This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Farmington • A Utah man who is accused of kidnapping a Centerville family and later killing a Utah Transit Authority employee wants to resolve the kidnapping case, his attorney told a judge on Monday.
But as of Monday, prosecutors have not offered a plea deal to 23-year-old Dereck "DJ" James Harrison, who is accused of kidnapping a mother and her four teenager daughters alongside his now-deceased father, 52-year-old Flint Harrison.
"He would like the opportunity to get an offer from the state," defense attorney Michael Edwards said Monday during a brief hearing in 2nd District Court.
If there is a plea offer that the state is willing to extend, it will do so by the end of this week, Deputy Davis County Attorney Jeffrey Thomson said.
Dereck Harrison faces 16 charges, including first-degree felony kidnapping, weapons and drug charges, in the May 10 incident in which a Centerville mother and her daughters were allegedly tied up and beaten before they could escape. He also faces charges of murder, kidnapping and theft in Wyoming in connection to UTA worker Kay Porter Ricks' death.
Flint Harrison, who faced identical charges, hanged himself in late July in the Davis County jail, according to police.
On May 10, the Harrisons allegedly invited a mother and her four teen daughters to a Centerville home, near 190 North and 700 East, for a barbecue.
The men ushered the family downstairs, according to an arrest-warrant affidavit, where the females saw strips of duct tape lined up and zip ties on the floor.
Dereck Harrison, carrying a shotgun, ordered them to get on the floor, charges state. The females did not take him seriously and went back upstairs, where Flint Harrison, carrying a baseball bat, forced them back to the basement by prodding and jabbing them with the bat.
Once on their knees, the victims' hands were bound behind their backs and their feet were tied.
Flint Harrison put duct tape over the mother's mouth and a bag over her head, charges state.
All five females tried to break their bonds and flee. The men grabbed two of them, but two girls ran to a closed garage, where one them called 911 before Flint Harrison took away the phone, charges state.
When Flint held a gun to the 18-year-old's throat, she slapped it away and ran. Meanwhile, the 17-year-old got the bat and struck Dereck Harrison, charges state. The mother and girls, bruised by blows, escaped and called for help from neighbors.
After the alleged assaults, the Harrisons eluded a police manhunt and fled the state two days later, authorities say, on the same day that Ricks and his work truck disappeared. Prosecutors allege that the Harrisons beat Ricks to death along a remote Wyoming roadside. An autopsy found that Ricks died from head injuries and his throat was slashed.
Prosecutors in Wyoming have said that they will wait for Utah authorities to resolve the kidnapping case before bringing Dereck Harrison to their state to face the charges filed in Ricks' death. Dereck Harrison is expected in court again on Aug. 29.