Murder suspect’s past is at issue

Jace Radke

Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2002 | 9:14 a.m.

A man charged with raping and strangling a Henderson teen in 1998 had a history of methamphetamine use and convictions for lewdness, witnesses testified Monday.

The testimony was the beginning of the prosecution's effort to persuade District Court Judge Kathy Hardcastle to allow evidence of past crimes into the trial of Steven Finnegan.

Finnegan, 32, is charged with sexual assault, first-degree kidnapping and murder in the death of 16-year-old Jessica Heaney, a Silverado High School student who was found dead on March 7, 1998, in a clubhouse restroom at the Arbor Court condominiums in Henderson.

Heaney had been sodomized and strangled before being left face-down in a toilet. Police found prints in the bathroom stall, but were unable to match them until 2000, when they ran the prints through a computer database during a training seminar in California and discovered that they matched Finnegan's prints.

A parade of police officers and witnesses took the stand Monday as Chief Deputy District Attorney Doug Herndon and Deputy District Attorney Elissa Luzaich established that Finnegan has two previous convictions for open and gross lewdness.

Among the witnesses called Monday was Desiree Dipuzo, who recounted a July 1997 incident that resulted in one of Finnegan's convictions. Dipuzo said Finnegan followed her through her apartment complex to the swimming pool.

"I went to get a soda and when I turned around his pants were down at his ankles and he was playing with himself," Dipuzo said. "I grabbed my son and ran inside the clubhouse."

Finnegan's second conviction came after an incident in February 1998, when he was arrested by Henderson Police after an officer spotted him sitting in his car off Sunset Road near Boulder Highway.

Officer Barry Tirk testified that he found Finnegan wearing only a shirt. Three pornographic magazines were found in the car, Tirk said.

Edward Joseph Korn, a friend of Finnegan when they attended Eldorado High School together, said he remembered ending the friendship in the early 1990s.

"We did methamphetamine together," Korn said. "We did it maybe two weekends a month for five or six months, but then I stopped and Steven's use escalated. Finally I told him I was going to take him to Charter (hospital) to get him some help."

Korn said Finnegan never showed up for treatment, and soon after he and Finnegan lost contact.

Special Public Defender Lee McMahon was expected to call witnesses today, and the hearing is expected to be completed Monday.