Trial date set for teen accused of killing dad

Kim Smith

Tuesday, April 4, 2000 | 11:27 a.m.

After an attempt to have an indictment thrown out failed Monday, a November trial date was set for a teenager accused of killing his father.

Special Deputy Public Defenders Kristina Wildeveld and Dayvid Figler tried to persuade District Judge Mark Gibbons that a prosecutor did not give grand jurors enough information in the Conan Pope case.

Pope, 15, was indicted for murder Jan. 28 in the Jan. 6 shooting death of his father, Frank Pope, 62. Gibbons set his trial for Nov. 13.

According to the defense attorneys, Conan Pope shot his father with a .357-caliber Magnum as his father walked toward his sister's bedroom holding a broom in a menacing manner.

Just moments before, the elder Pope found the sink filled with dirty dishes and flew into a rage, throwing them at the children.

The district attorney's office contends that the boy killed his father in cold blood, pointing to his sister's statements to police. Desiree Pope has told authorities she heard her brother tell his father he was going to kill him just seconds before two shots were fired.

Regardless of what a jury might find, Figler and Wildeveld believe the grand jurors who handed down the indictment against Pope should have heard both versions.

The defense attorneys argued Monday that not only did Deputy District Attorney Christopher Laurent fail to instruct the jurors about such issues as justifiable homicide and voluntary manslaughter, he didn't present evidence that Frank Pope had been convicted of killing a young daughter in the 1960s and was an abusive father of his current children.

Figler asked Gibbons to throw out the indictment and either hold another grand jury hearing or schedule a preliminary hearing at which defense witnesses could be called and prosecution witnesses cross-examined.

Among those the defense attorneys would call would be experts on domestic violence, Figler said.

Laurent countered that at the time of the grand jury proceeding, there was no evidence that the shooting could have been justifiable homicide or voluntary manslaughter. Moreover, he did not know on Jan. 28 that Frank Pope served four years in prison for smothering his 11-month-old daughter to death in 1962.

The defense attorneys noted, however, that a front-page newspaper article about the earlier death came out one week before the grand jury met. There were also reports from Child Protective Services that detail alleged incidents of physical and sexual abuse on the part of Frank Pope.

Laurent told Gibbons that he specifically addressed the abuse allegations with Desiree Pope during the grand jury proceeding.

If the grand jury did not believe there was probable cause that Conan Pope killed his father, Laurent said, they could have declined to indict him and issued a "no bill."

Gibbons found that Laurent had been diligent in obtaining and presenting all of the information he could. He also noted that Desiree Pope's recollection of the comments before the shooting made it unnecessary for Laurent to get into issues such as justifiable homicide.

Figler said he intends to appeal Gibbons' decision to the Nevada Supreme Court.

Kim Smith covers courts for the Sun. She can be reached at (702) 259-2321 or by e-mail at kimberly@lasvegassun.com