Sheriff questions lax sentences for murder suspect

Monday, Oct. 25, 1999 | 9:50 a.m.

Brandon Douglas Allan, 24, has confessed to fatally shooting girlfriend Kellie Von Urquidy Parry, 23, on Friday at their Sun Valley home. He remains in the county jail for investigation of murder.

Kirkland said he wants to know why Allan has never served more than four hours in jail for three previous criminal cases involving violence or firearms.

In one case, he received a suspended six-month sentence in 1997 after firing a shotgun at the feet of his wife and threatening to kill her while holding a gun to her head.

"We have to know why things were done the way they were," Kirkland said. "I know the district attorney is equally concerned."

District Attorney Richard Gammick said he would review Allan's criminal history this week.

"We can't make any comment on the guy's prior history until we get the records," Gammick said.

In the 1997 case involving his wife, Allan was arrested on felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon and discharging a firearm into an occupied building.

He later pleaded guilty to two gross misdemeanor charges and drew the suspended six-month sentence. He also was ordered to get a mental-health evaluation and undergo anger management counseling.

Allan's wife said he blasted a hole in the floor next to her after she filed for divorce in 1997.

In the latest case, his girlfriend might have been preparing to leave Allan when the shooting occurred, deputies said.

Allan earlier received a suspended six-month jail sentence for aiming a handgun at another motorist in an apparent road-rage incident in 1994.

A year before, he was sentenced to four hours in jail after pleading guilty to misdemeanor petty larceny. He originally was arrested on two felony counts of possession of stolen property in the theft of two handguns.

Prosecutors agreed to let Allan plead guilty to lesser charges in the 1997 and 1993 felony cases, preserving his right to own a gun.