Judge rejects house arrest for Pope

Bill Gang

Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2000 | 10:29 a.m.

Fifteen-year-old Conan Pope remains in solitary confinement at the Clark County Detention Center on murder charges in the shooting death of his father -- but that could change today.

After a hearing Monday, District Judge Mark Gibbons rejected a bid by defense attorneys to have the teenager returned to house arrest with a friend's family rather than remain in jail.

Pope had been returned to jail after prosecutors told a judge that a friend said Pope wanted to conduct a shooting rampage similar to the one at Columbine High School last year. But the 17-year-old friend testified Monday that Pope had never said he intended to shoot people at his school or that he thought the Colorado mass murder was "cool."

Sean Brumley, the boyfriend of the defendant's sister, Desiree Pope, testified that he was the one who used the Columbine reference while talking to police about Conan Pope's threats to kill a student who had been harassing him.

Gibbons' decision against house arrest also came despite testimony from Metro Police Officer John Laurita that there are several murder defendants out of jail on house arrest -- including Sandra Murphy, who is charged in the death of gaming executive Ted Binion.

Gibbons agreed to tour the jail today and then reconsider his ruling.

Part of the judge's decision was that Pope poses a "danger to the community" and house arrest may not provide the necessary security.

Gibbons said he wants to ensure that if Pope stays in the Clark County Detention Center, he be kept away from sex offenders or others who might victimize him.

Pope is being kept in one of eight isolation cells with bars and a slot for food trays to be passed through, Deputy Special Public Defender Dayvid Figler said. He is allowed out of cell for just 20 minutes each day.

Deputy Special Public Defender Kristina Wildeveld said after Monday's hearing that the teenager "is a victim of sexual abuse," but she declined to elaborate.

Figler said the office is "researching an abusive family" and the slaying "could be justifiable homicide or self defense in the defense of another."

When Pope was first arrested after the Jan. 6 shooting death of his father, 62-year-old Frank Pope, he was housed in the protective custody module at the jail and was alleged to have had a sexual encounter with another inmate.

Defense attorneys contend he was victimized by his setting, but prosecutors allege the teenager had solicited the encounter.

Family friend Ellene Overton told Gibbons Monday she still wants the teenager to live at her home, where she has four children of her own.

Overton said it doesn't matter about stories of extensive drug use by Pope, the sexual encounter in jail, his alleged threats to other youngsters or the pending charges that he killed his father.

"I trust him," Overton said simply.

Deputy District Attorney Christopher Laurent said a more appropriate setting for Pope would be in the protective custody module at the jail, sharing a room with a hand-picked roommate who wouldn't be likely to victimize him.

As Monday's hearing began, Pope was arraigned on the charges that could put him in an adult prison for the rest of his life, but his attorneys wouldn't let him enter a plea.

The defense contended that Pope shouldn't be facing charges in adult court, that a Clark County grand jury never should have considered the case or returned an indictment and that the district attorney's office is not the proper agency to prosecute the case.

Gibbons entered a not-guilty plea on behalf on Pope and set an April 3 trial date after the teenager demanded his right to a speedy trial.

Pope is charged with murder in the death of his father, allegedly after Frank Pope became enraged when he arrived home to find the dishes unwashed.

Conan Pope told police he shot his father to protect his sister.