Killer of elderly woman given two life sentences

Kim Smith

Wednesday, Oct. 27, 1999 | 10:16 a.m.

A 35-year-old Las Vegas man accused of shooting an elderly tourist to death two years ago escaped a possible death sentence Tuesday by entering a plea agreement.

Arthur Lee Garrison pleaded guilty to first-degree murder under a provision that allows him to not admit responsibility. He was sentenced to two life sentences without the possibility of parole by District Judge Jeffrey Sobel. In his plea, Garrison acknowledged that the state would likely be able to prove that he shot Mildred Prunier, 67, to death July 22, 1997.

Chief Deputy District Attorney David Schwartz said that had the case gone to trial witnesses would have testified that they saw Garrison driving around in Prunier's blood-soaked Buick Regal, using her credit cards and talking about "wasting and dumping" an elderly lady in the desert near Nellis Air Force Base.

Schwartz said he would also have submitted for evidence a photo of Garrison standing by Prunier's car taken on a roll of film Prunier had earlier used to record her Utah vacation.

Authorities believe Garrison met Prunier at a Boulder Highway motel where she had stopped while on her way home to California from Utah.

Prunier's body was found by dirt bike riders near the Air Force base, and detectives were led to Garrison after receiving tips that Prunier's missing vehicle was at a Las Vegas mobile home park.

Garrison got into the car while detectives were watching it, court records say, and they followed him out of the park. When the detectives attempted to stop him, Garrison tried to elude them, but ultimately ended up in an apartment complex in the 3000 block of Sandhill Road, records say.

A patrol officer was injured when he tried unsuccessfully to block Garrison in with his patrol car.

Garrison ultimately lost control of the car near Sandhill and Vegas Valley Drive. An officer shot him in the shoulder when he ran into the driveway of a nearby residence, authorities said.

Garrison was also given 10 years on a battery with a deadly weapon charge stemming from the ramming incident.

The life terms and the battery sentence are to be served back-to-back, but are to be completed at the same time as a forgery sentence Garrison is already serving in an unrelated case.

Garrison was paroled from a Wyoming prison on an involuntary manslaughter charge one year before the murder, Schwartz said after the hearing.