Pardons Board reduces sentence

Thursday, June 8, 2006 | 7:31 a.m.

CARSON CITY - A 22-year-old Las Vegas man in prison for a murder committed when he was a teen learned Wednesday that he will not have to wait until he is middle-aged to have a chance to get out from behind bars.

By an 8-1 vote Wednesday, the state Pardons Board reduced Marcus Dixon's sentence for the 1998 fatal shooting of Daryl Crittenden from 40 years to life to a minimum of 15 years.

The sentence reduction means that Dixon, who was ineligible for parole until he was 54, will be able to appear before the state Parole Board after serving another seven years on top of the nearly eight he has already served.

Justice Bob Rose said that lowering the minimum sentence to 15 years means that Dixon probably will serve 20 years. Inmates normally are denied parole the first time they seek it, he noted.

Attorney General George Chanos cast the lone dissenting vote, arguing that Dixon should be treated as an adult because of the nature of the offense.

The Pardons Board is composed of the governor, attorney general and the seven justices of the Nevada Supreme Court.

Dixon, who is serving his sentence at the Southern Nevada Correctional Center, had asked to have his minimum sentence reduced to 10 years.

The killing for which Dixon was convicted occurred on May 6, 1998.

Dixon and his 16-year-old cousin were hanging out in front of a supermarket when the cousin gave Marcus his gun.

A car came by with two youths in it. According to Dixon, they were "talking crazy," insulting the boys and their gang. Impulsively, Dixon said in an interview last year, he raised the gun and shot, killing Crittenden and wounding the other boy.

In Nevada, juveniles charged with murder are automatically tried as adults. At separate trials, both youths - each of whom had rejected prosecutors' offer of 10 to 25 years - got the same sentence, 40 years to life.

Wednesday's decision, though, will make it possible for Dixon to get out of prison a quarter-century sooner than he could have otherwise.