Key witness in Floyd case wants out of jail

Thursday, Feb. 3, 2000 | 9:15 a.m.

The outcall entertainer who is a key witness in the murder case of Zane Floyd is asking to be freed from jail.

She is being held in the Clark County Detention Center as a material witness until Floyd's March trial in the June rampage at an Albertson's supermarket that left four people dead and a fifth seriously wounded.

The 21-year-old woman, who was with Floyd in his home for what she said was a terror-filled hour before the supermarket shootings, now must post a $50,000 bond to gain her freedom.

Her attorney, Chip Siegel, said she has no money and noted that she shouldn't be "in the bizarre position of having to post bail to be free."

The woman "suffered a horrendous sexual assault by the defendant before he started his murderous rampage," Siegel stated in court documents filed Tuesday. "Speculation abounds whether the woman carries the defendant's offspring."

Siegel argued that in jail the woman "cannot receive the necessary counseling that a rape victim deserves."

There also are questions about prenatal care and the birth and custody status of her child if she remains behind bars.

Prosecutors, however, want to keep the woman in custody because she left the country once after the incident and then in November reneged on a promise to keep in close contact with authorities.

Siegel offered in his court motion to take a videotaped deposition from the woman to preserve her story should she be unavailable for Floyd's trial. He also said the woman would agree to house arrest.

Siegel noted the woman wants to testify at Floyd's trial and her lapses of contact with authorities have never resulted in the trial having to be postponed.

She is considered a key witness because she is the only person who can talk about Floyd's state of mind in the hour before the June 3 shooting at Albertson's, now a Raley's.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Floyd, an ex-Marine and nightclub bouncer whose activities in the market were captured on surveillance videos and who was arrested as he walked from the store carrying his shotgun.

The woman has told authorities that during the time she was raped and threatened by Floyd, he revealed his plan to commit a massacre. She said he showed her his shotgun and 19 shells and told how he intended to kill the first 19 people he saw.

Although bail has been set for the woman's release, District Attorney Stewart Bell said it is unlikely she would be released even if she posted the bond because Oregon authorities want her on a probation violation for a drug conviction there.