Henderson man gets life without parole in 2010 slaying

A Clark County judge sentenced a 43-year-old man to spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole Monday in connection with a 2010 slaying in Henderson.

Judge David Barker called James Finias “a continuing threat to this community” with a “very violent past.”

Finias was convicted in December of fatally shooting Chad Coleman with a .45-caliber handgun on the night of Oct. 25, 2010.

Prosecutors said James Finias used a series of text messages to lure 36-year-old Coleman to the desert near Wagonwheel and Foothill drives in a remote part of Henderson. The men had been dating the same woman.

Authorities tied Finias to the shooting through DNA found on a smoldering cigarette at the scene and a handgun discovered inside a vehicle he was driving.

“This is a cold, calculated, planned-out killing, not something that happened quickly,” prosecutor Marc Schifalacqua said. “Mr. Finias has shown nothing but violence in his past. This was a cold murder. There was no good reason for it.”

The victim’s father, James Coleman, said the killing “has caused us grief beyond any doubt,” though he has learned to accepted the loss.

“We wanted closure, as any family would want,” Coleman told District Court Judge David Barker. “What we’ve discovered is that there is no closure. There can never be any closure because there will be birthdays; there will be pictures; there will be holidays; and one person will be missing. So we won’t get closure.”

Schifalacqua pointed to Finias’s prior convictions that ranged from a 1999 conviction for battery with substantial bodily harm and a conviction of attempted battery with substantial bodily harm for a fight at the Clark County Detention Center after he was arrested on the murder charge.

“His record is horribly violent,” Schifalacqua said.

In Chad Coleman’s death, Finias was found guilty of first-degree murder with use of a deadly weapon, discharging a firearm from a motor vehicle and possession of a firearm by an ex-felon.

Sitting through the week-long trial last year, the elder Coleman tried to listen to testimony from a juror’s perspective, as objectively as he could. He told the judge on Monday that Finias deserved the maximum penalty.

“I look at behavior patterns,” Coleman said. “It seems that Mr. Finias has demonstrated a behavior pattern that is outside the norms of society. … I believe that past behavior is a predictor of future behavior.

“As a parent, I’m OK with losing my son. As a citizen, I would want to be protected from any activity or person who could perpetrate future acts. Once a person commits the pinnacle of an act that violates society’s laws and their norms, it would indicate to me that they are capable of doing this again. As a member of society, I would want to be protected from anyone who would do that again.”

In requesting a sentence with parole, Finias continued to deny his role in the slaying.

“Chad was a friend of mine,” Finias said. “I didn’t kill him.”

Special public defender David Schieck said Finias “intends to pursue numerous avenues to protest this conviction.”

During trial, Schieck had argued that Finias’s other girlfriend may have shot Coleman.

Contact reporter David Ferrara at 702-380-1039 or dferrara@reviewjournal.com. Find him on Twitter: @randompoker.