Ex-con Will get at Least 18 Years in Severed Head Case in Vegas – #information
Eric John Holland stated he was “really remorseful” for killing Richard P. Miller, whose stays had been present in coolers within the mattress of a Chevrolet Avalanche through which Las Vegas police stopped Holland final December. Authorities discovered that Miller had been shot a number of instances, together with no less than as soon as within the head, earlier than his physique was carved up.
“It’s a horrible factor that occurred and I’m simply so sorry,” Holland stated.
That supplied little consolation to Miller’s daughter, who tearfully and haltingly instructed a decide she felt “little or no reduction,” that Holland pleaded responsible in July to a diminished cost and avoiding trial on an open homicide cost that would have resulted in a life sentence behind bars.
“I don’t know the way to make sense of it,” sobbed Amanda Daybreak Potter, who traveled from Portland, Oregon, for Holland’s sentencing. She known as her father’s slaying “probably the most weird factor to ever occur to my household.”
“My dad didn’t deserve this,” she stated.
Holland, 58, has an intensive felony historical past, principally for forgery and embezzlement, but in addition together with an tried jail escape in Texas.
Earlier than Clark County District Courtroom Decide Tierra Jones sentenced him to 18 to 45 years for second-degree homicide and felony theft, Holland stated Thursday he hoped authorities would proceed to research his motive for killing Miller.
“I used to be going to convey it up in courtroom, however I’m not going to due to relations,” Holland stated. “There was a cause, and I hope that they’ll get closure right this moment.”
Holland’s lawyer, Daniel Westbrook, instructed the decide he wouldn’t say greater than what his shopper stated. Westbrook declined further remark after the sentencing listening to.
Holland was mates with Miller, 65, who lived on a houseboat at Lake Mead, the Colorado River reservoir a couple of 30-minute drive from Las Vegas.
Miller was reported lacking in November 2021, and investigators later decided he was killed throughout an argument with Holland.
The Las Vegas Overview-Journal reported Thursday that in jailhouse interviews, Holland stated he wished police to research whether or not Miller was liable for the disappearance of Miller’s ex-wife, Jing Me Zhu, in 2018 or 2019.
“I’m going to jail for the remainder of my life, and I simply wish to ensure that she wasn’t forgotten,” Holland instructed the newspaper.
Holland stated he believed Zhu lived in China and Canada earlier than marrying Miller in 2018. In divorce proceedings lower than a yr later, Miller alleged in courtroom paperwork that Zhu left him and moved to China. Data confirmed that Zhu couldn’t be situated to obtain a courtroom summons.
Westbrook instructed the newspaper that Holland believes Zhu is lifeless and that Miller killed her.
Holland didn’t present particulars of Miller’s dying, the Overview-Journal reported.
Las Vegas police stated Thursday they’d no lacking individual investigation associated to Zhu.
Police beforehand stated Holland drove away from patrol officers making an attempt to cease him on Dec. 23, 2021, in a stolen pickup truck and that he was seen switching automobiles earlier than he was arrested within the second car by officers who tracked him to an house complicated west of the Las Vegas Strip.
Police later discovered receipts within the automobiles for objects together with an influence noticed and trash baggage bought from a house enchancment retailer after Miller’s disappearance.
Holland had been sought since Might 2019 on an arrest warrant in a 2018 case in Las Vegas accusing him of embezzlement, id theft, issuing false checks and theft, in accordance with courtroom information. He had posted $5,000 bail in that case.
Data present Holland additionally used the title Eric Allen Holland and served jail time in Nevada for a felony theft conviction stemming from a 2000 forgery case in Las Vegas. He additionally used names together with John Carl Corridor, Phil Whidden, Robert Daniel Lauer, and Steven Tauber, jail information present.
Holland had prior felony convictions relationship to 1987 in California for embezzlement, assault with a lethal weapon, resisting arrest inflicting substantial bodily hurt and property theft and false identification, in accordance with a Las Vegas prosecutor, jail and courtroom information.
Data present that Holland was convicted in Texas in a federal counterfeiting case, and later of tried escape and aiding in an escape.
By Ken Ritter
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