Semi-truck driver sentenced to 22 years for shooting Arapahoe County homeless woman

A semi-truck driver who shot and killed an Arapahoe County homeless woman for throwing rocks at his vehicle was sentenced to 22 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections with five years mandatory parole.

John David Thoren III, 44, an Iraq War veteran, was also ordered to pay funeral expenses for Rachel Holmes in the amount of $9,143.

Prosecutors on Monday were the only ones to speak for the 46-year-old victim at Thoren's sentencing in Arapahoe County Court and asked the judge to send him to prison for the full 30 years on the second-degree murder conviction. Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael Mauro pointed out that though Holmes was estranged from her family and mentally ill "she was not disposable. She did not deserve to die and she didn’t have to die."

Eighteenth Judicial District Judge David Karpel said he took into consideration Thoren's clean criminal record and military service when he handed out the reduced sentence.

"I have to balance your extraordinarily good character, and the fact that you are so loved by everyone in your community, against your act of knowingly taking the life of Ms. Holmes," Carpel said.

The jury convicted Thoren, 44, of second-degree murder in April following a four-day trial.

Thoren, a cross-country semi-truck driver from Iowa, was sleeping in his vehicle behind the Boot Barn on South Parker Road near Arapahoe Road Oct. 28, 2022, when he said he was awakened by a woman throwing rocks at the driver's side of the truck. When police responded at 2:25 a.m., he said he warned the woman to stop, showed a gun and threatened to shoot her.

At some point, he shot Holmes in the head and she was pronounced deceased on-scene. Thoren called 911 to report the shooting, but he did not render aid.

Thoren told investigators he was scared for his safety and admitted to shooting the victim. Officers found large landscaping rocks on the ground near the truck but reported minimal damage to the vehicle.

Speaking on his own behalf at Monday's sentencing, Thoren begged for a lighter sentence. He explained that he was acting in self defense when he shot Holmes, who he said "was hurling concrete at my window in the middle of the night."

He said he never wanted to kill anyone.

Among those who made statements for Thoren was a friend who said he took care of his special-needs brother, who recently died of leukemia.

Thoren's wife, Jennifer, and his stepson, Brendon Perry, also addressed the court on his behalf.

"I thank him for filling that father hole in my family when my biological father did not," Perry said.

The second-degree murder count is a class 2 felony. Thoren was also convicted of one sentence enhancer count of using a weapon in a violent crime.

“While citizens have the right to bear arms and protect themselves from imminent danger, the evidence doesn’t support this defendant’s claims that his life was in danger,” 18th Judicial District Attorney John Kellner said.