This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Dereck James "DJ" Harrison, who is already sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison for his role in killing a Utah Transit Authority worker, on Friday was charged with more crimes in federal court.
Harrison faces in U.S. District Court two charges in connection to kidnapping Kay Porter Ricks and stealing his work-issued truck. If convicted, Harrison could face a maximum penalty of a mandatory life term in federal prison.
The 23-year-old man is already serving a sentence of life without parole — plus another 20 to 22 years — in Wyoming, after he pleaded guilty there to murder and kidnapping. When pleading guilty, Harrison blamed his father, Flint Harrison, for killing Ricks and said it was his dad's idea to steal Ricks' work truck. Flint Harrison hanged himself in a Davis County jail cell in July.
The Wyoming judge ordered that DJ Harrison serve his life sentence consecutive to a Utah prison term of 30-years-to-life DJ Harrison is serving for his role in kidnapping a Centerville family just days before Ricks was killed.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for Utah announced the charges on Monday, saying that while the case was prosecuted in Wyoming, "federal prosecutors believe Utah's interests in the case have yet to be vindicated."
The Harrisons kidnapped Ricks on May 12, 2016, while they were on the lam for kidnapping the Centerville mother and her four daughters. They drove the man and his truck from South Salt Lake to a rural road near Kemmerer, Wyo. It was there, the younger Harrison said in an April court hearing, that his father slit Ricks' throat before beating him to death with a metal rod. DJ Harrison admitted that he helped hold the victim as his father killed the man.
The father and son were eventually captured by law enforcement two days after the killing near Pinedale, Wyo.
Twitter: @jm_miller