Court briefs for April 15, 2004

Thursday, April 15, 2004 | 8:19 a.m.

More time given convicted killer

District Judge John McGroarty on Wednesday sentenced a 21-year-old man convicted in the multiple stabbing and mutilation death of a local driving instructor to four to 10 years in prison for the man's conspiracy to commit murder conviction.

The sentencing was largely symbolic, prosecutors said, because a jury had sentenced Anthony Prentice to life without the possibility of parole in March for first-degree murder with use of a deadly weapon.

McGroarty called the September 2002 slaying of Dan Miller "one of the most heinous, depraved murders I've ever seen," and made the sentences run consecutively.

Miller, 58, had tried to help Prentice and even let him live with him before the slaying, prosecutors said.

Miller's sister, Nancy Cornwall, was not in court for the sentencing Wednesday but sent McGroarty a letter saying she hoped Prentice "burns in hell."

Prosecutors had sought the death penalty in this case, and Prentice, an admitted white supremacist, had asked jurors to sentence him to death.

His co-defendant in the murder, James Harrison, is scheduled to begin trial June 1.

Man in police standoff indicted

A federal grand jury on Wednesday indicted a Henderson man who held police at bay in a 24-hour standoff from his girlfriend's home on felony possession of a firearm.

State prosecutors also charged Jeffrey Donnelly, 38, with attempted murder on a police officer, coercion, false imprisonment, resisting/obstructing a public officer and being an ex-felon in possession of a firearm.

Starting April 5, Donnelly holed himself up in his girlfriend Jill Powers' home near Lake Mead Drive and U.S. 95 with 13 pit bulls. Donnelly had allegedly been evicted from the home by the owner, Powers' mother, and was refusing to leave.

Police allegedly found six handguns, four of which were fully loaded, and two fully loaded shotguns when they arrested Donnelly April 6.

Judge Stephen George appointed Donnelly a public defender and scheduled a preliminary hearing on the state charges for April 28. Donnelly, who is now in custody at the Clark County Detention Center, did not enter a plea.

Donnelly is scheduled to make his first appearance in federal court April 21.

Bingaman makes court appearance

A Las Vegas man accused of strangling his wife with speaker wire made his first appearance Wednesday in Las Vegas Justice Court before Justice of the Peace Karen Bennett-Haron.

Prosecutors charged Craig Bingaman, 27, with a single count of murder with use of a deadly weapon. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing April 28.

Prosecutors also served Bingaman, who was in custody, with notice that they may seek a grand jury indictment against him for the murder of his wife, 23-year-old Tiffany Bingaman.

Bingaman asked Bennett-Haron for a public defender to be assigned to his case.

Bingaman surrendered to police after a three-day manhunt that included an Amber Alert for the couple's 5-year-old son, Donovan.

Donovan Bingaman is now staying with his maternal grandmother, police said.