Las Vegan loses appeal in slaying

Friday, June 17, 2005 | 9:51 a.m.

SUN CAPITAL BUREAU

CARSON CITY -- A Las Vegas man convicted of fatally stabbing another man 128 times and then carving a large swastika into his back has lost his appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court.

Anthony D. Prentice, now 21, was sentenced to two life terms without the possibility of parole for the killing of Daniel Miller in his apartment in September 2002.

There were different stories presented to police. Prentice said that his friend James Harrison killed Miller. Harrison told detectives that Prentice grabbed a knife and started stabbing Miller after the two got in an argument.

At the time of the murder, Prentice was a member of the "Hammerskins," a skinhead organization and he also helped start an Aryan army in Las Vegas, the court said.

Prentice complained that evidence of his racial beliefs should not have been admitted at trial. But the court said Prentice testified about his beliefs at the trial and added, "The swastika carved into Miller's back tends to indicate a motive for the killing."

The court said District Judge John McGroarty did not commit an error when he allowed into evidence a fight before the trial of Prentice and another inmate who objected to Prentice's racist ideologies. And an investigation found racist and gang paraphernalia in the cell of Prentice.