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November 11, 2009

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Teen claims stabbing was defense in attempted rape

Kim Smith

Wednesday, July 25, 2001 | 10:31 a.m.

A Panaca teenager who claims she stabbed a Las Vegas man to death when he tried to rape her is being held in the Clark County Detention Center without bail.

Kirstin Blaise Lobato, 18, faces an open murder charge in the July 8 death of Duran Bailey, 44.

According to court documents, Bailey's body was found under a pile of garbage behind a trash bin in the 4200 block of West Flamingo Road. His pants had been pulled to his knees and it appeared as though he had been stabbed numerous times and mutilated.

An autopsy revealed that Bailey, who was identified through fingerprints, died as a result of blunt head trauma and was mutilated after he died.

Lobato was arrested in Panaca, 165 miles north of Las Vegas, after police were led to her by a Lincoln County juvenile probation officer, who heard that Lobato may have been involved in the incident.

Lobato told police that an older, smelly man struck her and tried to sexually assault her.

As he got on top of her, Lobato told police, she grabbed a knife from her pocket and cut him.

Lobato said she fled the scene in her car, threw her clothes away and returned home to Panaca on July 13.

Lobato's attorney, Deputy Public Defender Curtis Brown, declined to comment on the case Monday.

Because the public defender's office has represented Bailey in the past, Brown said his office may not be able to defend Lobato.

Brown said he intends to ask Justice of the Peace Douglas Smith to consider appointing the special public defender's office to the case instead.

Smith on Tuesday scheduled Lobato's preliminary hearing for Aug. 7.

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