Higher bail sought in fatal stabbing

Kim Smith

Monday, July 1, 2002 | 8:59 a.m.

Clark County prosecutors, who now believe a 21-year-old woman free on $50,000 bail intentionally stabbed her aunt's boyfriend to death, are seeking to have her bail increased to $500,000.

Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo asked Chief District Judge Mark Gibbons Friday to increase Jamie Rose Hein's bail after announcing that she and two teenage boys had been indicted Thursday in the slaying of Timothy Herman, 36.

Hein, Sean Hazelhurst, 16, and Christopher Divich, 17, were indicted on an open murder charge, but DiGiacomo told Gibbons that information gleaned during the grand jury process leads him to believe they are guilty of first-degree murder.

David Chesnoff, who represents Hein, told Gibbons that his 100-pound client killed Herman, but she didn't murder him. He said she acted in self-defense when Herman, who has a prior domestic violence conviction, began to beat her.

DiGiacomo asked Gibbons to also increase Hazelhurst and Divich's bail of $35,000 apiece to $200,000 apiece.

Gibbons declined to increase any of the bail amounts, but assigned District Judge John McGroarty to the case and scheduled a July 9 bail hearing.

DiGiacomo said he intends to prove that after Hein and Herman got into an argument April 8 she left, discussed killing Herman with several people and then went back with Divich and Hazelhurst and stabbed him.

Divich and Hazelhurst are accused of beating Herman with pieces of cinder block and a metal pole. Herman died the following day at University Medical Center.

DiGiacomo said Hein was upset that Herman had thrown her out of her aunt's house on Altamira Road near Alta and Buffalo drives, and was also angry about the way he treated her aunt.

Since their arrest, DiGiacomo said, Divich, Hazelhurst and their family members have attempted to coerce witnesses into changing their version of events.

Hein has been in counseling in the San Francisco area since her release from jail.

"Any change in her bail would be disastrous," Chesnoff said.