Two life terms for man who murdered wife, daughter
TACOMA, Wash. -- A man who murdered his wife and 11-year-old daughter has learned his fate.
Dean Holmes was sentenced Friday to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. Holmes, 40, had pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated first-degree murder.
Prosecutors had requested the sentence Holmes was given; they said they would not to seek the death penalty in the case.
The body of Holmes' wife, Kristi, and his daughter, Violet, were discovered in late August after Holmes walked into the Pierce County Jail early one morning and said he fatally shot his wife and child.
Prosecutors said Dean Holmes pulled a .38-caliber revolver from a dresser early the morning before and shot his wife of 12 years four times as she was sleeping in their bed. Violet was sleeping with a friend in the living room and didn't hear the gunshots due to the sound of a fan running nearby.
After the shooting, Holmes reloaded, then woke the girls and drove them to drop the friend off at her home in Auburn.
On his way home, Holmes pulled over and shot his daughter several times as she lay sleeping in the backseat. He then drove to a fast food restaurant, and ordered food through the drive-thru with his dead daughter in the backseat.
He returned home and put Violet's body next to his wife's then got back in the car and drove around aimlessly, prosecutors said. He decided the next morning to turn himself in.
Dean Holmes was sentenced Friday to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. Holmes, 40, had pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated first-degree murder.
Prosecutors had requested the sentence Holmes was given; they said they would not to seek the death penalty in the case.
The body of Holmes' wife, Kristi, and his daughter, Violet, were discovered in late August after Holmes walked into the Pierce County Jail early one morning and said he fatally shot his wife and child.
Prosecutors said Dean Holmes pulled a .38-caliber revolver from a dresser early the morning before and shot his wife of 12 years four times as she was sleeping in their bed. Violet was sleeping with a friend in the living room and didn't hear the gunshots due to the sound of a fan running nearby.
After the shooting, Holmes reloaded, then woke the girls and drove them to drop the friend off at her home in Auburn.
On his way home, Holmes pulled over and shot his daughter several times as she lay sleeping in the backseat. He then drove to a fast food restaurant, and ordered food through the drive-thru with his dead daughter in the backseat.
He returned home and put Violet's body next to his wife's then got back in the car and drove around aimlessly, prosecutors said. He decided the next morning to turn himself in.
Actually it is not cheaper to give life in Prison! The amount to put some one to death is expensive, but depending on the health and condition of the inmate over the long term the death sentence is cheaper.. Old research does say life is cheaper, but current costs and at today's rates death is the penny saver. Texas has a express lane to the death house and the save millions a year. Washington might want to take a look!
 @wardog It's only more expensive because they don't walk him back behind the courthouse and put a few bullets in him after sentencing. If they did that? Cheap Cheap Cheap. Let God deal with this scumbag.
If you research the cost difference between life without parole and the death sentence you will find the death sentence is many times more expensive than life. So, statements like, "just give him the death penalty and save us all some money" is not an accurate statement.
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 @JT This argument is a self fulfilling prophecy. I think that the bleeding hearts who seem to care more for murderers then for victims have planned this strategy all along. Hey I know let's stretch these death sentences out as long as possible, and then we can make the argument that they are statistically more expensive. Brilliant. How about, one appeal, then a bullet.
 @JT Ok forget the money execute him because the crime fits the punishment. The two innocent people he killed have no more time. Another reason too give him the death penalty
Dumbest thing I have ever heard.Two life sentences just give him the death penalty and save us all some money.
He needs to be put out of our misery. Once he's been proven guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt, he needs to be put down, right away. No appeals, no nothing. If our system worked right, the only expense would be the cost of a bullet or a rope. We shouldn't have to pay for him to have 3 hot's and a cot for the rest of his life.
Good! Let him rot! At least we still have some justice. But I'm not sure how much justice we really have until I read more about this Tuba Man killer story I'm about to read...
What a horrible thing.. I hope he is ...as we say shanked... waste of skin.. let them know why he is there... internal will take care of him... sad kinda that we don't hold some of our arrests more accoutable
What a huge waste of my money. So I get to feed and care for this scum for how many years? Why bother?
TWO life terms is kind of redundant isn't it? How about ONE life term and stick TO it. Better yet, take this crazy moron out back and put him out of our wallets' misery. We have to support WAY too many people like this, while we struggle to support our own families. There's something WRONG here.
 @Wolfen It's just WAY cheaper to lock him up and keep him locked up. This guy's had is 15 minutes of infamy - time to lock him up, throw away the key, and forget that he ever existed. He does not deserve the attention.
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But clearly there is something really wrong with a guy who will drive his daughter's friend home and then just calmly murder his own daughter. This guy is clearly DEFECTIVE in the area of basic empathy and respect. It likely is amazing that his family lasted as long as it did!
This is bulls***! Put the POS down. Despite the fact that he'd confessed...
 @Alki_Ninja Cheaper to keep him in jail what with all the appeals that happen when the death penalty is invoked.
 @jcman  @Alki_NinjaÂ
That is the real problem. In a case like this it should not cost millions or take years to just put him down.
The famous sentence which prevents felons to never be able to leave the prison.................I like it.
 @Just my sayÂ
Until some judge decides he had his "rights" violated and lets him out.
 @Just my say  Oh, except the ones who escape. And murder. Like that nice retired couple in AZ 2 years back.
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Or, the ones who stay in prison and kill the nice prison guards like at Monroe.
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Nope. Whack him. Actions must have consequences commensurate to their evil. No way should he be rewarded with the very thing he took from his victims.
 @the unvarnished truth I would agree with you, but this guy wanted the death sentence. He was unable to kill himself. He needs someone else to do. In this case, I want him to live a long, long, life behind bars. Always remembering what he did.Â
It IS horrible but at least he fessed up and didn't put her family and friends through a trial. Â
Finally! A sentence ALMOST fitting the crime!
what a horrible story and what a horrible thing to do
@Larry*X*K ?...gee, ya think?