‘It’s not enough’: Judge gives admitted killer of 2 teens 45 years to life in prison

The grieving father stood in a courtroom Tuesday and faced the man who admitted to killing his son and another teenager five years ago.

“I forgive you,” Jason Deborski said to Chance Underwood as tearful members of the victims’ and defendant’s families listened.

Then, Deborski asked District Judge Carli Kierny to give Underwood the maximum punishment, which Chief Deputy District Attorney Giancarlo Pesci said would be life in prison without parole.

Despite requests from Pesci and victims’ family members for the maximum sentence, Kierny ordered him to serve 45 years to life in prison.

“I think it could be a little more harsh,” Jason Deborski said after court.

“It’s not enough,” said Harlee Deborski’s mother, Sabrina Stinehour. “It could never be enough.”

Underwood, now 25, pleaded guilty but mentally ill in October to two counts of murder with a deadly weapon for fatally shooting Timothy Bailey and Harlee Deborski in August 2019, plus counts of burglary with a deadly weapon and carrying a concealed firearm or other deadly weapon.

Both victims were 19 at the time. In exchange for Underwood’s plea, prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty.

Pesci told the court that Underwood had a “determination to be a killer.”

He disguised himself in a sweatsuit, walked to the house where the killings took place and didn’t pause after shooting the first victim, Pesci said.

“These victims were young,” he said. “They had their whole lives ahead of them.”

Chief Deputy Public Defender Ryan Bashor said there was no apparent reason for the killings, but asked for a sentence that would allow his client to one day get released.

Underwood was an intelligent, awkward teen, he said. He was a successful athlete who got good grades, graduated high school and was studying engineering at UNLV. Other than a reckless driving conviction, Underwood had no criminal record.

What no one knew, Bashor said, was that Underwood has schizophrenia. He spent 456 days in a mental hospital during the case, according to his attorney, and was diagnosed during that time.

“He kept hearing Harlee and Timothy’s names,” Bashor said. “He heard them over and over again in his head. He came to the irrational belief that by killing them, he would no longer be in fear and that he would feel normal again.”

Underwood, who knew both victims and had been close with Harlee Deborski, apologized.

“I did not know my mental health was leading me to do such a thing,” he said to those gathered in court. “I’d do anything to take it all back. I pray you will forgive me.”

Christie Moody, Bailey’s aunt, spoke on behalf of his mother and father.

She read from a note in which Bailey’s father, Jeffrey Bailey, said he and his son were inseparable and best friends.

Court records indicate the killings happened at Jeffrey Bailey’s home.

“I held my dying son as a last gasp escaped,” he wrote. “It haunts me so much so that I cannot go into further details.”

Cezanne Fosses, Harlee Deborski’s oldest sibling, described him as “an incredible and kind kid with a big heart and many friends to prove it.”

Underwood was one of his friends until the two were in their junior or senior year of high school. Fosses said she even texted him so he’d know his childhood best friend had been killed. He responded: “I know, he hangs out with some no good cookies,” she said.

He skipped Harlee Deborski’s funeral, she said, and was arrested soon after.

“The grief initially consumed me,” Fosses told the judge. She was unable to go to work and was eventually fired for missing too much time. She lost her apartment because she couldn’t pay the rent. She was depressed, angry and bitter, she said. An unexpected knock on her door would make her afraid.

“Not a day goes by when I don’t think of him and what he would be doing today if Chance Underwood hadn’t taken his life from him at such a young age,” she said.

“Would he have a successful career? Or maybe a family of his own by now? Would I have been part of his wedding the same way he should have been a part of mine? Would he and my husband get along? Maybe he would’ve moved to Oregon with me. Would he be proud of me and the life that I’ve built for myself? And who would cook a better Thanksgiving turkey? There are so many questions that will never be answered.”

Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BrighamNoble on X.