By Bill Parry
An Astoria man has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for the strangling and beating death of a former girlfriend, Danielle Thomas, in June 2012, the Queens district attorney said.
John Bohn, 35, was convicted of first-degree murder, tampering with physical evidence and first-degree criminal contempt March 5, following a seven-week jury trial.
“The defendant has been held accountable for his actions and will spend the rest of his life in prison,” Queens DA Richard Brown said Tuesday after the sentencing before Queens Supreme Court Justice Michael Aloise. “At trial, the jury listened to harrowing evidence, including a recording during which the victim begged for her life as the defendant tortured and ultimately killed her.”
According to trial testimony, Bohn’s deadly assault on Thomas inside their Astoria apartment was captured on a cellphone recording received by an acquaintance of hers in what is believed to be an accidental dialing of the friend’s number.
In the recording, which was played at the trial, Thomas is heard begging for her life as Bohn strangled her. At another point in the recording, played during the trial, Bohn is heard saying, “Danielle, you don’t have a lot of time” and ignoring her as she said, “I know.”
According to the medical examiner’s office, the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the neck and torso.
Bohn, a University of Florida law school graduate, was once overheard by an NYPD sergeant telling Thomas on a cellphone that he would “hunt her down like a dog in the streets and make her life impossible,” according to trial testimony.
Reach reporter Bill Parry by e-mail at bparry@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4538.
