DA rips media’s role in Pope case

Kim Smith

Monday, Aug. 14, 2000 | 11:13 a.m.

The media frenzy over the Conan Pope case has landed his defense attorney in hot water with prosecutors, who will be taking their complaints to a judge Tuesday.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Christopher Laurent will ask District Judge Kathy Hardcastle to issue an order that will prevent both sides from "trying their respective cases in the media."

Pope, who will turn 16 on Saturday, is awaiting trial in the January shooting death of his father, Frank Pope, 62.

Defense attorneys claim the boy and his sister were the victims of a lifetime of physical, verbal and mental abuse at the hands of their father, who served several years in prison for the 1962 smothering death of his infant daughter.

Conan Pope told police that on the day of the shooting his father came home in a bad mood and flew into a rage at the sight of dirty dishes. The boy said he shot his father as he walked toward his sister's room carrying a broom in a menacing manner a few minutes after sending them to their rooms.

Prosecutors are pursuing a murder charge against Conan Pope. They intend to put his sister, Desiree, on the stand to testify against him. Desiree Pope denies any abuse took place and told police Conan threatened his father before he shot him.

According to Laurent's motion, which was filed Friday, he has received several requests for interviews in recent weeks from several media outlets, including the television news magazine show "20 / 20."

The reporters said that Pope's attorney, Kristina Wildeveld, "has been shopping around her story about Conan Pope," Laurent wrote in his motion. In addition, Laurent said one reporter said he had a copy of a defense motion that prosecutors hadn't received.

Wildeveld also participated in an interview Pope gave to a local newspaper, going so far as to prevent questions about the shooting itself, Laurent complained.

"In light of the facts of this case, it is understandable that the defense would want the press not to write about the crime, since the record shows Conan lied" about his father breaking the broom and going toward his sister's room, Laurent wrote.

Wildeveld denied Laurent's allegations Friday. The media has approached her in every instance of interview requests, not the other way around, she said. She also has denied the vast majority of the requests.

Laurent wrote "the concepts of justice require that this case be tried to a jury, and any attempts to sway the jury pool is an attack on our jury system."

"The state is not seeking to prevent the media from an opportunity to cover this case, rather it is the state's position that neither party should create news in an attempt to bias the potential jury pool," Laurent wrote.

Also scheduled to be discussed Tuesday is Laurent's request that he be allowed to treat the Overton family, who have befriended Conan Pope, as hostile witnesses.

The Overton home is where Conan Pope fled following the shooting. The parents since have become his legal guardians and opened a bank account to raise funds to free him from the Clark County Detention Center.

Laurent wants the right during the trial to ask them leading questions, which are normally impermissible.

Laurent accuses the Overtons, specifically Bryan Overton, the boy's best friend, and Bryan Overton's mother, Ellene, of "selective memory" and of attempting to cast Conan Pope in the most favorable light possible.