Teen’s attorneys making a bid to get case sent to Juvenile Court

Kim Smith

Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2001 | 10:24 a.m.

Defense attorneys for a 16-year-old boy accused of shooting his father to death last year will be taking their bid to get him tried in Juvenile Court to the Nevada Supreme Court.

Deputy Special Public Defender Kristina Wildeveld said Tuesday that she will be filing with the Supreme Court after District Judge Michael Cherry ruled that the Conan Pope case belongs in adult court.

Pope is accused of shooting his father, Frank Pope, 62, to death in January 2000.

Wildeveld says the boy and his sister had been physically, sexually and emotionally abused by their father for years and the shooting occurred during a violent outburst by Frank Pope.

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

Although Frank Pope served prison time in the mid-1960s for smothering an infant daughter, prosecutors contend his past had nothing to do with what happened last year.

The murder, they contend, was done in cold blood.

Since his arrest, Wildeveld has argued that the shooting was either justified or voluntary manslaughter.

Had he been charged with voluntary manslaughter, Pope would have been handled in the juvenile system and been afforded many services not available to youths in the adult system, Wildeveld says.

District Judge Kathy Hardcastle, who had the case prior to Cherry, has said she believes the case belongs in District Court and it is up to the jury to decide if Pope should be convicted and on what charge.

Cherry said Tuesday he agrees with Hardcastle.

Pope is scheduled to go on trial March 26.