Father fights to keep killer behind bars

Every few years -- possibly for the rest of his life -- Emory Crews has an appointment.

On Tuesday at 9 a.m., he'll keep that appointment for the third time when he asks the Nevada State Parole Board to keep his son's killer behind bars.

Conrad Holmes, 40, is scheduled for a parole board hearing for his life sentence. He gunned down Crews' son, Darryl, then 35, on June 3, 1994, in an apartment on Sonoma Street in Carson City. Holmes is in the Lovelock Correctional Facility, a medium-security prison.

Emery Crews of Carson City said he cannot anticipate a time when he won't fight to keep Holmes behind bars.

"If you intentionally kill somebody, then you should be put in prison and you should stay in prison," Crews said. "I don't see any reason why he should be released on parole. He walked up to Darryl, placed a rifle behind Darryl's left ear, and shot him in the head."

Darryl Crews, a father of three, was a corrections officer for the Nevada State Prison when he was killed.

He was helping a friend move when he ran into the friend's roommate, Holmes, a man with which Crews' wife had allegedly had an affair.

A short argument ensued. Then Holmes went to his bedroom for a .22-caliber rifle and opened fire.

Bullets hit Crews in the cheek, leg, hand and arm. Two bullets entered his chest, and the final shot was through his head as he lay on the floor.

"The viciousness that he demonstrated, when he murdered Darryl convinces me that he should stay incarcerated," Emory Crews said.

Darryl Crews' sons are grown now, and his daughter is 16, Crews said.

Someday they may participate in the parole hearings, but for now, this is Crews' mission.

Always by his side is Darryl's sister, Cheryl Mitchell, 41.

"There's not a day that goes by that Darryl doesn't enter my mind and I think of what a loss it is," he said.

Crews will not give up the fight.

"I have no reason to. I'll never have compassion for Holmes. I think it's terrible what he did to my family and his family," he said. "I can't imagine the Parole Board will let him out. I can't imagine them releasing a murderer on our streets. If anyone is going to be in our prisons, it should be the people who take other people's lives."