Conviction returned in death of driving instructor

Tuesday, March 2, 2004 | 9:45 a.m.

Jurors on Monday found 21-year-old Anthony Prentice guilty of slaying a local driving instructor who was stabbed more than 100 times.

A penalty hearing in the case was expected to begin this morning. Prentice faces the death penalty or life in prison with or without parole.

Prosecutors say Prentice, an admitted white supremacist, and his friend, James Harrison, killed Dan Miller, a 58-year-old man who had let Prentice live with him. Harrison is awaiting trial in District Court.

Miller was found dead in his apartment near Harmon Avenue and Paradise Road in September 2002. He had been stabbed 128 times and a swastika had been carved into his back. He was also struck in the head several times with a blunt object.

Prentice, who testified in his trial last week, said he was a member of a white supremacist group but denied that he killed Miller, who was white.

Jurors convicted Prentice of first-degree murder with use of a deadly weapon and conspiracy to commit murder.

At the time of his arrest for the Miller killing, Prentice was serving five years' probation for participating in an uprising in June 2001 at the Summit View Youth Correctional Center near North Las Vegas.

The male juvenile detention center closed in January 2002 after an investigation revealed problems including escapes and staff having sexual relations with the inmates. The facility recently re-opened under state control.