An alleged gang member arrested by Franklin police hours after a woman was fatally shot inside his Dorchester home and a father and son were shot, one of whom later died, while riding their motorcycles on the Southeast Expressway was released from prison early following a state drug lab scandal, federal officials said Tuesday.
In 2011, Lance L. Holloman, 30, was convicted on federal drug charges for distributing crack cocaine and oxycodone and sentenced to six years in prison.
But after Annie Dookhan, the lead chemist in Holloman’s case, was accused and later convicted of tampering with evidence at a state drug lab, the crack cocaine charges were dismissed in 2012, reducing his sentence to the two years he had served, said Christina DiIorio-Sterling, a spokeswoman for the US attorney’s office in Boston.
“Had he served the original sentence of six years, he would have been out of prison by now, albeit on supervised release,’’ DiIorio-Sterling said in a statement.
Authorities are investigating a possible connection between Holloman and the two shootings.
A few blocks from Holloman’s home on Santuit Street in Dorchester, police found the red Jeep Renegade SUV that was believed to have been involved in the expressway shootings. Holloman has not been charged in either incident.
The younger of the two men shot on the expressway died of his injuries Tuesday. Scott M. Stevens Jr., 32, of East Taunton, died at Boston Medical Center, according to State Police spokesman David Procopio.
The other victim, a 54-year-old Raynham man, remained hospitalized Tuesday.
“We are working night and day to bring the person or persons who did this to justice,’’ Procopio said in a statement. “We are, obviously, working closely with Boston police because of the proximity, in time and location, between the highway shootings and the homicide they are investigating on Santuit Street.’’
No arrests have been made, Procopio said.
On Monday, Holloman was ordered held on $150,000 bail in Dorchester District Court on an unrelated firearms charge.
When she reduced Holloman’s sentence, US District Judge Denise J. Casper warned Holloman not to possess a gun and to refrain from drug and alcohol use. She told Holloman that she wanted him to succeed, but said that if he got into trouble again he’d be a “career offender.’’
“What has happened today was, in my opinion, required of the criminal justice system,’’ Casper said in reference to a joint motion to vacate some of the drug charges, according to court records. “In a practical sense, you’re getting a break, but . . . the risk of what you will face if you get criminally charged again and convicted again are great.’’
Authorities did not identify the second man shot on the expressway, but neighbors in Raynham said the man is Scott Stevens Sr.
“They’re wonderful people and that piece of trash who [shot] them . . . [he’s] no good,’’ said one neighbor, who declined to give her name.
In Dorchester, a resident who declined to give his name said police officers with dogs were in the area for about an hour.
Mike Bello of the Globe staff and Globe correspondent Jake Johnson contributed to this report. Jan Ransom can be reached at jan.ransom@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @Jan_Ransom.
