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November 27, 2009

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Man serving life could be out in three years

Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2003 | 11:07 a.m.

A local man sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole could be released three years from now, after the same District Court judge who handed down the sentence modified it on Monday.

District Judge Sally Loehrer had sentenced James Meegan to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 1996 after a jury convicted him of shaking his 10-month-old daughter to death six years prior and disposing of the body in Arizona.

But in an evidentiary hearing Monday, Loehrer changed the man's sentence to life with the possibility of parole after 10 years, with credit for time served.

Loehrer said she thought Meegan, 46, could petition for parole because his crime was committed before 1995, when laws governing life sentences were changed to prevent the commuting of sentences, Chief Deputy District Attorney Eric Jorgenson said.

But those laws say sentences handed down after 1995 are ineligible, regardless of when the crime occurred.

Monday's hearing was ordered by the Nevada Supreme Court after Meegan filed several motions in 1999, claiming he'd received an ineffective trial and ineffective council, Jorgenson said.

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