Teen who killed father gets parole on one charge

Kim Smith

Monday, June 17, 2002 | 10:17 a.m.

A Las Vegas teen who pleaded guilty to killing his father could soon be released from prison into a halfway house after being paroled on one charge Friday.

Deputy Special Public Defender Kristina Wildeveld said the state Parole Board granted Conan Pope, 17, parole Thursday on his voluntary manslaughter charge.

The decision allows the teen to begin serving a second sentencefor using a deadly weapon in the slaying of Frank Pope.

Prison officials are "looking for a new placement for Conan and that could include some kind of a lock-down facility or it could be a halfway house where he could obtain job skills and undergo therapy," Wildeveld said.

"He should be done with the system completely in two years, as long as there are no glitches," Wildeveld said.

Pope was 15 when he shot his father to death in January 2000.

According to court testimony and police reports, Frank Pope came home from work to find his children asleep in the living room and the sink filled with dirty dishes.

The teenagers told police their father became enraged. They gave different accounts of what happened next. Desiree said her father swept the dishes to the floor and pieces of shattered glass struck her brother's bare feet. Conan maintains that his father threw some of the dishes at them.

When the teens tried to clean up the mess, Frank Pope sent them to their rooms.

Within a minute, Desiree said she heard her brother cocking his .357 caliber rifle, yell "You're going to die!" and fire two shots.

Desiree also told police her brother said 'There, you're dead (expletive)."

However, Conan told police and friends that he shot his father when his father began walking toward Desiree's room holding a broom in a menacing manner.

Following his arrest Wildeveld discovered Frank Pope had a violent past including the homicide of an infant child for which he spent four years in prison.

Conan Pope pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter with use of a deadly weapon and agreed to serve two consecutive terms of two to 7.5 years in prison in April 2001.

Desiree Pope testified on her brother's behalf at his parole hearing, telling the board, he "will live forever with his mistake."

She also told the board, "I do not condone what he did, but I forgive him."