Teenager released on bail

Kim Smith

Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2000 | 10:56 a.m.

Conan Pope got an early birthday present Tuesday.

Pope, who stands accused of shooting to death his father, Frank Pope, 62, was released from the Clark County Detention Center after posting $2,600 bail.

The boy, who turns 16 on Saturday, will remain on house arrest at the home of his legal guardians until his February trial.

Pope's total bail was $50,000, but he was only required to post 10 percent. Community donations totaled $2,600, and Oscar Asiain of Good Fellas Bail Bonds said his company agreed to allow the remaining $2,400 be paid at a later date.

"It was a business decision, and besides, they needed to get him out," Asiain said. "A 15-year-old didn't need to be in jail in my opinion."

Deputy Special Public Defender Kristina Wildeveld expressed her gratitude to Good Fellas and all who donated to a special fund set up by Pope's guardians, the Overton family.

"I think it's wonderful (that he has been released)," Wildeveld said. "I think it's great because he should never have been in there in the first place. He needs to be with a family that will love and care for him."

Wildeveld now is turning her efforts to getting the case against Pope dismissed. That issue will be decided next week.

Defense attorneys contend that Frank Pope was a "terrifying psychopath" who physically, sexually and emotionally abused his children and smothered an infant daughter to death in 1962.

Pope told police he shot his father as Frank Pope walked toward his sister's room holding a broom in a threatening manner after he became enraged over dirty dishes.

Prosecutors believe the boy shot his father deliberately and intend to put his sister on the stand to testify against him. Desiree Pope has told police her father was strict, but not abusive.

Wildeveld on Monday filed a motion asking again that the case against Pope be dismissed. District Judge Kathy Hardcastle will hear arguments from both sides on the issue next week.

Wildeveld convinced District Judge Mark Gibbons to dismiss the boy's initial indictment in May after she revealed that prosecutors had not told grand jurors about Frank Pope's murder conviction and numerous child abuse investigations launched against him.

After Wildeveld got the case dismissed, Chief Deputy District Attorney Christopher Laurent took the case to Justice of the Peace Deborah Lippis. She decided after a preliminary hearing it should go forward in District Court.

Wildeveld is now alleging that prosecutors withheld from grand jurors three witness statements in which former neighbors said they had always been afraid for the Pope children's safety and had "set up watches so that the children always had someone to run to when their lives were threatened."

In her motion Wildeveld calls the prosecutors "uncompassionate" and "overzealous."

The prosecutors overcharged Pope, Wildeveld argues, noting there is no proof that Frank Pope was shot with "malice aforethought."