Man to appeal death sentence

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Wednesday, Oct. 28, 1998 | 11:18 a.m.

A Washoe District Court jury deliberated about four hours on Tuesday before choosing death for Melvin Geary.

His public defender, Steve Gregory, asked unsuccessfully for a mishearing because Deputy District Attorney Egan Walker said that Geary had chosen death.

District Judge Margaret Springgate rejected the motion and Gregory said he would appeal.

Geary had faced death for stabbing 71-year-old Edward Colvin of Sparks with a boning knife after Colvin took him in.

The sentence was reversed by the state Supreme Court, which found an error in the penalty hearing and ordered the most recent hearing.

Geary served 13 years of a life sentence for the stabbing death of a Las Vegas woman in 1973, again with a boning knife. He was freed after the state Parole Board commuted his sentence from life without parole to life with parole.