[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ARK., MO., OKLA., COLO., NEV.

[Rick Halperin]

April 3



ARKANSAS:

Execution sought in killings of mom, 2 kids at Little Rock 
home----Death-penalty request in 2017 slayings is Pulaski County’s first in 
decade



The older of 2 brothers accused of killing a 24-year-old woman and her children 
-- arrested with blood from the slayings on his shoes -- will face the death 
penalty at trial, Pulaski County prosecutors said Tuesday.

The case marks the 1st time in a decade that Little Rock authorities have 
sought execution.

Mariah Cunningham, 5-year-old Alaylah Fisher and 4-year-old Elijah Fisher were 
stabbed to death in their home at Rosewood Apartments on Lancaster Road about 3 
weeks before Christmas 2017.

Cunningham's grandmother found the bodies in the blood-spattered apartment 
after the children did not go to school and Cunningham could not be reached by 
phone. Police also reported finding bleach smeared on the bodies, and a steak 
knife believed used in the killings was discovered in the bathtub.

Michael Collins, 26, of Colorado and William Burnell Alexander, 22, of Little 
Rock have been charged with capital murder and aggravated robbery in the 
family's deaths.

In July, the brothers were also charged with capital murder and aggravated 
robbery in the shooting death of 64-year-old Billie Thornton. The charges came 
a year after Thornton was found dead in his home at the Spring Valley 
Apartments on Interstate 30, a death investigators first thought was a suicide.

The brothers will stand trial separately, raising the possibility that there 
will be 4 trials, 2 for each set of victims.

Chief deputy prosecutor John Johnson told Circuit Judge Herb Wright on Tuesday 
that prosecutors would be asking for lethal injection for Collins but not for 
his brother.

Collins' trial date will be set at the next hearing, May 28. Both the 
prosecution and defense attorneys Katherine Streett and Jeff Rosenzweig told 
Wright they need that time to organize their evidence and line up their 
witnesses. The judge said he wants to hold trial before September.

The last defendant sentenced to death in Pulaski County was Billy Thessing, now 
49, in September 2004.

Mattie Basinger was stabbed six times and beaten in the head in February 2003 
in her southwest Little Rock home. Thessing wrecked her car on the last day her 
family had seen her alive. Her remains were found 6 days later.

The month after Thessing was convicted, another Pulaski County jury rejected 
execution in favor of a life sentence for Hernando Traylor, now 41, who killed 
26-year-old Bobby McGee during a drug-related robbery at McGee's Little Rock 
apartment. McGee's roommate survived being shot and stabbed during the holdup.

Pulaski County prosecutors have not pursued the death penalty since Abdulhakim 
Muhammad, the self-proclaimed Muslim jihadist from Memphis who ambushed a pair 
of soldiers in June 2009 at a Little Rock army recruiting center. Muhammad, 
born Carlos Bledsoe, wounded one person and killed 23-year-old Army Pvt. 
William Long.

Muhammad, now 33, avoided execution by pleading guilty mid-trial in July 2011 
and accepting a life sentence.

Curtis Vance, the Marianna man who fatally beat TV anchor Ann Pressley, 26, in 
her own bed after raping her in October 2008, was convicted of capital murder 
at trial. Vance, now 38, was linked to Pressley's slaying by DNA collected from 
the Lee County rape of a schoolteacher, but a jury spared his life after 
hearing about how he had been abused and neglected in childhood.

Prosecutors have pursued execution in other cases, but waived the death penalty 
after consulting with the victims' families.

Real estate agent Beverly Carter, a married mother of three raising her 
11-year-old granddaughter, was kidnapped, suffocated and buried in a hole by 
Arron Lewis, who was pretending to be a potential client in September 2014. He 
was sentenced to life in prison at trial. Prosecutors did not seek execution at 
the request of Carter's family.

Willis McClinton Tucker, now 43, killed former girlfriend Shymeccah LaTonya 
Williams in October 2011 by beating the 34-year-old mother of two and stabbing 
her in the eye, but prosecutors agreed to a 60-year prison sentence at the 
request of the Williams family. Williams' mother said she did not want to put 
Tucker's mother through the same ordeal she had been through. He can apply for 
parole in November 2050.

Brandon Dewayne Johnson shot 4 men, killing 3 of them, in a series of armed 
robberies in Little Rock over a 5-week span between December 2008 and January 
2009, but pleaded guilty in July 2010 to 1st-degree murder, aggravated robbery, 
theft and 1st-degree battery in exchange for a 100-year prison sentence that 
requires him to serve at least 55½ years in prison.

Johnson's victims were University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences associate 
professor Joseph Bittengle, 50, who was fatally shot in front of his mother, 
whose purse was stolen by a robber who had just shot and wounded another man a 
few minutes earlier in December 2008. Johnson fatally wounded Akshaya Nandam, 
26, and Eric German, 24, 4 miles and 3 hours apart in January 2009.

Antonio Demond Finney had fascination with the number 28 that led him to follow 
Frances Ann "Franny" Kelly, 50, of Mabelvale to her father's Little Rock home 
to rob her in November 2007. He tied her up and shot her 7 times.

Finney, who had recently been paroled on an armed robbery conviction, had seen 
the number on her license plate. After 2 years of proceedings, mostly to 
determine whether Finney, now 42, was mentally competent, prosecutors agreed to 
a 50-year, no-parole sentence at the request of Kelly's father, who was worn 
down by the amount of time the case was taking to go to trial.

(source: arkansasonline.com)








MISSOURI:

Former Missouri deputy on death row to get new sentencing



The Missouri Supreme Court ruled unanimously Tuesday that a former deputy and 
correctional officer on death row for a double killing should receive a new 
sentencing.

Judges wrote that prosecutors violated Marvin Rice's right against 
self-incrimination by drawing the jury's attention to the fact that he didn't 
testify while on trial for killing his ex-girlfriend in a child custody dispute 
in 2011.

During closing arguments in the penalty phase of Rice's trial, prosecutors 
"referenced Rice's silence and focused on what Rice did not say," the ruling 
states.

"This was an impermissible comment about Rice's decision not to testify and a 
violation of his right against self-incrimination," judges wrote.

Rice's public defender and the Missouri Attorney General's Office, which argued 
in favor of Rice's convictions and sentencings, didn't immediately respond to 
requests for comment Tuesday from The Associated Press.

Rice was convicted of the slaying of Annette Durham and her boyfriend, Steven 
Strotkamp, during a child custody dispute. A judge in 2017 sentenced Rice to 
death in for Durham's killing. He was sentenced to life in prison for 
Strotkamp's death.

Rice was a former Dent County deputy. He fled the scene of the killings and led 
authorities on a high-speed chase that ended at the Capitol Plaza Hotel in 
Jefferson City, where he was taken into custody after a shootout with law 
officers.

Supreme Court judges also on Tuesday ruled that Rice should get a new trial in 
the killing of Strotkamp.

They wrote that the lower court erred by not allowing Rice to submit 
instructions on the lesser offenses of second-degree murder and involuntary 
manslaughter to the jury in that case.

Supreme Court judges did not rule on public defender Craig Johnston's argument 
that Rice was unconstitutionally sentenced to death by a judge and not a jury 
and therefore should get life in prison instead of execution.

While a jury convicted Rice of 1st-degree murder for Durham's death, it 
couldn't decide whether he should be put to death. Because of an unusual 
Missouri law, that left the decision up to the judge.

Opponents of the death penalty have used Rice's case to push to change Missouri 
law to take away the capital punishment option if juries can't agree.

(source: Associated Press)

*****************

Missouri Supreme Court issues ruling in Marvin Rice death penalty case



The Missouri Supreme Court issued an opinion on Tuesday in Jefferson City, 
which overturns the death sentence for a man convicted of killing the mother of 
his child and her boyfriend in southern Missouri’s Dent County in December 
2011.

In a unanimous decision, the Missouri Supreme Court has ruled that the circuit 
court committed errors during the trial. The decision was written by Judge Mary 
R. Russell.

The Supreme Court has upheld the 1st degree murder conviction for 51-year-old 
Marvin Rice, but has ordered a new penalty phase trial. That’s because the 
Supreme Court says the circuit court abused its discretion in overruling Rice’s 
objections that prosecutors said in closing arguments that Rice declined to 
testify.

Rice was convicted of killing Annette Durham and her boyfriend, Steven 
Strotkamp. An autopsy revealed that Durham died from four gunshot wounds while 
Strotkamp was killed by 2 gunshot wounds.

The Missouri Supreme Court Tuesday also reversed Rice’s 2nd degree murder 
conviction for Strotkamp’s death and ordered a new trial, due to what the 
Supreme Court calls instructional error. The circuit court erred in refusing to 
submit to the jury Rice’s proposed instructions for the lesser-included 
offenses of 2nd degree murder and voluntary manslaughter.

The Missouri Supreme Court heard oral arguments in this case in January.

Quoting court filings, Missourinet reported in January that Marvin Rice was 
trying to drive to the Columbia VA Hospital, after the killings. His wife 
informed police of his plan, and a high-speed chase ensued that covered more 
than 90 miles and ended in Jefferson City, just a few blocks from the Capitol.

After spike strips flattened his vehicle’s tires, Rice drove through two 
intersections and ended up at the Capitol Plaza Hotel, where he jumped out of 
the moving car.

Rice then exchanged gunfire with an officer inside the busy hotel. The 
Jefferson City Medical Group was hosting their Christmas party inside Capitol 
Plaza, when the incident happened. None of them were injured.

Rice sustained bullet wounds to his hand, arm and back and was taken into 
custody.

Court documents filed by Rice’s attorneys say Rice was taking 17 different 
medications and had been diagnosed with 12 various medical and psychiatric 
conditions by the day of the murders, in December 2011.

Rice is currently incarcerated at the maximum-security Potosi Correctional 
Center (PCC) in southeast Missouri’s Mineral Point.

(source: missourinet.com)








OKLAHOMA:

Death penalty sought in deaths of 3 people



The Tulsa County District Attorney’s Office filed notice Tuesday of its intent 
to seek the death penalty against a man charged in the deaths of 3 people, 
including a 7-year-old, in what is the 2nd such request within the past week.

In a bill of particulars filed late Tuesday afternoon, District Attorney Steve 
Kunzweiler argued Keenan Sean Burkhalter, 23, should receive capital punishment 
for the homicides of Maziah Brown, Marquis Brown and Hosea Fletcher in the 600 
block of East Seminole Place early on Oct. 14.

Andrew Conard, 20, Burkhalter’s co-defendant, testified at a preliminary 
hearing in January that Burkhalter told him he carried out the killings and 
arson because he thought Marquis Brown, also known as Ramon Brown, “drugged up 
his girl.”

The comment, according to Conard’s testimony, came while the two watched an 
early-morning television news report on the discovery of three bodies inside 
the house.

“He said ‘I did that,’?” Conard said of Burkhalter’s comment, telling the court 
at the time that it sounded “like he accomplished something.”

The bill of particulars indicates the state’s belief Burkhalter, 23, killed 
Maziah Brown, who was 7 at the time, for the purpose of avoiding arrest for the 
deaths of Marquis Brown, who was her father, and Fletcher.

It also says Burkhalter’s actions created a great risk of death to more than 
one person and that the Browns’ shooting deaths, accompanied by having their 
residence set on fire, were “especially heinous, atrocious or cruel.”

Burkhalter is charged with 3 counts of 1st-degree murder, 2 of which have 
alternative theories alleging the Browns died while Burkhalter was in the 
process of committing 1st-degree arson. Conard also faces 3 1st-degree murder 
counts and has said he does not expect a plea offer in exchange for his 
testimony against Burkhalter.

“During the commission of these crimes, the defendant shot a 7-year-old child 
in the head and started a fire that ultimately contributed to her death and to 
the desecration of her remains,” the bill states, adding: “The defendant has 
two prior felony convictions, evincing a disregard for the laws of the state of 
Oklahoma.”

Reports from the Oklahoma State Medical Examiner’s Office showed the Browns had 
significant levels of carbon monoxide in their system. The bill of particulars 
noted that was evidence the 2 were still alive when the home caught fire.

Police arrested Burkhalter shortly after receiving a tip claiming he bragged 
about killing Marquis Brown and the others.

It is the 2nd time in less than a week the district attorney’s office requested 
consideration of capital punishment. Kunzweiler on March 27 filed a bill of 
particulars against Ondriel Smith, who is accused of 2 counts of 1st-degree 
murder in the September shootings deaths of brothers Keith and Glynn Williams 
in the 5600 block of East Skelly Drive.

Smith, according to Kunzweiler’s office, shot 5 people in a 33-day timespan 
last year, leaving the Williams brothers dead. The others, which included 
Smith’s ex-girlfriend, survived.

Conard, during his preliminary hearing testimony, said he drove Burkhalter to 
Ramon Brown’s home the night of Oct. 13 and got a call early the next morning 
asking for a ride away from the residence.

Conard told Assistant District Attorney Kevin Gray that he purchased lighter 
fluid at a convenience store after Burkhalter, who had a gun, said he needed 
it.

He said he picked Burkhalter up in an area near the Seminole Place house but 
that Burkhalter asked him to return because he forgot something. Once Conard 
drove around the block, he testified that he saw Burkhalter starting a fire 
using the lighter fluid while all the windows to the house were open.

Under cross-examination from Assistant Public Defender Kasey Baldwin, Conard 
said he initially concealed Burkhalter’s involvement from police because “my 
family was still out there.”

He told Gray that Burkhalter later pointed the gun at him and ordered him not 
to tell anyone what he saw.

Burkhalter has a trial court arraignment scheduled before District Judge Dawn 
Moody on Monday. Conard is next expected to appear in court April 15.

(source: Tulsa World)








COLORADO:

Death penalty repeal bill dead in Colorado Legislature----Bill sponsor Sen. 
Julie Gonzales asked for the bill to be laid over to May 4 -- one day after the 
legislative session would end.



The bill that would repeal Colorado's death penalty - a law on the books since 
1974 - is dead on the state's legislative floor Tuesday morning.

Sen. Julie Gonzales (D-Denver), one of the bill's sponsors, has asked the bill 
be laid over until May 4, which is a day after the legislative session would 
end.

Senate Bill 19-182 would have repealed the option to sentence someone to death 
for offenses charged after July 1 of this year.

In the nearly 45 years since the death penalty was reinstituted, it's been used 
once: in 1997 in Cañon City. Gary Lee Davis died by lethal injection for the 
1986 kidnapping, rape and murder of neighbor Virginia May.

Proponents argued the death penalty doesn't deter violent crime and affects 
people of color disproportionately. Repeal opponents urged lawmakers to refer 
the issue to voters, and some crime victims admonished bill sponsors for not 
reaching out to them before introducing the bill.

There are 3 inmates currently on death row in the state:

Nathan Dunlap, who killed 4 people at a Chuck E. Cheese (previous Gov. John 
Hickenlooper stayed his death and decided to leave it up to his replacement - 
Gov. Jared Polis has made no moves to expedite his execution).

Sir Mario Owens, who murdered a young couple (both witnesses in another murder 
trial involving Owens).

Robert Ray, who ordered the hit on Owens' witnesses.

There are also 2 current death penalty cases moving through the Colorado 
criminal court. The 1st, in El Paso County, has the district attorney seeking 
the death penalty for Marco Garcia-Braco, accused of having a hand in killing 2 
Coronado High School students.

Adams County prosecutors are also seeking the death penalty for Dreion Dearing, 
the accused killer of Adams County Deputy Heath Gumm.

(source: 9news.com)

*******************

Lawmakers Drop Bill To Repeal Death Penalty In Colorado



Colorado’s Senate has indefinitely postponed consideration of a death penalty 
repeal bill, apparently lacking the votes to remove the little-used capital 
punishment from the books.

CBS4 confirmed a sponsor of the bill requested Tuesday that further 
consideration of the bill be postponed until May 4 — a day after the 2019 
Legislative session ends.

Democrats have a 19-16 majority in the Senate. But at least o, Sen. Rhonda 
Fields, had vowed to oppose the bill. 2 men on Colorado’s death row were 
convicted in the murder of her son and his fiancee.

At least 4 other party members hadn’t publicly committed to vote for repeal.

Lawmakers have tried before to repeal Colorado’s death penalty. They cite the 
cost of capital punishment cases and racial disparities in sentencing.

Three people are on Colorado’s death row. Former Gov. John Hickenlooper 
indefinitely delayed the execution of one of them, Nathan Dunlap. Hickenlooper 
said he had doubts about the fairness of the death penalty.

John Hickenlooper Says He’d Suspend Death Penalty As President

LAST EXECUTION

Colorado has executed only 1 person since 1967, Gary Lee Davis, who was put to 
death in 1997 for kidnapping and raping Virginia May, 33, near her Byers home, 
then shooting her 14 times with a .22-caliber rifle.

EXECUTION METHOD

Colorado law calls for lethal injections to be applied at the Colorado State 
Penitentiary in Canon City.

DEATH ROW

Colorado has no physical “death row.” Inmates awaiting execution are held with 
others serving lesser sentences in “management control units” at the Sterling 
Correctional Facility in southern Colorado. These units are more closely 
monitored than other parts of the maximum security prison, but inmates awaiting 
capital punishment live in similar conditions.

WHO’S ON IT

NATHAN DUNLAP: Dunlap, now 41, was sentenced to die in 1996 for the shooting 
deaths of four workers — including 3 teens — who were cleaning a Chuck E. 
Cheese restaurant in Aurora. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected his last 
guaranteed appeal in February 2013, but Gov. John Hickenlooper granted him an 
indefinite reprieve in May 2013, nearly 20 years after his conviction and just 
3 months before he was set to die. A future governor could lift the reprieve.

SIR MARIO OWENS: Owens, now 30, was sentenced to die 2008 for the shooting 
deaths of Javad Marshall-Fields and his fiancee, Vivian Wolfe. Marshall-Fields, 
21, was scheduled to testify against Owens and another man in a separate 
slaying. He and Wolfe, 22, were killed in 2005 while sitting in a car in 
Aurora. Appeals are pending.

ROBERT RAY: Ray, now 29, also was sentenced to die in 2009 for the shooting 
deaths of Javad Marshall-Fields and Vivian Wolfe. Marshall-Fields was set to 
testify against Ray and Sir Mario Owens in a separate slaying. Appeals are 
pending.

(sources: CBS News & Associated Press)

*********************

Colorado's death penalty repeal failure means 'unneeded violence', critic says



A death penalty repeal effort has failed in the Colorado legislature after 
failing to win enough votes in the Democratic-controlled Senate. The Colorado 
Catholic Conference is “deeply disappointed” by the postponement of the bill, 
conference executive director Jennifer Kraska told CNA April 2.

“For the sake of our own humanity, we need to turn away from a mistaken idea of 
justice based – in practice – on further and unneeded violence,” Kraska said. 
“We pray that someday soon our legislators will have the wisdom and courage to 
end the death penalty in Colorado.”

“Pope Francis has reminded us that our nation’s leaders have a responsibility 
to protect and defend human life at every stage of its development,” she added. 
“The death penalty is a clear affront to the dignity and sanctity of human life 
that excludes the possibility of rehabilitation. There are much less costly 
alternatives available to the State of Colorado that would both punish 
offenders and protect society.”

While Democrats control the governor’s office and both houses of the 
legislature, repeal backers appeared to lack enough votes in the Senate, where 
Democrats have a 19-16 majority.

Senate Bill 182 was set to be debated before the full Senate April 2. Bill 
sponsor Sen. Julie Gonzales, D-Denver, then took the floor to ask that the bill 
be removed from consideration this legislative session.

“I could ask you to cast your vote publicly, to reject this irrevocably cruel, 
unusual and ghastly practice,” Gonzales said, according to Colorado Public 
Radio.

She said she wanted to give the bill “a dignified death, not a torturous one.”

“I believe wholeheartedly that the way in which we treat each other through 
this process is as important as the policy itself,” Gonzales continued. “So 
when this bill comes back next session, there will be nothing left to hide 
behind, except this abhorrent, terrible practice.”

The inmates now on death row in the state are Nathan Dunlap, who murdered four 
people at a children’s restaurant, and Sir Mario Owens and Robert Ray, who both 
had been involved in the murder of a young engaged couple, Javan Marshall 
Fields and Vivian Wolfe. Fields was set to testify against Ray in court on 
charges Ray was an accomplice in a murder case.

The murders helped inspire Fields’ mother, Aurora Democratic Sen. Rhonda 
Fields, to become active in public life. Fields was one of the critics of the 
bill, objecting to the speed with which it passed through committee 
consideration.

“I’m feeling just numb. I don’t think there’s any winners in what happened 
today,” she said in response to the outcome, the Colorado Sun reports. “I’m not 
elated. I’m really not sad. I’m just feeling really numb and empty inside.”

Fields had pledged to vote against the bill, while four other Democratic 
senators had not stated their position or had said they were uncertain.

State legislators have tried to repeal the death penalty 5 times since 2000.

Gonzales’ own family has suffered violence, with her father-in-law murdered and 
the suspect never prosecuted.

When she heard bill critics who had lost loved ones, she said, “I heard that 
same grief, pain, and rage that I have heard in my own family.”

“I had to ask myself, in the event that the man who murdered my father-in-law 
were ever brought to justice, whether I myself could support the death penalty 
as punishment. The answer simply is no,” the senator added.

Republican critics of the repeal bill have said it should be put before a 
popular vote.

Sen. Owen Hill, R-Colorado Springs, voiced gratitude that the bill was 
postponed.

“Whether or not you support or oppose the death penalty, it is important to 
recognize the emotional weight that this issue carries to many in our state,” 
Hill said.

In 2013, then-governor John Hickenlooper temporarily suspended the execution of 
Dunlap. Legal appeals continue for Owens and Ray.

(source: Catholic News Agency)








NEVADA:

Kamala Harris defends opposition to death penalty at Reno event



Sen. Kamala Harris defended her opposition to the death penalty Tuesday 
afternoon during a Reno meet-and-greet, where the 2020 Democratic presidential 
contender was asked about the issue by a woman whose grandfather was attacked 
and killed.

During a brief question-and-answer session, Reno resident Barbara Burnett told 
the California senator that her only problem with her presidential campaign is 
her opposition to the death penalty, and said that she needed to understand 
firsthand where Harris stands on the issue “for people like myself who have 
been through this.” Harris, a longtime opponent of the death penalty dating 
back to her days as a San Francisco prosecutor, explained her moral opposition 
to death as punishment in the criminal justice system.

“I believe it is wrong; I believe it has been unjustly applied,” Harris told 
Burnett and the tightly-packed crowd at the Washoe County Democratic Party 
headquarters. “I believe it does not accomplish what the proponents say it 
accomplishes.”

Harris’s comments, delivered during her first presidential campaign trip to 
Northern Nevada, come as Nevada lawmakers again consider whether to take up the 
state’s longstanding death penalty this legislative session.

Two Democratic lawmakers — Assemblyman Ozzie Fumo and state Sen. James 
Ohrenschall — are sponsoring a pair of bills that would eliminate Nevada’s 
capital punishment statute, which hasn’t been used to execute someone since 
2006 despite 77 people being on death row. Gov. Steve Sisolak, who has said he 
believes the death penalty is appropriate in only “very extreme” circumstances, 
has not indicated whether he would sign such a bill into law were it to reach 
his desk.

Burnett, whose grandfather was killed in a robbery in 1976, told The Nevada 
Independent in a brief interview after the event that she respects Harris 
“tremendously” but needed to hear the senator’s explanation on the death 
penalty for herself.

“It’s emotional, but it was so important for me. I really needed to get some 
answers. It was not necessarily the answer I wanted,” Burnett said. “I know 
that she’s been in the trenches, and I know she knows what she’s talking about. 
It’s just I’m looking at it from a very different, ‘been there, done that’ 
point of view.”

During the event, Harris also touted her new teacher pay proposal, which she 
said would increase the average U.S. teacher’s salary by $13,500 — and up to 
$15,000 a year for the average teacher in Nevada. If elected president, Harris 
has promised to spend $315 billion over 10 years, funded by changes to the 
federal estate tax, on the teacher pay program.

“$15,000 a year is at least a year’s worth of mortgage payments. $15,000 a year 
is at least a year’s worth of grocery bills. $15,000 a year for our smart 
students — who may want to go into education but are concerned about having to 
pay off their student loans — $15,000 a year is a serious dent in that student 
loan debt,” Harris said. “Here’s how I feel about this issue, guys, I believe 
you can judge a society based on how it treats its children.”

Harris is expected to talk more about her teacher pay plan at a roundtable at a 
Carson City middle school later Tuesday afternoon, followed by a keynote 
address at Battle Born Progress’s Celebrate Progress event at a brewery near 
the Legislature Tuesday evening.

With a parade of Democratic 2020 hopefuls streaming through the state over the 
last few weeks, Nevada is still widely perceived to be a wide open contest 
ahead of its first-in-the-West caucus, despite suggestions that Nevada is 
Harris’s to lose because she hails from neighboring California. Still, Harris 
joked that Nevadans are part of her extended family.

“I’m really excited to be here with you all. You know, we’re first cousins,” 
Harris said. “I just left Sacramento and just drove in, and I’m reminded of the 
beautiful border we share and so many other things.”

(source: The Nevada Independent)