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Kemmerer, Wyo. • A 23-year-old man accused of kidnapping and killing a Utah Transit Authority employee last year made his first appearance in a Wyoming courtroom Thursday on charges that carry the potential for the death penalty.

Dereck James "DJ" Harrison is charged in Wyoming's 3rd Circuit Court with kidnapping and killing 63-year-old Kay Porter Ricks in May.

The four counts filed against him are: murder in the first degree with premeditation and malice, murder in the first degree while perpetrating a kidnapping, kidnapping and wrongful taking or disposing of property.

Harrison — who is represented by Salt Lake City-area attorney Ed Wall — listened as a Judge Frank Zebre read the charges against him, then waived his right to a preliminary hearing, moving the case to Wyoming's 3rd District Court.

A somber Harrison spoke quietly while giving brief answers to the judge's questions about whether he understood the charges against him.

No new court dates were immediately set, but prosecutors predicted an arraignment date would be announced in the next few weeks.

Richard Massey, a spokesman for the Ricks family who did not attend Thursday's court proceedings, said the family is "pleased" that Harrison is "finally" in Wyoming, where the killing occurred. The Ricks family hopes for a plea bargain, Massey said, and does not want to see the case go to trial.

"They hope this is not a long, drawn-out process," Massey said of the victim's family, adding that it is still "emotionally disturbed" by what had happened to the head of its household.

"There's never closure in a case like this, with the loss of a family member," he said, but the closest thing to closure will come as the Ricks family sees justice served in Wyoming.

Lincoln County Attorney Spencer Allred said after the hearing that his office is considering pursuing the death penalty in connection with both of the homicide counts. Allred added that a jury could find Harrison guilty of premeditated murder and murder while perpetrating a kidnapping.

Prosecutors say Harrison and his now-deceased father, 52-year-old Flint Harrison, kidnapped Ricks from Utah on May 12.

At the time, the father and son were wanted for the May 10 kidnapping of a Centerville woman and her four teen daughters.

The Harrisons left Utah with Ricks in the victim's UTA maintenance truck, prosecutors say, and beat Ricks to death along a remote Wyoming roadside.

His body was found in an area covered with sagebrush on May 17 about 45 feet from the dirt road. He had suffered injuries from blunt trauma that made his face unrecognizable. An autopsy found that Ricks died from head injuries; his throat was slashed.

Flint Harrison surrendered to sheriff's deputies in Sublette County, Wyo., on May 14, and then helped authorities locate his son, who was taken into custody that day.

After being returned to Utah to face charges in the Centerville case, Flint Harrison hanged himself in his Davis County Jail cell in July.

In October, Dereck Harrison was sentenced to the Utah State Prison for up to life after pleading guilty to five counts of first-degree felony aggravated kidnapping in the Centerville case.

Dereck Harrison was extradited Tuesday to Wyoming, where he is being held without bail.

Twitter: @mnoblenews