Defense lawyer says slain father responsible for deaths of two infant daughters

Saturday, Feb. 3, 2001 | 10:02 a.m.

Police in Massachusetts attributed the 1963 death of Frank Pope's 6-month-old daughter, Carolyn, to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

The baby "was found to have died of natural causes," said Julian Soshnick, a lawyer and former prosecutor who once represented Frank Pope.

"I have a different view of it," Soshnick told a Las Vegas newspaper, "and that came right from Frank's mouth."

Defense attorneys think the new account of the decades-old case could affect next month's trial in Las Vegas of Pope's son, Conan Pope, a 16-year-old accused of fatally shooting his 62-year-old father last year.

Conan Pope told police he shot his father while he raged about dirty dishes and headed toward his sister's room wielding a broom.

Conan Pope's defense lawyer Kristina Wildeveld contends that Frank Pope was a "terrifying psychopath" and the Jan. 6, 2000, slaying was a case of justifiable homicide - rooted in a pattern of physical, sexual and emotional abuse of his children.

Prosecutors believe the boy shot his father intentionally and aren't sure case will be influenced by the new allegations against Frank Pope.

Frank Pope was convicted of manslaughter in the torture slaying of an infant daughter, Sandra, in Washington state in 1962. He served four years in a Washington state prison in that case.

Soshnick, 68, said he represented Frank Pope in post-trial proceedings in that case.

"He was a rather interesting and scary person," Soshnick said.

Soshnick is a former prosecutor with the Massachusetts attorney general's office. He served as both an investigator and prosecutor in the case of Albert De Salvo, a serial killer known as the Boston Strangler.

He also has worked as a criminal defense lawyer and currently serves as general counsel for an electric company.

Soshnick said that while he was a prosecutor in the early 1960s, he and his wife met Frank Pope at Pope's brother's apartment.

"He told me some things and I immediately told him I could not represent him or give him any more advice," Soshnick said. "It would be a conflict of interest for me as a prosecutor."

Although he said he was disturbed by the details of the conversation, Soshnick said he was prevented by attorney-client privilege from giving details to authorities.

Soshnick said he now feels obligated to describe what Frank Pope told him about Carolyn's death, and said he could be called to testify in Conan Pope's murder case. The trial is due to start March 26 in Clark County District Court in Las Vegas.

Conan Pope's sister, Desiree Pope, now 17, has disputed her brother's account - saying that while her father was strict, he was not abusive. She said she was not in danger at the time of the killing.

Prosecutors plan to put Desiree Pope on the stand to testify against her brother.

Clark County District Attorney Stewart Bell said late Thursday that his office will investigate Soshnick's allegations, but said he does not know whether they will have any effect on the murder case against the teen.