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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, is expected to plead guilty to more charges in federal court next month.
In early June, a federal jury indicted Harrison in U.S. District Court on two charges in connection to kidnapping 63-year-old Kay Porter Ricks and stealing his work-issued truck. Harrison has already pleaded guilty in a Wyoming court to murdering and kidnapping Ricks, and is serving life without parole there, plus another 20 to 22 years for the kidnapping charge.
The 23-year-old man is expected to make his first appearance in Salt Lake City's federal court on July 6, and a "plea and sentencing" hearing is also set for that day, according to a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office of Utah.
Federal prosecutors have said that while a case was already prosecuted in Wyoming, they felt "Utah's interests in the case have yet to be vindicated."
When pleading guilty in Wyoming, Harrison blamed his father, Flint Harrison, 52, 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 younger Harrison is currently serving out that sentence at the Utah State Prison.
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 during 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 captured by law enforcement two days after the killing near Pinedale, Wyo.