Killer serenades board

Monday, Dec. 15, 2003 | 9:16 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A Las Vegas killer may have sung his way to freedom.

James Allen serenaded the state Pardons Board with a song he wrote in which he chanted he was "sorry for all the wrong I have done. Please Lord forgive me."

The board voted 4-2 Friday to reduce his sentence from life without the possibility of parole to allow him to apply for release before the state Parole Commission next month.

When he was 19, Allen, now 44, shot and killed Tony Sylvester, the owner of a home he was burglarizing.

Allen was initially sentenced to death. The Nevada Supreme Court reversed the penalty. Allen then agreed to a plea negotiation in which he received life without the possibility of parole.

Allen told the board he was "truly remorseful" that he killed Sylvester. "I took a life. God chastises me every day," he said.

Allen has taken part in a variety of programs in prison and has not had a disciplinary write-up since 1999.

This was the fourth time he has appeared before the pardons board.

Harriet Cummings of the state public defenders office, which represented Allen, said he was "not the same angry youth" who entered prison 23 years ago.

Clark Peterson, chief deputy district attorney for Clark County, opposed the move, saying the killer should be required to serve more time.

Justice Bob Rose, a member of the Pardons Board who heard the three previous appeals in 1991, 1993 and 1994 by Allen said, "I see a different man. He's more mature and not angry."

Allen would be under lifetime supervision if granted freedom by the parole board.

With tears in his eyes, Allen then launched into his song, singing that he's been a bad man for all of his life and he's paying for his wrongdoing. "I'm sorry for all the wrong I have done," he sang.