Murder suspect back in jail after pals renege on cash

Bill Gang

Thursday, June 26, 1997 | 11:48 a.m.

Barbara Pinkston had depended on the kindness of a few friends to keep her out of jail on murder charges in the Father's Day 1995 shooting death of her child's father.

As a District Court bailiff snapped her into handcuffs Wednesday, she learned that such friendships only go so far.

Twenty people -- mostly from the San Diego area -- had chipped in a year and a half ago to post Pinkston's $80,000 bail pending her trial on the charges that could put her in prison for life if convicted.

Three of them came to District Judge Myron Leavitt's courtroom to declare that at least 15 investors needed to retrieve their money, although none wanted Pinkston tossed back into jail.

Howard Equitz of San Diego explained they had been told that the money would be returned after the trial which, at that time, was set just three months away.

But as delay after delay postponed the trial date, it became more and more difficult for the friends to survive without their funds, he said.

"Some are very destitute," he told the judge, noting that some had taken cash advances on their credit cards to help Pinkston. "They have bills that must be paid."

Since Pinkston's trial is set for Sept. 2, Leavitt asked the investors if they could hang on until then, but Equitz said the group has "lost confidence" in the information being dispensed about the woman's trial.

"We feel helpless," he said. "Some investors said they want the return of their money now."

Equitz suggested that Pinkston's bail be reduced to the amount that the remaining investors could part with for the long term, but Leavitt refused to further drop the bail that already is low for a murder charge.

Leavitt then ordered Pinkston, whose defense is that she was a battered spouse, back into custody.

She fought back tears as her attorney, Patricia Erickson, promised she would file a motion asking the judge to reconsider his decision.

But tears finally flowed down her face as she was led from the courtroom for the long walk to the Clark County Detention Center where she spent about six months after her arrest.

The murder charges allege that Pinkston gunned down 32-year-old Gregory Payne in June 1995 after he had visited with his then-19-month-old daughter at the Discovery Zone indoor playground in Henderson.

He had been shot in the back as he walked away from Pinkston, who witnesses said confronted him in the parking lot.

He and Pinkston, 44, had been engaged in a Family Court fight over his visitation with the girl and a hearing the day after the slaying was expected to give him unsupervised visitation.

Until then, Pinkston's mother was supervising his visits with his daughter because there were court orders that the parents stay away from each other.

After the shooting, according to Henderson Police, Pinkston fled to her car, which had been parked a couple of blocks away, and left the area.

About three hours later, she turned herself in to police.

Since her release, Pinkston has founded an activist parents' group that has picketed the Family Court and been a vocal advocate for change in legislative and local government hearings.