Vernon Holley

Vernon Holley
Portrayed by	Brian Anthony Wilson
Seasons	1, 2, 3, 4, 5
First seen	"The Wire"
Last seen	"-30-"
Name	Vernon Holley
Occupation	Detective in the Baltimore Police Department Homicide Unit

Vernon Holley is a homicide detective.

Biography

Holley is an African American detective in the Baltimore Police Department homicide unit under the command of Major Rawls and later Colonel Foerster followed by Cedric Daniels. Holley often works with Norris, Bunk, or Crutchfield and is one of the unit's more short tempered and physically intimidating detectives. He first appeared with partner Ed Norris and caught the case of the murder of Omar Little’s boyfriend Brandon. They recognized a connection to the recent murder of Omar’s crew member Bailey because both corpses were found in Kevlar vests. They called in their colleague Jimmy McNulty and the Barksdale detail's work secured a conviction for the murder against soldier Wee-Bey Brice.

Following the shooting of detective Kima Greggs, Holley found her confidential informant Bubbles paging her from a payphone. Holley assumed he was a suspect and had uniformed officers bring him in for an interrogation. Believing Bubbles to be the shooter, Holley came into interrogate Bubbles in an accusatory and threatening manner and when Bubbles was unable to respond to his questions, Holley quickly lost his temper and started to beat him. The beating kept on until Seargent Landsman restrained Holley with Bubbles asking for McNulty. When Jimmy came up, the situation was cleared up and Holley lied about Bubbles trying to attack him as a means of justifying the beating.

In season two Holley was briefly seen investigating the murder of Frank Sobotka. In season three he is assigned to investigate the murder of Tosha Mitchell and Tank and later the shooting of Stringer Bell, both working with Bunk Moreland. During this season, he was also seen called to duty for other investigations as the city's homicide rate was rapidly approaching 300 murders for the year.

In season four, Holley initially works as the secondary investigator on Norris' case of a murdered state's witness named Braddock that becomes a "red ball" case. Later in that investigation, he is replaced by Kima Greggs for political reasons. Holley and Crutchfield are then seen catching the case of a delivery woman murdered in the convenience store of Old Face Andre. They interview Andre who quickly identifies Omar Little as the killer in a photo array. When Omar is arrested he manages to convince Bunk Moreland he is innocent and Bunk asks Crutchfield and Holley to re-open the case. Crutchfield refused to entertain the idea but Holley agrees that Andre was a possible drug dealer and went with Bunk to the crime scene reluctantly. At the scene revisitation, Bunk viewed evidence confirming Omar's innocence in the shooting as he stated that Andre's store was a drug stash house, Andre's story made no sense, and he most likely did the implication of Omar for ripping of his stash. Holley and Bunk then reappeared with a grand jury summons where at the courtroom, Holley managed to intimidate Andre both physically and legally to have him confess his role in lying about the murder. Holley ends Season 4 assisting Crutchfield, Norris, and Bunk in the investigations of murders caused by Marlo Stanfield's crew.

Appearances

Season 1
"The Target"	"The Detail"	"The Buys"	"Old Cases"	"The Pager"
"The Wire"	"One Arrest"	"Lessons"	"Game Day"	"The Cost"
"The Hunt"	"Cleaning Up"	"Sentencing"

Season 2
"Ebb Tide"	"Collateral Damage"	"Hot Shots"	"Hard Cases"	"Undertow"
"All Prologue"	"Backwash"	"Duck and Cover"	"Stray Rounds"	"Storm Warnings"
"Bad Dreams"	"Port in a Storm" *

Season 3
"Time after Time"	"All Due Respect" *	"Dead Soldiers"	"Amsterdam"	"Straight and True"
"Homecoming"	"Back Burners"	"Moral Midgetry"	"Slapstick"	"Reformation"
"Middle Ground"	"Mission Accomplished"

Season 4
"Boys of Summer"	"Soft Eyes"	"Home Rooms"	"Refugees"	"Alliances"
"Margin of Error"	"Unto Others"	"Corner Boys"	"Know Your Place"	"Misgivings"
"A New Day"	"That's Got His Own"	"Final Grades"

Season 5
"More with Less"	"Unconfirmed Reports"	"Not for Attribution"	"Transitions"	"React Quotes"
"The Dickensian Aspect"	"Took"	"Clarifications"	"Late Editions"	"-30-"

Behind the scenes

According to Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, there was actually an African American detective in the Baltimore Police Department homicide division named Vernon Holley.

The real-life Vernon Holley was a former detective in the Baltimore Police Department's Robbery Division it is not shown on the wikipedia the free encyclopedia is this Holley is a former robbery detective. He was a replacement for Fred Ceruti a detective who had three open consecutive cases.