged with stabbing another woman to death more than two years ago pleaded guilty to amended charges in Lorain County Common Pleas Court last week. Holly Baire, 39, pleaded guilty to an amended charge of voluntary manslaughter, a felony, and received an indefinite sentence of 10 to 15 years in prison from Judge Christopher Rothgery on Thursday. Originally charged with three counts of murder prosecutors said represented three different possible fact patterns as well as two counts of felonious assault, the murder charges were amended to lesser felonies as part of a plea agreement between Baire's attorneys, Michael Kinlin and Steven Albenze, and the Lorain County Prosecutor's Office. In place of two of the murder charges, Baire also pleaded guilty to amended charges of tampering with evidence, a felony, and endangering children, a misdemeanor, according to the Lorain County Prosecutor's Office. The two original felonious assault charges also were included in the plea. Kinlin said Monday he thought the plea "was a good resolution for everyone." Prosecutors were expected to present evidence at a trial scheduled to take place starting Monday that Baire and 33-year-old Jamie Royster-Collazo were in an ongoing feud that ended with Royster-Collazo's death by stabbing on May 7, 2020. Kinlin said his client had a "good self-defense claim," as Royster-Collazo and others had gone to confront his client, including one person armed with a brick. With credit for more than two years she has already served in the Lorain County Jail awaiting trial, Baire could get out of prison in just over seven years, Kinlin said. The killing took place in the area of Foster Avenue and Lorain Boulevard shortly before 5 p.m. that day. Royster-Collazo was stabbed once in the upper torso, police said, and later pronounced dead at University Hospitals Elyria Medical Center. The trial was delayed after Rothgery ordered Baire's former attorney, Jason Harless, removed from her case in January. Harless was replaced by Albenze after prosecutors successfully argued that Harless had represented several witnesses in the case and given them legal advice, creating a conflict of interest that disqualified him from representing Baire. Baire had earlier this year rejected a plea agreement that would have sent her to prison for 12 years. Court records indicate she rejected at least one other plea agreement offered by prosecutors prior to accepting a plea last week. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @DaveOBrienCT.