Sun archives
- Feb. 9 -- Parole denied for two killers
- Jan . 8 -- Woman to plead to keep son’s killer in prison for life
CARSON CITY – Despite the plea of an elderly Las Vegas woman, the state Parole Commission is standing by its decision to release a convicted killer who was once sentenced to death.
The board said it considered a “number of factors” in deciding to parole James Allen who fatally shot Tony Sylvester during an attempted burglary in Las Vegas in July 1980.
Sylvester’s 76-year-old mother Hama K. Sylvester had asked the parole commission to reconsider its decision, saying she feared for her life if Allen was released. “Now I will have to look over my shoulder,” she said today. “I will become so stressed.”
The commission said there was a lack of premeditation in the slaying, Allen has made major accomplishments in his 28 years in prison and there were significant comments in support of his release.
The Commission also considered the vote of the state Pardons Board in 2004 to reduce the sentence from life without possibility of parole to life with parole.
Tony Sylvester was fatally shot in his home when he surprised Allen during an attempted burglary. Allen was originally sentenced to death but the Nevada Supreme Court overturned that sentence. He was then sentenced to life without the possibility of parole but the pardons board reduced that.
David Smith, executive director of the parole board, said Allen will be released as soon as his arrangements for life outside prison are approved by the state Parole and Probation Division. Allen will likely be supervised on the outside the rest of his life, said Smith.
Hama Sylvester also wrote Gov. Jim Gibbons, saying she was afraid that Allen would “seek me out and do harm to my family or me.”
Howard Skolnik, director of the state Department of Corrections, said Allen took part in a lot of programs and was a good inmate.
Hama Sylvester said she was informed of the decision by Dorla Salling, chairman of the parole commission. “He (Allen) should have died just as he killed my son,” she said.
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