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November 15, 2009

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Agreement could be at hand in Pope case

Kim Smith

Thursday, March 22, 2001 | 11:16 a.m.

The attorneys in the Conan Pope murder case are "diligently" working toward a plea agreement, and a decision could be made within the next two weeks as to whether the trial should go forward.

Pope, 16, is accused of shooting his father, Frank Pope, 62, to death in January 2000.

Prosecutors allege the boy shot his father with premeditation, but his defense attorneys contend the boy's actions were justified by years of physical and sexual abuse at the hands of his father.

Frank Pope spent several years in prison in the 1960s for the smothering death of an infant daughter and is suspected of killing another one of his children.

Jury selection was scheduled to begin on Monday, but defense attorney Kristina Wildeveld told District Judge Michael Cherry this morning that the parties are in the process of negotiating.

If the case is not settled by April 5, Pope will go to trial June 18.

Pope, who was sexually assaulted in the Clark County Detention Center shortly after his arrest, remains free on bail and house arrest. He is living with the parents of his best friend.

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