Inmate Name: DENNIS, TERRY J
NDOC ID: 62144
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: White/Caucasian
DOB: 10/14/1946
Height: 6' 0"
Weight: 145 lbs
Build: Slender
Complex: Fair
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Hazel
Alias(es): 1) HOWARD CANN ; 2) TERRY DENNIE

Las Vegas Review-Journal

"Death row inmate executed; Dennis calm, quiet as he gets his wish for life to end," by Sean Whaley. (August 13, 2004)

CARSON CITY -- Death row inmate Terry Dennis offered no final words and died quietly at 9:08 p.m. Thursday for the strangulation of a Reno woman in 1999. "Mr. Dennis was asked if he had any final words, and he did not," said Jackie Crawford, director of the Department of Corrections. "He was very quiet, and it went very well."

Dennis, wearing glasses and his head shaved, was escorted into the execution chamber at 8:52 p.m. He appeared calm as five correctional officers with the Nevada State Prison secured him to a table in the former gas chamber. At 8:56 p.m., the shades were drawn across the window so that witnesses could not see into the execution chamber. An intravenous needle then was inserted into Dennis' arm. Dennis, who had chosen not to pursue appeals, could have stopped the execution at any point, but chose not to do so. At 9:03 p.m., the shades were pulled back and the seven official witnesses watched as three drugs were fed into Dennis' blood stream. One rendered him unconscious, one stopped his breathing and a third stopped his heart. Dennis was breathing rapidly at first, but at 9:05 p.m. his lips fluttered a few times and he appeared to stop breathing. The chamber door was opened at 9:08 p.m., and a doctor checked Dennis for a pulse. There was none.

It was the 11th execution in Nevada since the Legislature reimposed the death penalty in 1977. It was the second execution this year. Department spokesman Fritz Schlottman said Dennis visited with his brother, Gary Dennis, for two hours Thursday morning. He stayed in the "last night" cell across from the execution chamber, not posting any mail or making any phone calls, Schlottman said. Dennis was offered and took a Valium at 4 p.m. and another at 7 p.m., Schlottman said. Dennis ate his last meal of two cheeseburgers and a Coke, he said. No members of the family of the victim, Ilona Strumanis, 51, appeared as witnesses. Strumanis was originally from Russia, and the department had no contact with relatives, Schlottman said.

Dennis pleaded guilty to the killing, which occurred during a vodka-and-beer binge in a Reno motel room. A three-judge panel sentenced Dennis to death. Outside the prison in the capital, about 25 death penalty protesters quietly demonstrated against the execution of Dennis, 56. Dennis was a volunteer, meaning an inmate sentenced to death who refused to try to appeal his case. Ten of the last 11 executions in Nevada have come when inmates have given up their appeals. He told court officials at one hearing: "Death is preferable to another 15 to 20 years in prison."

ProDeathPenalty.Com

An Aug. 12 execution date was scheduled Friday for Terry Jess Dennis, convicted of strangling a woman during a March 1999 vodka-and-beer binge in a Reno motel room. Dennis, 57, was scheduled to get a lethal injection this week, but the execution was delayed when Washoe District Judge Janet Berry last week ruled the initial execution warrant was flawed. Berry on Tuesday signed a new order setting the execution at the Nevada State Prison in Carson City for the week of Aug. 9. State Prison Director Jackie Crawford followed up by scheduling Aug. 12 as the date.

Dennis was convicted of killing Ilona Strumanis, 51, an Eastern bloc immigrant who he had recently met. He told police he strangled Strumanis with a belt after she made fun of him for being unable to perform sexually and questioned his claim that he killed enemy soldiers while serving as an Air Force clerk in Saigon. Dennis, who has a history of alcoholism, mental illness and failed suicide attempts, has withdrawn all his appeals and said he'd rather die then spend the rest of his life behind bars. A psychiatrist's report said depression and self-hatred prompted Dennis to refuse any more appeals.

Michael Pescetta, assistant federal public defender, has filed a next-friend appeal with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, which plans to hear arguments on the case on Monday. In a brief filed with the court, Pescetta argued the execution would amount to state assisted suicide given Dennis' previous failed efforts on his own. But the attorney general's office countered that Dennis has been found mentally competent by the courts, and his past mental illness is irrelevant.

Dennis, raised in Washington state, has been described by former classmates and friends as a nice person who sang in his high school choir but who also got hooked on drugs and alcohol as a teenager. Court records state Dennis claimed he had been drinking since he was 13 or 14 years old, had been jailed at age 14 for marijuana use, and had made his first of as many as a dozen suicide attempts in 1966. Dennis was convicted in 1979 in Snohomish County Superior Court, Wash., for assault and also had a 1984 conviction in the same court for arson and assault, and spent about 21/2 years in prison before moving to Reno in 1995. Dennis' execution would be the second this year in Nevada. His close friend on death row, Lawrence Colwell Jr., 35, was executed March 26 for the 1994 strangling of an elderly tourist in Las Vegas.

Las Vegas Sun

"Nevada puts killer to death; Murderer dies for '99 slaying," by Cy Ryan. (AP August 13, 2004)

CARSON CITY -- Quietly and without showing any emotion, convicted killer Terry Dennis was put to death by lethal injection Thursday at the Nevada State Prison for the 1999 murder of a woman in Reno. Dennis, 57, was pronounced dead at 9:08 p.m. by Dr. Ted D'Amico, the prison physician.

Jackie Crawford, director of the state Department of Corrections, said Dennis had no last words. He met with his brother Thursday morning but declined to take a phone call from his second wife. He spent his final hours sitting in the "last night cell" and declined to watch the television that was available. He had his last meal of two cheeseburgers and a Coke with ice. Before the execution, he received an injection of 10 milligrams of Valium.

Dennis had pleaded guilty to the March 1999 strangulation of Ilona Strumanis, 51, an immigrant from Russia who had been with him on a drinking bout for several days in a Reno motel. He declined to make further court appeals and said he would rather die than spend the rest of his life in prison.

Daniel J. Greco, chief deputy district attorney in Washoe County, was one of the eight witnesses at the execution and he called the Strumanis murder a "horrific crime." Greco said he doesn't take pleasure in executions, but "justice was served." Greco recounted the case that led to Dennis' execution: Three weeks before the killing, Dennis had fantasies of killing a woman. Then, during their drinking binge, Strumanis had questioned whether Dennis was able to kill anybody during his service in the Air Force in Vietnam. Dennis put a belt around her neck and started tightening it. He strangled Strumanis while they were having sex.

Michael Pescetta, a deputy federal public defender who made a last ditch effort to get a stay of execution, had no comment after the execution. He was a witness and would be available in case Dennis wanted to call off his date with death. Pescetta had appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court this week to stop the execution on grounds Dennis was mentally incompetent to give up his appeals. But on Thursday morning the court had denied the petition.

Dennis had a history of alcoholism and drug use and had been convicted twice previously for assault in Oregon Fritz Schlottman, acting administrator of the offender management program at the prison, said attempts to reach the victim's relatives were unsuccessful. Among the witnesses at the execution was state Treasurer Brian Krolicki. Asked why he was there, he said, "It's important." As the lethal drugs were being pumped into Dennis' arms, Krolicki made the sign of the cross.

It was the 11th execution since Nevada reinstated the death penalty in 1977 and 10 of those inmates have given up their court appeals, voluntarily going to their death. All have been white except Alvaro Calambro, who was Asian. This also was the 52nd execution at the century-old state prison, about one mile from downtown Carson City. Earlier the death penalties were carried out in the counties. Dennis' execution was the second execution in Nevada this year. Lawrence Colwell Jr., 36, was put to death in March for the murder of a Las Vegas tourist.

A group of about 30 death penalty opponents gathered across the street from the prison, praying and signing. They carried signs that read "No more killing," "Christians stand for all life" and "Killing is not the answer." The candlelight vigil was sponsored by the Nevada Coalition Against the Death Penalty, whose goal is to abolish capital punishment. It was led by the Rev. Father Chuck Durante, who is co-chairman of the Life, Peace and Justice Commission of the Reno Catholic Diocese of Reno. "We stand opposed to all violence that is unnecessary to protect others," he said. "The death penalty is a direct act of violence against human life."

Dennis, dressed in newly pressed prison denims and recently cleaned white tennis shoes, was led into the death chamber by five correctional officers, who secured him to the gurney. The bald-headed Dennis with glasses, a gray mustache and goatee, was laid on the gurney with his eyes facing the ceiling. He did not look at the witnesses or the seven representatives of the press who were watching the execution. The shades were drawn and the needles were placed in his arms. The shades were lifted and Dennis had his eyes closed. He didn't move as the drugs were injected into his veins. Sodium thiopental is administered first to put the man to sleep; then 20 milligrams of Pavulon goes into the veins to stop the lungs and finally potassium chloride stops the heart.

D'Amico then entered the chamber, lifted the eyeglasses off Dennis to check his eyes, and then his throat and his chest before pronouncing him dead. Schlottman said he did not know what the funeral arrangements were for Dennis. Dennis had declined requests for interviews and said he did not want to meet with any religious clergy.

There are 83 men and one woman on Nevada's death row, the longest being Edward Wilson who was sentenced in 1979 for the murder of a Reno police undercover agent.

Reno Gazette-Journal Online

"Nevada death row inmate executed for ’99 murder," by Martha Bellisle. (8/12/2004)

Without a hint of protest, Terry Jess Dennis allowed himself to be escorted into the death chamber Thursday night, laid back on the white sheet and stared at the ceiling as an intravenous tube carried a lethal dose of drugs into his bloodstream, killing him at 9:08 p.m. Dennis, 57, who pleaded guilty to the murder of Ilona Straumanis by strangling her with a belt and then his hands in 1999, was pronounced dead by the medical staff at the Nevada State Prison in Carson City about eight minutes after the IV was inserted into his arm.

He had stopped all appeals in his case, saying he would rather die than become “a doddering old man in prison.” He had no last words, Jackie Crawford, director of the state Department of Corrections, said after the execution. “He was very quiet,” she said.

Earlier Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to stay the execution and, without comment, denied an appeal filed by Michael Pescetta, an assistant federal public defender. Pescetta had tried to intervene by arguing that Dennis was not competent to make decisions on his case because he had a history of mental disorders, alcoholism, drug abuse and failed suicide attempts. Dennis was using the state, Pescetta argued, to fulfill a death wish that he had been unable to carry out himself.

But Chief Deputy District Attorney Dan Greco, who witnessed the execution, said justice was done. “This is one of those high-end cases that deserved a high-end penalty,” Greco said outside the prison as protesters held a candlelight vigil across the street. “In my opinion, he was a very good candidate for death.”

One of Dennis’ lawyers, Scott Edwards, who attended the execution, disagreed. “I just don’t think this is what the death penalty was meant for,” he said in the parking lot. Pescetta, who also attended, declined to comment.

Dennis admitted he had strangled Straumanis, a 51-year-old Russian immigrant, in his motel room in March 1999 after a week of drinking and sex. She had taunted him, Dennis told police, about being incapable of killing anyone. He proved her wrong, Dennis told detectives. He continued drinking vodka for several more days before calling police and reporting that he had a dead body in his room. He pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and a three-judge panel ruled that his punishment should be death, citing his previous felony convictions.

Dennis ate his last meal, two cheeseburgers and a Coke, at 4 p.m., said Fritz Schlottman, a prison spokesman. “We offered him medication — Valium,” Schlottman added. “He took it.” A 10 milligram tablet at 4 p.m. and another at 7 p.m., he said. Dennis’ only visitor on Thursday was his brother, Gary Dennis, who has met with the inmate several times this week. One of Dennis’ few friends, Mike Bilodeaux, said he drove from Portland, Ore., to see Dennis before the execution, but Dennis refused the visit without saying why. “I was just going to say goodbye, and try not to be too heavy, if you can in such circumstances,” Bilodeaux said.

Just before 9 p.m., Dennis was led into the small chamber by five Department of Corrections Special Response Team Officers in black uniforms, with black tape covering their name tags. Overhead, two bare light bulbs shined as eight members of the media and six official witnesses watched through three windows just a few feet from the gurney. No one from the victim’s family attended because, except for a cousin in Illinois, none could be located, Greco said.

The lethal injection that killed Dennis consisted of three drugs. The first put him to sleep, Schlottman said. The second and third drugs stopped his breathing and his heart. The five officers strapped brown seatbelt-type straps across his chest, hips and legs and secured his wrists and ankles with leather straps as Dennis, his head shaved, wearing glasses and a blue shirt and navy pants, stared straight up. The officers closed the shades on the windows while the IV was inserted. When the shades were opened, Dennis was alone in the room and a clear tube was taped to his arm.

He closed his eyes. His stomach rose and fell with his slow breath. His eyes twitched. Suddenly his stomach rose higher, his cheeks filled with air and he blew out. Then all movement stopped. All witnesses stood silently. Nevada Treasurer Brian Krolicki, one of the state’s witnesses, made the sign of the cross on himself. A prison doctor stepped into the room and removed Dennis’ glasses. The doctor checked his eyes, his heart, felt for a pulse at his neck and then pronounced Dennis dead.

Greco said he had sought the death penalty for Dennis for several reasons. Dennis had considered killing another woman weeks before the murder, tied her up, but didn’t go through with it, Greco said. Dennis also told police that he continued to finish the sex act after he strangled Straumanis and said he fantasized about having sex with a dead person, Greco said. In addition, Greco said, Dennis lured Straumanis to his room to kill her. “During his police interview, Dennis repeatedly denigrated the victim,” Greco said. “He used language like he ‘did her a favor’ and ‘put her out of her misery.’ He also stated the killing ‘excited him’ and that he ‘enjoyed it’.” “He has never demonstrated any remorse, even to this very day,” the prosecutor said.

Dennis’ execution was the second in the state this year. On March 26, Lawrence Colwell Jr. was executed for strangling a tourist in Las Vegas in 1994.

"Death penalty opponents protest outside prison," by Steve Timko. (8/12/2004)

As Terry Jess Dennis was led to Nevada’s execution chamber and strapped to the table, 27 people who opposed the death penalty stood in a semi-circle around lit candles outside Nevada State Prison. Many held signs with sentiments such as “An eye for an eye makes the whole world go blind” and “Violence to solve a problem brings more violence.” They were of different religions and different activist groups. Dennis’ execution continued, but they were there across East Fifth Street from the Carson City prison entrance to make a point. “I hope it makes people think about the death penalty,” Nancy Hart, president of the Nevada Coalition Against the Death Penalty, said.

She added that Dennis was the 10th of 11 people executed in Nevada since the death penalty was reinstated in the 1970s who gave up his court appeals. She said the execution was nothing more than state-assisted suicide. Hart wants an end to the death penalty. Short of that, she hopes the number of voluntary executions leads to legislation in Nevada that does not allow death row inmates to give up their appeals so easily. She called for other death penalty reforms, such as making 18 the minimum age for executions and instituting a review process in which a judge checks cases to make sure the crime is heinous enough to deserve the death penalty.

Dennis strangled a woman, but had no prior murder convictions, Hart said. “He was drunk out of his mind. This is not the worst of the worst,” Hart said. “This is not a death penalty case.”

Rev. Charles Durante, known to his parishioners at Our Lady of Wisdom Church in Reno as Father Chuck, led the protestors in chant and prayer. He also asked people to remember Ilona Strumanis, Dennis’ victim. Rabbi Myra Soifer of Temple Sinai Reno addressed the use of the phrase “life for a life, eye for an eye” to justify executions. Soifer said the idea behind the phrase was to impose a system of limits on cultures that had no system of justice, because in seeking retaliation for being wronged, people more do more harm to others than was visited upon them. Classical rabbinical scholars reject its meaning as supporting the death penalty, Soifer said.

Nancy Dyer of Carson City said it was her first protest. She said she felt it was finally time to stand up against the death penalty. She carried a sign that said, “We pray for a end to all forms of violence.” Interviewed after Dennis’ execution, Dyer said she felt “disappointment that the people who perpetuate the system are so entranced in the system.” But the fact Dennis was executed despite their protests was not a failure, Dyer said. “It was very important to make a statement,” Dyer said. “If no one was here, that would have been a failure.”

Las Vegas Sun

"Condemned man's brother details final visit," by Brenfan Riley. (AP August 13, 2004)

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - The brother of Terry Jess Dennis, executed late Thursday for strangling a woman in Reno in 1999, said Dennis told him in their final meeting just hours before his lethal injection that he was sorry he "screwed up his life" - but wasn't remorseful about the murder.

"He said he wished he hadn't screwed up his life so bad, and went down this spiral of drugs and alcohol. He wished he would have been a better brother, father, friend," Gary Dennis told The Associated Press. "But he said he didn't feel bad about the crime. I found that pretty disgusting that he wouldn't admit some remorse to me."

Gary Dennis, who spent nearly three hours with his brother Thursday in a small visiting room at Nevada State Prison, said he had "no sympathy for murderers" - but still urged his brother to consider an appeal that would have stopped his execution. But the condemned man refused, describing his lethal injection as "an easy way to go, relatively painless," the brother said, adding that's what Dennis had said he wanted for several years.

"It's not like it happened yesterday and he made up his mind today," Gary Dennis said. Gary Dennis also said that during a Tuesday visit his brother told him "it felt good to kill somebody." But on Wednesday, he said his brother - whose mental problems include bipolar disorder - told him "he didn't remember much about it." During Thursday's final visit, Dennis, 57, also was asked by a prison staffer if he wanted to speak with his estranged wife, Bonnie Dennis, who tried to reach him by telephone. He said he didn't.

Bonnie Dennis said she left a message stating, "My heart is with him and my prayers, and I love him although I don't love the choices he made. Farewell." She also said that at Dennis' trial she saw his videotaped confession to police, in which he described in detail how he strangled Ilona Strumanis after several days of drinking vodka and beer and having sex in a motel room. She believed he wasn't exaggerating. "I had been on the end of that same kind of rage," she said in a telephone interview, adding that when Dennis drank or used drugs "he was like a demon."

Court records show Dennis claimed he had been drinking since he was a teenager, had been jailed at age 14 for marijuana use and had made his first suicide attempt in 1966. His early substance abuse was confirmed by his brother, who said that as a teenager Dennis started "hanging out with a bad crowd" in their hometown of Alderwood Manor, Wash. "About 20 years ago I told him to stay away because he was drinking, drugging, thieving a lot," Gary Dennis said. "He was just somebody I didn't want around me." "He was screwed up," he added. "He was the most cynical person that I've ever been around. He just saw conspiracies in everything."

After he was contacted late last year by lawyers trying to persuade his brother to appeal, Gary Dennis said he renewed contact. He said he decided to spend as much time as possible with his brother this week "because I didn't want to regret later on not being there." During their final meetings, Gary Dennis said, "We talked about fishing, different movies, events in our childhood. Basically he just wanted someone to talk to, so I listened a lot. He wanted to unload. He was nervous, but steadfast in his commitment" to go through with the execution.

"I asked him how he'd feel when he went to the death chamber and he said he'd just be relieved it's over," Gary Dennis said. He added he arranged to have his brother's remains cremated. "I'm having the ashes shipped to me and I'll put them in the creek where we used to fish when we were kids," he said.

Everett Herald

'"Nice person now sits on death row," by Kristi O'Harran. (July 20, 2004)

One doesn't expect to hear a convicted killer described as the nicest person you'd ever want to meet. But then Terry Jess Dennis' supporter lost track of her friend several decades ago, after he disappeared in a downward spiral of drugs.

Sally Niver of Marysville went to school with Dennis, now 57, at Mountlake Terrace High School. Her classmate was set to die by lethal injection Thursday at Nevada State Prison, having been sentenced to death for strangling a woman in 1999 in Reno, Nev. Friday, his execution was stayed until the week of Aug. 9. "His brother, Bubbi, and I were the same age. Terry, a year older," Niver said. "He was a really nice person, but he got hooked up with drugs." Dennis called his brother Gary, "Bubbi" because as a toddler, the word brother sounded like "Bubbi" to him, Niver said.

Niver remembered that Dennis lived with his aunt and uncle, who adopted him and his brother. She didn't remember what happened to the biological parents, and it's thought the adopted parents may have died while Dennis was a teenager. He may have graduated from Shoreline High School.

Perhaps we'll never know about the convict's early life. Dennis will not speak with the press in Nevada. The Edmonds School District was unable to find Dennis' school records from 40 years ago. We know he had friends, a fiance and sang in the school choir. "He was a peach of a fellow," Niver said. "A nicer guy you would never hope to meet." Niver knew after high school that Dennis had been in and out of prison, but had no idea he was on death row. According to an Associated Press report, Dennis was convicted in Snohomish County Superior Court of assault in 1979 and of assault and arson in 1984.

Brendan Riley, an Associated Press reporter in Nevada, has followed the Dennis story. Dennis pleaded guilty to the March 1999 murder of Ilona Strumanis, 51. Dennis told police he killed the woman with a belt during a beer and vodka binge after she made fun of him when he was unable to perform sexually and questioned his claim that he killed enemy soldiers when he served as an Air Force clerk in Saigon.

Riley contacted The Herald to see if we could locate members of the Dennis family. He forwarded stories he wrote about the pending execution and how Dennis does not want to stop the lethal injection. At a district court hearing, Dennis said, "I took a life, and I'm ready to pay for that with mine. I would rather not live than continue to live and be a doddering old man in prison." If Dennis gets his wish and is put to death in August, it would be the second execution this year in Nevada.

His high school fiance, Rexana Magruder of Bothell, said the prison news was almost unbelievable. "He is such a genuine person," Magruder said. "He is really nice." Magruder was a student at Meadowdale High School when Niver introduced her to Dennis. They drifted apart after high school when Dennis went into the Air Force.

Her former fiance had one hard knock after another in life, Magruder said. She recalled that his nephew was killed in a hiking accident on Mount Pilchuck. Magruder said she planned to try to contact Dennis before he is executed. "If he thought he did something wrong, he would think he needed to die," Magruder said. "Maybe he did it in a fit of rage. He would be very hard on himself." Then Magruder said one more thing. "Bless his heart." On death row, it might be a small comfort to know an old friend cared.

Las Vegas Sun

"Nevada executions follow precise procedures," by Brendan Riley. (AP August 07, 2004)

CARSON CITY (AP) - Unless Terry Jess Dennis asks for a last-minute stay, the condemned inmate will be led through a submarine-type door into the Nevada State Prison's death chamber and be executed at 9 p.m. Thursday.

Dennis will have already had his final meal, coffee, cigarettes or a cigar if he wants in a "last night" cell just outside the half-century-old death chamber. Before his last meal, Dennis will be able to send out letters and make final phone calls. He might choose to give away his personal items to other inmates.

The condemned man can receive visits by the chaplain, warden or prison director. Dennis' brother already visited him, and no other family members are expected. Dennis has requested a set of clean prison denims, and has asked for cigarettes during his final days, prison spokesman Fritz Schlottman said.

To guard against suicide attempts, a "death watch" guard keeps an eye on the convict at all times. Dennis can't have any electrical items, such as a radio or television, although they can be placed in the corridor just outside the cell. A few hours before the execution, Dennis will be given a sedative to relax him and discourage any last-minute resistance.

About half an hour before the execution deadline, Dennis will be brought into a 9-by-12-foot, beige-painted room. There he will be strapped to a gurney with eight automobile seat belts. If he can't or won't walk to the death room, guards will carry him in.

While lying on the gurney, Dennis will be able to see two bare light bulbs and the old exhaust pipe that was used to fill the room with cyanide gas until the Legislature discontinued the practice in 1983. If he turns his head, Dennis will see a heart monitor. Through a three-panel window on his right he can see the nine witnesses who are required by law to watch his execution, plus a dozen or so other witnesses who will stand in a 13-by-20-foot viewing room.

Behind him, a one-way mirror hides the faces of two prison employees in a closet-sized "executioners" room." Unless the red phone outside the death chamber brings last-minute legal relief, the prison workers will pump three injections through tubes running out of the wall and into the prisoner's veins. The first is an overdose of a "downer" that can cause death. Another stops breathing, and a third stops the heart. A few minutes later if all has gone as scheduled, a doctor will pronounce Dennis dead. Window shades on the death chamber windows will be pulled down, the needles removed from his arm, and the body transported to a mortuary.

Two and possibly three other locations at the prison were used before James Williams was executed in the current death chamber in 1950 for murdering a co-worker in Elko. Twenty-one condemned men have died in the chamber since. Those executions are among 52 at the state prison since 1901, when it was designated as the location for all executions in the state of Nevada.

Jesse Bishop, convicted of murder in a Las Vegas casino robbery, was the last person to be executed in the chamber by lethal gas, in 1979. Since then, all executions have been by lethal injection. Bishop and the other condemned men who followed him were "table jumpers," guard parlance for inmates who didn't resist as they were led to the death chamber and strapped into a chair or onto the gurney that's now used.

Sebastian Bridges' execution on April 21, 2001, wasn't so typical. Wearing his brown, double-breasted Pierre Cardin suit and shiny, new black shoes, Bridges appeared calm at first. But then he broke down, sobbing and screaming, "You want to kill me like a dog." Still Bridges wouldn't appeal. Had he done so, even at the last minute, the execution would have been called off.

Reno Gazette-Journal

"Court says Terry Jess Dennis can waive appeals, be executed," by David Kravets. (7/31/2004)

SAN FRANCISCO — Nevada death row inmate Terry Jess Dennis can waive his appeals and be executed Aug. 12 for strangling a woman in Reno in March 1999, a federal appeals court said Friday. Dennis pleaded guilty to the charges and last year and said he did not wish to appeal his punishment. At a 2003 hearing to determine whether he was competent to end his court battle, he told a federal judge that “I took a life and I’m ready to pay for that with mine.”

Judge Philip Pro said the condemned man was competent to end his appeals, a decision the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Friday. The Las Vegas federal public defender’s office urged the appellate court on Monday to block the execution, arguing the defendant was not competent to withdraw his appeals.

“We conclude that Dennis’ capacity to make the decision to forgo appeals is not substantially affected by mental illness,” Judge Pamela Rymer wrote for the three-judge appeals panel. The court added that “evidence showing that a prisoner’s decision is the product of a mental disease does not show that he lacks the capacity to make a rational choice.” Michael Pescetta, an assistant federal public defender, argued to the court that the execution would amount to state assisted suicide given Dennis’ previous failed attempts to take his own life.

History of alcoholism

Nevada prosecutors countered that Dennis has been found mentally competent by the lower courts, despite his history of alcoholism, failed suicide attempts and a psychiatric report that concluded depression and self-hatred prompted Dennis to refuse any more appeals. Unless the U.S. Supreme Court intervenes, Dennis is to be executed Aug. 12. Dennis, 57, was convicted of killing Ilona Strumanis, 51, an Eastern bloc immigrant whom he had recently met, during a vodka-and-beer binge in a motel room. He told police he strangled Strumanis with a belt after she ridiculed him for being unable to perform sexually and questioned his claim that he killed enemy soldiers while serving as an Air Force clerk in Saigon.

Tom Sargeant, a spokesman for state prosecutors, said Nevada had no doubt Dennis was competent to end his appeals and be executed. “It’s his wish that the sentence move forward; he withdrew his plea voluntarily,” Sargeant said. Pescetta did not immediately return calls for comment.

The condemned man, who was raised in Washington state, has been described by former classmates and friends as a nice person who sang in his high school choir but who also got hooked on drugs and alcohol as a teenager. Court records show Dennis claimed he had been drinking since he was a teenager, had been jailed at age 14 for marijuana use and had made his first suicide attempt in 1966.

Dennis was convicted in 1979 in Snohomish County Superior Court, Wash., for assault. He also had a 1984 conviction in the same court for arson and assault and spent about 21/2 years in prison before moving to Reno in 1995. Dennis’ execution would be the second this year in Nevada. Lawrence Colwell Jr., 35, was executed March 26 for the 1994 strangling of an elderly tourist in Las Vegas.

Dennis v. State, 13 P.3d 434 (Nev. 2000) (Direct Appeal).

Defendant was convicted upon guilty plea in the Second Judicial District Court, Washoe County, Janet J. Berry, J., of first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon and was sentenced to death. Defendant appealed. The Supreme Court, Becker, J., held that: (1) inquiry into excessiveness of death sentence, while not involving a proportionality review, may involve a consideration of whether various objective factors previously considered relevant to excessiveness in other cases are present; and (2) death sentence was not excessive. Affirmed.

The State charged appellant Terry Jess Dennis by information with one count of first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon for the March 1999, willful, deliberate and premeditated strangulation murder of Ilona Straumanis. The State subsequently filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty.

On April 16, 1999, Dennis entered a guilty plea, pursuant to a written plea agreement, to first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon. A penalty hearing was conducted before a three-judge panel. The panel found that three alleged aggravators (three prior felony convictions involving the use or threat of violence to the person of another) were proved beyond a reasonable doubt. The panel also found two mitigating circumstances existed: Dennis was under the influence of alcohol when he killed Straumanis, and he suffers from mental illness. The panel concluded that the mitigating circumstances did not outweigh the aggravating circumstances and returned a verdict of death. Dennis argues only that his sentence of death is excessive. We affirm.

FACTS

On the afternoon of March 9, 1999, Dennis, who was fifty-two years old, unemployed and homeless, telephoned the Reno Police Department ("RPD") Dispatch, and told a dispatcher that he had killed a woman and her body was in his room at a local motel. Dennis stated that he was in the same room watching television and would wait for police to arrive. Dennis also stated that dispatchers should send a coroner, as "[t]he bitch ha[d] been dead for three or four days." An RPD detective responded to Dennis's motel room, contacted Dennis, and asked whether he had any weapons. Dennis stated that he had used his hands to kill the victim and did not have any weapons. He agreed to be interviewed and was transported to the police department.

At the police department, detectives advised Dennis of his Miranda rights. Dennis waived his rights and agreed to be interviewed. When questioned about the murder, Dennis stated that his memory was unclear on certain details because he had consumed about a fifth of vodka a day for the past week.

Following the interview, Dennis's blood alcohol level was tested and determined to be .112 and descending. However, Dennis does not dispute the knowing and voluntary nature of his statements.

During the interview, Dennis reported the following. He had been staying at the motel where the murder occurred since March 3, 1999. Two or three nights into his stay, he left his room to go to a local saloon. On his way to the saloon, he met the victim, who was later identified as Ilona Straumanis, a fifty-six-year-old woman. Straumanis had bruises about her eyes and told Dennis that she had been beaten by another man. Straumanis accompanied Dennis to the saloon, and later, to Dennis's motel room. Thereafter and until the murder, both Dennis and Straumanis remained in an intoxicated state, staying in Dennis's room, except for a shared meal out and Dennis's outings to get more alcohol.

On the day he killed Straumanis, he left the room briefly because Straumanis was asking too many personal questions. Upon his return to the room, he and Straumanis engaged in a conversation about whether Dennis had ever killed anyone. Straumanis accused Dennis of being too kind to be capable of killing. Dennis then killed Straumanis, as he and she were "sort of" "making love."

He began strangling Straumanis with a belt. He felt somewhat aroused by Straumanis's struggling, and as she was "fading," he engaged in anal intercourse with her. During the course of the killing, he took the belt off and used his hands to choke her, and then suffocated her by covering her nose and mouth, making sure that she was not breathing and that "it was all done." He was not certain whether he finished the sexual act once she was dead. It took five or ten minutes to kill Straumanis, and Dennis checked her pulse afterward. He felt that he "had to make sure," so he "took [his] time." After the murder, Dennis covered Straumanis's body and slept in the other bed. Prior to contacting police, Dennis also left the room at times to go to a local casino or the store for more liquor.

Dennis admitted that, although he had been drinking heavily prior to the murder and had stopped taking the medications prescribed for his mental health problems, he knew "exactly what [he] was doing" at the time of the murder. He killed Straumanis primarily because she challenged whether he was capable of killing, but also in response to a challenge from Straumanis regarding his sexual performance, which was affected by his drinking, and because he knew that he could kill her--she was "nobody" to him. He explained that he was probably thinking that Straumanis needed to be "put out of her misery" from the time he first met her and realized that she was "pathetic." He stated, "[W]hen I first met her, I had that ... idea that if you know I can talk her into ... coming back to my crib then done deal. Done deal." He saw himself as a "predator" and Straumanis as a "victim," and he felt that killing her was "the thing to do." Dennis had recently "picked up" another woman, intending to do the same thing to her, but she got frightened and left him before he could finish. From that experience he had learned to "[t]ake it a little slower," and he did so with Straumanis, trying to charm her into staying with him. Dennis was determined to kill Straumanis regardless of whether she survived his initial attack. He had been wanting to kill someone for a long time, and he felt at peace with killing Straumanis. Dennis stated that he did not care about anybody, including himself. He knew murder was wrong and did not care. Dennis also told detectives, "[I]f I didn't get stopped this would not be the last time that *1079 I would do something like this, because I found it exciting. I actually enjoyed it."

At the conclusion of the interview, detectives formally placed Dennis under arrest. Meanwhile, another RPD detective searched Dennis's motel room pursuant to a search warrant. There, the detective discovered Straumanis's nude dead body underneath a blanket on one of the two beds in the room. Straumanis's body was found in a prone position with spread legs. A pillow underneath Straumanis's pelvis caused her buttocks to protrude upward. The detective also discovered a leather belt on the floor of the motel room and numerous empty beer and Vodka containers, along with other debris.

An autopsy performed on Straumanis's body on March 10, 1999, showed that she had died between three and seven days earlier as a result of asphyxia due to neck compression, most likely by strangulation. Straumanis's neck bore a rectangular-shaped injury. Other injuries were determined to have occurred sometime within the few days prior to her **437 death, including a small abrasion on the forehead, a bruise on the back of one thigh, and a fractured sternum. Changes caused by decomposition of Straumanis's body made determination of the existence of any sexual assault difficult. Although Straumanis's anus was dilated, there was no evidence of injury to the perianal skin or distal rectum. Testing revealed that Straumanis had a blood alcohol content of 0.37.

The State charged Dennis by information with one count of first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon. The State subsequently filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty, alleging four aggravating circumstances: that Dennis subjected Straumanis to nonconsensual sexual penetration immediately before, during or immediately after the commission of the murder, and that Dennis had been previously convicted of three separate felonies involving the use or threat of violence to the person of another--a 1979 conviction for second-degree assault, a 1984 conviction for second-degree assault, and a 1984 conviction for second-degree arson.

Counsel were appointed to represent Dennis and arranged to have a psychiatrist conduct a competency evaluation. The psychiatrist who conducted the evaluation concluded that, although Dennis was clinically depressed, he was competent to stand trial and assist in his defense.

On April 16, 1999, Dennis entered a guilty plea to first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon pursuant to a written plea agreement. The district court thoroughly canvassed Dennis, who stated his desire to plead guilty though he faced a possible death penalty. Dennis explained that he had been in prison twice before *1080 and did not consider living in prison to be " living at all." He did not want to "waste away" in prison for the remainder of his life, and would rather "get it over faster than that." Ultimately, the court accepted Dennis's plea, finding that Dennis was competent to enter a plea and that his plea was knowing and voluntary.

On July 19 and 20, 1999, a penalty hearing was conducted before a three-judge panel of the district court. The State presented evidence relating to the facts and circumstances of Straumanis's death, including Dennis's own statements regarding the crime and evidence in support of the alleged aggravating circumstances. The panel was also informed that Dennis had a total of nine prior convictions: the three prior felony convictions alleged as aggravators, for which he served approximately two and one-half years in prison, and another older felony conviction for possession of a controlled substance, for which he served two years in prison. Dennis also had five prior misdemeanor convictions.

Dennis agreed to permit counsel to argue for a sentence less than death and submit a sentencing memorandum along with medical, psychiatric and jail records. [FN3] However, he expressed to the panel that he did not want to live in prison for the rest of his life, and he declined to present any additional evidence in mitigation or make any further statement in allocution. FN3. The State stipulated to the admission of the memorandum and documents offered by the defense to show mitigation.

Dennis's records together with the panel's questioning of Dennis show that Dennis has a lengthy history of alcohol and substance abuse as well as suicide attempts. He first attempted suicide in 1965 and was hospitalized. However, it does not appear that Dennis was diagnosed with or treated for any mental health disorders until thirty years later. In 1995, he began a series of contacts with mental health professionals and was diagnosed with various disorders--primarily, a chronic depressive disorder. [FN4] The same records show that Dennis was treated for his problems at various facilities by means of prescription drugs and therapy. Although he enjoyed periods of improved well being, he repeatedly discontinued his medications, declined further treatment and continued to consume alcohol against his doctors' advice.

FN4. Beginning in 1995, Dennis began a series of hospitalizations and outpatient treatments for various problems including Hepatitis C, alcohol abuse, recurrent depressive disorder, suicidal ideation and attempts, antisocial personality disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder attributed to abuse Dennis reported suffering as a child, bipolar disorder, and anger management problems. In 1995, Dennis also reported having audio hallucinations and was diagnosed with having a substance-induced psychotic disorder at the time of one admission for hospitalization. When receiving medical treatment subsequent to 1995, however, Dennis denied having any hallucinations, and it does not appear that Dennis's care providers noted any indications to the contrary.

Included among the medical records submitted were Veteran's Administration ("VA") records, which indicate that two months prior to killing Straumanis, Dennis was admitted to the VA Hospital in Reno when he reported to medical staff that he had stopped taking his medications and was trying to drink himself to death. He also reported picking up a girl the previous night, taking her to a motel, and having thoughts of killing her. At the time he was admitted, Dennis exhibited bizarre behavior, talking and answering to himself. However, he was discharged from the hospital after eight days. Reports from follow-up visits with VA medical personnel in February and on March 2, 1999, show no indication of any alarming behavior by Dennis and further show that he denied wanting to harm himself or others.

Counsel argued against a death sentence and alleged as mitigating factors that the murder was committed while Dennis was under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance, see NRS 200.035(2), as well as numerous other circumstances, see NRS 200 .035(7). The panel found that Dennis made a knowing and voluntary waiver of the right to present further mitigating evidence or make any further statement in allocution.

After hearing argument, the panel found that three of the four alleged aggravators were established: the three prior felony convictions. The panel also found two mitigating circumstances: Dennis was under the influence of alcohol when he killed Straumanis, and he suffers from mental illness. The panel concluded that the mitigating circumstances did not outweigh the aggravating circumstances and returned a verdict of death. Dennis timely appealed.

The panel found that the State had proved three aggravating circumstances: three prior felony convictions involving the use or threat of violence to the person of another. See NRS 200.033(2)(b). The record shows that in support of the 1979 felony assault conviction alleged as an aggravator, the State presented police reports, a certified copy of the judgment of conviction from the State of Washington, and testimony from the assault victim. This evidence showed that in December 1978, Dennis became intoxicated, argued with his girlfriend over his unemployment and threatened to kill her. He then held her up against a door and put a knife to her neck. During the altercation, he ripped the knife blade through her hand, saying, "[H]urts, don't it?" Although she managed to escape, the attack left her hand scarred. Police subsequently arrested Dennis at a local barroom frequented by him. He was thereafter convicted of second-degree felony assault and sentenced to a ten-year term of imprisonment, suspended for a five-year term of probation.

In support of the 1984 felony assault and felony arson convictions, each alleged as aggravators, the State presented police reports, certified copies of the judgments of conviction from the State of Washington, and testimony from victims. This evidence showed that in December 1983, Dennis had a personal relationship with a woman, "Bonnie," whose daughter, "Lana," was sixteen years old. Lana and Dennis had been involved in a dispute stemming from an incident when Dennis went on a "rampage" and kicked in the door of Bonnie's home while Lana and her siblings were present. A couple of days after this incident, Lana was at the home of a family friend. As the two were watching television and eating dinner, Dennis lit the home on fire. When Lana became aware of the fire, she contacted police.

When confronted by police responding to the arson report, Dennis acted as if he did not know what had precipitated a police response. He then swung a knife at an officer. Even after surrounded by five officers, he refused to drop the knife, saying that he wanted to make a point. He made menacing gestures with the knife toward each of the responding officers and threatened to stab anybody who tried to take his knife. He challenged the officers to shoot him and challenged a canine officer to let his dog loose so that Dennis could stab the dog. Dennis then lunged and thrust his knife at the canine officer, and was shot. Notably, although Dennis smelled of alcohol at the time of his arrest, the arresting officer reported there was no indication that Dennis was intoxicated or not in control of himself at the time of the assault. Dennis was convicted of one count each of second-degree assault and second-degree arson. He was sentenced to ten years of imprisonment on each count, to be served concurrently with each other, and consecutively to the sentence for the 1979 assault conviction, for which his probation was revoked.

We conclude that this evidence is sufficient to prove each of the three aggravating circumstances found by the panel. See generally Parker v. State, 109 Nev. 383, 393, 849 P.2d 1062, 1068 (1993). Whether the sentence of death was imposed under the influence of passion, prejudice or any arbitrary factor

The panel considered evidence of the crime, the background and characteristics of Dennis, and both the aggravating and mitigating circumstances. The panel then concluded that the aggravating circumstances outweighed the mitigating and a death sentence was appropriate. Our review of the record reveals no evidence that the panel imposed the death sentence under the influence of passion, prejudice or any other arbitrary factor.

Whether the sentence of death is excessive - Dennis contends that his sentence of death is excessive. He asks this court to compare his background, character, crime, and the mitigating and aggravating circumstances found in his case to those of defendants in other first-degree murder cases where we have either affirmed the judgment of death or determined the death penalty to be excessive. He contends that under this comparative review, his death sentence must be vacated because the relevant sentencing factors in his case are most similar to those in two cases where we concluded that the death penalties were excessive: Haynes v. State, 103 Nev. 309, 739 P.2d 497 (1987), and Chambers v. State, 113 Nev. 974, 944 P.2d 805 (1997).

The State argues that the comparative review sought by Dennis is unnecessary and suggests that such a review is tantamount to proportionality review, which was formerly required by NRS 177.055(2)(d), but was abolished by our Legislature in 1985. See 1985 Nev. Stat., ch. 527, § 1, at 1597. Thus, we must determine whether the comparative review of death penalty cases has any proper role in our excessiveness analysis under NRS 177.055(2)(d).

From 1977 through 1985, NRS 177.055(2)(d) required that on appeal from a judgment of death, this court must consider "[w]hether the sentence of death is excessive or disproportionate to the penalty imposed in similar cases in this state, considering both the crime and the defendant." 1977 Nev. Stat., ch. 585, § 10, at 1545; 1985 Nev. Stat., ch. 527, § 1, at 1597. Proportionality review required "that we compare all [similar] capital cases [in this state], as well as appealed murder cases in which the death penalty was sought but not imposed, and set aside those **440 death sentences which appear comparatively disproportionate to the offense and the background and characteristics of the offender." Harvey v. State, 100 Nev. 340, 342, 682 P.2d 1384, 1385 (1984).

However, in 1984, the United States Supreme Court decided Pulley v. Harris, 465 U.S. 37, 43-44, 50-51, 104 S.Ct. 871, 79 L.Ed.2d 29 (1984), holding that the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution [FN5] does not require a proportionality review of death sentences, i.e., an inquiry into whether the death penalty is unacceptable in a particular case because it is disproportionate to the punishment imposed on others similarly situated. The following year, the Nevada Legislature amended NRS 177.055(2)(d) to repeal the proportionality review requirement. See 1985 Nev. Stat., ch. 527, § 1, at 1597. In its current form, NRS 177.055(2)(d) provides only that this court must consider on appeal from a judgment of death "[w]hether the sentence of death is excessive, considering both the crime and the defendant." FN5. U.S. Const. amend. VIII.

We have recognized that pursuant to the 1985 amendment to NRS 177.055(2)(d), this court no longer conducts proportionality review of death sentences. See, e.g., Thomas v. State, 114 Nev. 1127, 1148, 967 P.2d 1111, 1125 (1998), cert. denied, 528 U.S. 830, 120 S.Ct. 85, 145 L.Ed.2d 72 (1999). Instead, we review a death penalty for excessiveness considering only the crime and the defendant at hand. Guy, 108 Nev. at 784, 839 P.2d at 587.

In dispensing with proportionality review, we have recognized that penalties imposed in other similar cases in this state are "irrelevant" to the excessiveness analysis now required by NRS 177.055(2)(d) Nonetheless, we have not entirely abandoned comparative review as part of that analysis. As noted by Dennis, in Chambers, 113 Nev. at 984-85, 944 P.2d at 811-12, we considered whether the imposition of a death sentence was warranted based upon comparisons between Chambers and his crime and defendants and crimes in other cases in which we have reviewed judgments of death. Specifically, we compared and found that the circumstances of the crime and defendant in Chambers were similar to those in two cases where we had determined the death penalty was excessive: Haynes and Biondi v. State, 101 Nev. 252, 699 P.2d 1062 (1985). Chambers, 113 Nev. at 985, 944 P.2d at 811. We also compared "the circumstances of the murder and the defendant in [Chambers ] with the circumstances in other cases in which this court has affirmed the death penalty." Id. at 984, 944 P.2d at 811. After considering the crime and defendant in Chambers, and in light of our comparative review, we ultimately concluded that the sentence of death was excessive. Id. at 984-85, 944 P.2d 805.Nonetheless, Chambers does not stand for the proposition that this court will conduct proportionality review of death sentences as part of the excessiveness analysis despite the Legislature's abolishment of such review. The fact that others guilty of first-degree murder may have received greater or lesser penalties does not mean that a defendant whose crime, background and characteristics are similar is entitled to receive a like sentence. However, as apparent in Chambers, our determinations regarding excessiveness of the death sentences of similarly situated defendants may serve as a frame of reference for determining the crucial issue in the excessiveness analysis: are the crime and defendant before us on appeal of the class or kind that warrants the imposition of death? See NRS 177.055(2)(d) (court must consider whether sentence of death on appeal is excessive, "considering both the crime and the defendant"). This inquiry may involve a consideration of whether various objective factors, which we have previously considered relevant to whether the death penalty is excessive in other cases, are present and suggest the death sentence under consideration is excessive. We conclude that, even using as a frame of reference the factors considered relevant to excessiveness in Chambers and Haynes, the cases upon which Dennis relies, the death penalty is not excessive here.

In Haynes, we relied on several objective factors to determine that the death sentence was excessive, i.e., the killing in that case was " 'crazy' " and "motiveless"; the defendant, Haynes, was a "mentally disturbed person lashing out irrationally, and probably delusionally, and striking a person he did not know and probably had never seen before"; and the single aggravating circumstance, a prior felony conviction for armed robbery, was fifteen years old at the time of the crime and committed by Haynes when he was eighteen years old. 103 Nev. at 319, 739 P.2d at 503. We concluded that the case was comparable to Biondi v. State, 101 Nev. 252, 699 P.2d 1062 (1985)>, where the defendant killed a man in a barroom confrontation among strangers in an emotionally charged atmosphere, and where the only aggravating circumstance was a prior conviction for armed robbery. [FN6] Haynes, 103 Nev. at 319, 739 P.2d at 503. We noted that in Biondi, we had reduced the death sentence to life without the possibility of parole. [FN7] Id. We finally concluded that Haynes did not deserve the death penalty. Id.

FN6. Although Haynes was decided after the Legislature abolished proportionality review, we nevertheless conducted such a review because the crime in that case was committed two days before proportionality review was abolished. Haynes, 103 Nev. at 319 n. 5, 739 P.2d at 504 n. 5.

FN7. In Biondi, we vacated the death sentence of the defendant because the penalty was disproportionate to sentences received in similar cases, including the codefendant's case. Biondi, 101 Nev. at 258-60, 699 P.2d at 1066-67.

As noted previously, we likewise determined the sentence of death was excessive in Chambers, after concluding the case was comparable to Haynes and Biondi. In doing so, we relied on several objective factors, including that Chambers murdered the victim in a drunken state, which indicated no advanced planning, during an emotionally charged confrontation in which Chambers was wounded and his professional tools were being ruined. Id. at 985, 944 P.2d at 811-12. We further noted that the only valid aggravating factor in Chambers, prior felony convictions for robberies, "referred to crimes that occurred eighteen years before the verdict in question, when Chambers was eighteen years old," which "hardly shows a pattern of violence sufficient to justify the death penalty." Id. at 984-85, 944 P.2d at 811. Considering Dennis and his crime, we conclude that the objective factors relied on in Haynes and Chambers do not indicate the death penalty is excessive here. Dennis deliberately strangled Straumanis over the course of five to ten minutes and made efforts to assure her death. Unlike the defendants in Haynes and Chambers, evidence here shows a high degree of callousness and premeditation by Dennis. Dennis disputes this on appeal, suggesting that the evidence obtained during his interview with RPD should be discounted because much of what he said during his interview was "puffing" and "macho-image making," designed to make detectives take seriously his desire to be put to death. [FN8] However, Dennis's account of the crime is not inconsistent with the physical evidence. No evidence indicates that Dennis exaggerated the willful, premeditated and deliberate nature of the crime or that his callous indifference toward Straumanis was contrived. No evidence shows that the killing was the result of uncontrollable, irrational or delusional impulses or occurred during an emotionally charged physical confrontation. Accordingly, neither Dennis's mental illness nor his being under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crime renders his death penalty excessive. Cf. DePasquale v. State, 106 Nev. 843, 803 P.2d 218 (1990) (death sentence not excessive although defendant had history of mental illness); Geary v. State, 115 Nev. 79, 977 P.2d 344 (1999) (death sentence not excessive where defendant was in drunken rage when he killed victim), cert. denied, 529 U.S. 1090, 120 S.Ct. 1726, 146 L.Ed.2d 646 (2000).

FN8. In support of this, he points to his statements during the interview showing that at the time of the interview, he was suffering the effects of alcohol withdrawal, and his statements exaggerating his prior military experience and falsely indicating that he had killed others before Straumanis.

Further, in this case, the prior felony convictions found as aggravating circumstances demonstrate that Dennis is a dangerous and violent man. There is no indication that these crimes were committed during any physical confrontation or that Dennis was irrational, delusional or unable to control his actions at the time. One of the aggravating prior felonies was committed twenty-one years, and the others, sixteen years, before Straumanis's murder. Unlike the single valid prior felony aggravating circumstance in Haynes or Chambers, here the prior felonies are not isolated instances, but are part of a continuing pattern of violence, spread out over time and increasing in severity. Also, Dennis committed his first prior felony when in his early thirties and committed his second and third prior felonies when in his late thirties. Therefore, these felonies demonstrate Dennis's proclivity for violent crime, and their significance in this respect cannot reasonably be diminished by immature judgment at the time of the crimes. The record demonstrates that Dennis committed a calculated, cold-blooded and unprovoked killing and has a propensity toward violent behavior. We have affirmed the death penalty in similar cases. After considering Dennis's contentions on appeal, we conclude that the death penalty is not excessive in this case.

CONCLUSION

Our review of this appeal demonstrates that the evidence supports the finding of aggravating circumstances, the sentence of death was not imposed under the influence of passion, prejudice or any arbitrary factor, and the sentence of death is not excessive, considering Dennis and his crime. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of conviction and sentence of death.