High court rejects murder convict's appeal of life term without parole

The Nevada Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of a woman convicted of first-degree murder of a senior citizen.

Catherine Joy Bernice Eisley was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. She appealed, arguing the sentence was excessive because she has no prior criminal history, suffers from mental illness and, according to the appeal, is not the "deadliest and most unsalvageable" of people.

The three-judge penal headed by Justice Jim Hardesty, however, concluded that Eisley's sentence is "within the parameters of the applicable statutes and we are not convinced that it is grossly disproportionate to the gravity of her offense." The justices ruled that her sentence doesn't violate constitutional bars against cruel and unusual punishment and upheld the sentence by District Judge Jerry Polaha.