Wednesday, May 11, 2011 | 9:24 a.m.
CARSON CITY – A federal appeals court has reaffirmed its decision that the Clark County district attorney can seek the death penalty for James Harrison, who was convicted in a fatal stabbing in Las Vegas in 2002.
The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the petition by James Harrison for a future re-hearing.
Harrison was convicted of stabbing Daniel Miller 128 times and then drawing a swastika on his back. Miller’s partner in the crime, Anthony Prentice, received a life term without parole from a different jury.
A jury convicted Harrison of first degree murder but deadlocked on whether to give him the death penalty or a life term. Attorneys for Harrison contended that the next penalty hearing could only decide whether to impose life in prison with or without the possibility of parole.
The appeals court initially ruled in a 2-1 decision that the district attorney’s office could not seek the death penalty in a new hearing, but then the full court voted in February 6-5 to overturn the first decision.
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