Friday, Jan. 13, 2012 | 2:47 p.m.
CARSON CITY — The Nevada Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of Las Vegas killer Clayton L. Wrencher, who complained his rights were violated when he was warned not to cry or show remorse during his trial.
Wrencher was admonished by District Court Judge Michelle Leavitt not to shed tears or display emotion, and he maintains that prejudiced him before the jury.
The court said Wrencher did not object at trial but raised the issue later.
“The admonishments were made to maintain order and decorum during trial and served to prevent Wrencher from disrupting the proceedings, not from demonstrating emotion and remorse,” the court ruled.
Wrencher was convicted of the fatal stabbing of Patricia McCreery, the mother of the couple’s two children. He was also convicted of two counts of child abuse.
He was sentenced to a life term without possibility of parole, 20 years for a deadly weapon enhancement and 28 to 72 months on the child abuse counts.
Wrencher, through his lawyers, also maintained there was insufficient evidence of premeditation and deliberation to support the first-degree conviction.
The court said there was evidence Wrencher used a kitchen knife to stab McCreery 10 times in her bed, and she had defensive wounds on her hands. It also said Wrencher threatened to kill the woman less than a month before the slaying.
In a separate ruling, the court denied the appeal of Deandre D. Harris, convicted of the fatal shooting of Ashlee Ward in March 2010 at a party in Las Vegas.
Laci Thornton told Harris, her boyfriend, that she and four friends were involved in a fistfight outside the party. Harris became angry and went to the party and demanded to be let in.
The door was slammed in his face and he fired two shots through the door that killed Ward.
The court denied Harris’ argument that no one at the party saw him with a gun. Two witnesses said they saw Harris shoot through the door. It also rejected a claim that there was insufficient evidence to show the shooting was premeditated and deliberate.
“The jury could reasonably infer that Harris acted with the requisite intent when he drove to the apartment with a firearm and shot through a door into a crowded apartment,” the court said.
Harris received a prison term of 20 to 50 years, plus a eight to 20 years for use of a deadly weapon and 28 to 72 months for firing into a structure.
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