Friday, March 16, 2001 | 5:53 a.m.
The fact that Conan Pope shot his father to death will not be up for debate when the teenager -- whose jailing sparked outrage over juvenile justice -- goes on trial March 26.
Pope, 16, admits pulling the trigger in the January 2000 shooting that killed his 62-year-old father in their home.
Jurors will be asked to decide if Pope's action was justified and whether he acted with premeditation.
The jury could convict him of first-degree murder and sentence him to life in prison. Or it could decide that a less serious crime had been committed, such as voluntary manslaughter. In that case, Pope would receive a much lighter sentence.
Pope's attorney, Kristina Wildeveld, insists the teenager acted after years of physical and sexual abuse at the hands of Frank Pope, who served prison time in the 1960s for smothering an infant daughter to death.
Prosecutors Christopher Laurent and Melisa de la Garza, however, contend the boy shot his father with deliberation and premeditation. There is no evidence, they say, of ongoing abuse, and they intend to call Pope's older sister, Desiree, as a witness.
Pope's arrest and subsequent sexual assault at the jail resulted in District Judge Robert Gaston changing his philosophy -- a change many believe resulted in Gaston's removal from Juvenile Court.
For years Gaston said he was under the impression child defendants and inmates were kept segregated in jails and prisons. When Pope fell prey to a male prostitute, he learned differently.
Although children accused of murder are automatically treated as adults in Nevada, judges have the option of transferring juveniles accused of less serious crimes into the adult system if prosecutors request it.
After Pope's arrest, Gaston decided that he would not transfer children into the adult system if there was any chance they could be helped in the juvenile system.
By the end of the year, the decision was made to transfer Gaston off the juvenile bench. He now hears other matters in Family Court.
"It doesn't matter if it's unpopular," Gaston said last fall. "It's the right decision to make. Are people telling me that I have to send a 14-year-old boy to prison to be raped to serve their definition of justice? I'm sorry, but that just doesn't compute."
In an interview after his release on house arrest, Pope described how he was strip-searched, how his clothes were seized and how his blood was drawn during his first day at the Clark County Detention Center.
He said he spent the first night scared and alone in a cell -- then it got worse.
Pope was placed in the protective-custody area (a special unit for people who risk being victimized by other prisoners), he said. They include child molesters, people with handicaps, the elderly and juveniles.
"It's like you're walking into a room where everyone looks mean and acts mean, and they are mean," Pope said. "People everywhere were trying to manipulate your mind."
Over the next five days, older inmates tried everything they could to intimidate him, Pope said. They taunted him, forced him to get them water and ridiculed him.
"I saw them teach people how to get high off of banana and orange peels and by crushing medicine and snorting it up your nose," Pope said. "They teach you every wrong thing to know."
He remained in protective custody until a sexual encounter took place between him and a male prostitute. Wildeveld contends Pope was victimized. Prosecutors say Pope instigated the incident.
Pope was placed in a cell by himself for several months. He was allowed out for one hour a day to watch TV while the other inmates were locked up.
Even then the taunts didn't stop. Other inmates called his name at night, dragging it out as though trying to lure him to them, he said.
"Being locked up so much -- you get to the point where you want to rip all your hair out," Pope said.
He spent most of his time doing pushups and reading classics such as "Treasure Island," "Huckleberry Finn" and "Where the Red Fern Grows." They were brought to him by Wildeveld, who did not approve of the jail's selection of books such as "Halloween" and "Dracula," which Wildeveld thought were too violent.
Pope said he didn't get any schooling for four months until District Judge Mark Gibbons ordered he receive tutoring.
Most of the corrections officers were indifferent, Pope said.
"In juvenile detention, the guards pay attention to you to see if you're doing all right and they check on you all of the time," Pope said. "In the CCDC I saw people push lights and wait four or five hours before anyone checked on them."
Pope said he lived for his best friend's family's weekly visits and their 10-minute daily phone calls that he was allowed to receive.
"They're my saviors, my angels," Pope said. "Without them I'd be lost in a pit I couldn't get out of."
Pope was released on house arrest to the family in August.
"I was very joyful," Pope said. "It was a very, very, very happy moment."
Now Pope spends his days working on homework that a tutor brings him, playing video games, working out and listening to such music as Jessica Simpson and Britney Spears.
Wildeveld says that if Pope had to be charged, it should never have been anything more than manslaughter.
If that had happened, the boy would have been handled in the juvenile system.
But it didn't and as a result, even if Pope is convicted of manslaughter, he will face decades in prison without an adequate education or therapy, Wildeveld said.
Wildeveld said studies show that juveniles end up coming out of prison worse than when they went in.
Dr. James "Buddy" Howell spent more than 20 years as the director of juvenile justice research and development for the Justice Department. He has seen more than 50 studies that indicate children jailed in the adult system commit more crimes, he said. The crimes tend to be more violent.
According to studies done by Florida's universities, 30 percent of children jailed as adults recommit crimes, compared to 19 percent who go through the juvenile system.
"By working under the mantra, 'Do adult crime, do adult time,' we are making a terrible mistake," Howell said.
Stacey Shapiro, director of Juvenile Justice for the National Mental Health Association, says studies show educational and therapeutic programs -- which aren't typically offered to children in jail or prison -- can reduce recidivism by as much as 80 percent. Children released from the adult system return to a life of crime 60 percent to 70 percent of the time.
Bob Teuton, a chief deputy district attorney for Clark County, however, doesn't put too much faith in statistics.
"Who's to say the reason they committed the crime is because they were in the adult system? Maybe the fact they committed a new crime vindicates those who sent them into the adult system," Teuton said.
The district attorney's office only asks to transfer children into the adult system as a last resort, Teuton said.
"When we move to certify a child, it's when there is nothing left in the juvenile system to rehabilitate the kid and it's the only way to protect society," Teuton said. "We are also making a bed taken by that kid available to a younger child who is more likely to be helped."
Wildeveld isn't just a champion for Pope. She also is an advocate for teenage clients who come from poor, broken homes and who have often taken up with gangs.
Wildeveld complains that Nevada doesn't do enough for those at-risk youth in terms of funding and programs. As a result, they ended up with no self-respect and no respect for others.
That's when they end up committing crimes, and she and others in the juvenile justice system come into the picture.
"It just takes one coach, one teacher to show an interest in them," Wildeveld said. "Unfortunately, we're showing an interest in them now, but it's too late."
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