No death penalty for Spanaway man who killed wife, daughter
Nov 20, 2012, 3:19 PM | Updated: 3:25 pm
Prosecutors will not seek the death penalty in the case of a Spanaway man who murdered his wife and daughter amid concerns about their financial security.
Dean Holmes, 40, now faces two life sentences without the possibility of parole for the August 2012 shooting death of his wife, Kristi Holmes, and their 11-year-old daughter, Violet.
“We took into account the severity of his crimes, his remorse as demonstrated by his surrender to law enforcement and expeditious plea of guilty, his lack of felony criminal history, the likelihood of the death penalty being upheld, and other factors,” said Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist. “We also talked with the family and they are supportive of this decision.”
Among those family members is Holmes’ surviving daughter, who was away at college at the time of the murders.
According to prosecutors, Holmes was in dire financial straits and feared his wife would leave him is she found out about his debt.
“Before it all collapsed, he killed her,” Lindquist said.
Early in the morning on Aug. 28, Kristi Holmes was shot to death with a .38 caliber revolver as she slept in her bed. Holmes then awoke his daughter and her friend, who had spent the night.
After dropping the friend off at her home in Auburn, Holmes shot Violet as she slept in the back seat.
He turned himself in at the Pierce County Jail the morning of Aug. 29.
