Prosecutor: Suspect in Vegas severed head case a prior felon

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A prosecutor in Las Vegas told a judge Tuesday that a man jailed after police found the severed head and body parts of an acquaintance in the truck he was driving has prior felony and federal criminal convictions dating to the 1980s in states including California, Texas and Nevada.

Eric Holland stood in court flanked by heavily armed security guards and an attorney temporarily appointed to his case for a brief hearing at which a Las Vegas judge ordered him held without bail pending another court appearance next week.

Justice of the Peace Harmony Letizia set a preliminary hearing of evidence for Jan. 27.

Holland, 57, was not asked to enter a plea to the murder charge against him, and his attorney, Deputy Public Defender Sarah Hawkins, declined outside court to comment on his behalf.

Prosecutor Giancarlo Pesci listed Holland’s three-state criminal history under names including Eric John Holland and Eric Allen Holland, and told the judge that Holland represents a danger to the community and should not be allowed out on bail.

Holland's alleged victim was identified Tuesday as Richard P. Miller of Las Vegas. The Clark County coroner said Miller died last Thursday from multiple gunshot wounds and his death was a homicide.

“The victim is literally cut into pieces,” Pesci said in court. “His head is cut off.”

Holland “fled from police” in an allegedly stolen truck and then got into another allegedly stolen vehicle before he was arrested, the prosecutor said.

Police later found receipts in the vehicles for items purchased from a home improvement store where Pesci said Holland was seen on security cameras pushing a cart with a saw in it.

“This is an individual who literally had the body cut up into pieces in that car that he flees from the police (in),” he...