Wednesday, April 30, 2003 | 9:47 a.m.
Henderson officials are retraining a court clerk whom they said allowed a man accused of raping and torturing a woman to be released from jail after posting $2,300.
Linda McArthur, Henderson court administrator, said Daniel Myrick's bail was set at $223,000, but a newly hired clerk misread the file and thought his bail was $23,000. After paying 10 percent of that amount, Myrick was released April 25.
Myrick continued to stalk his victim, police said. He was arrested Tuesday morning after a nearly six-hour standoff with police.
"Clerks make errors, and unfortunately this was a big one," McArthur said. "She just didn't pick up the right amount and wasn't familiar enough with what she was reading."
Susan Cooper, executive director of the Rape Crisis Center, said she was appalled that this happened, considering the viciousness of Myrick's alleged crimes.
"We tell victims to follow through with charges and do all the things they need to do, and they will be safe," she said.
Police said Myrick, 38, raped his former girlfriend at his home at 119 Metropolitan St. in Henderson March 25 and kept her restrained until March 27, when she escaped.
The alleged victim told police she and Myrick had remained friends after breaking up and she went to his house voluntarily the morning of March 25. According to court records, she said they smoked methamphetamine and Myrick put on a blond wig, black and white women's underwear and a black miniskirt.
She said Myrick continued to smoke methamphetamine, they began to argue, and Myrick said he wanted to kill her, then kill himself.
The woman told police Myrick hit her on the head and choked her to the point of unconsciousness, then twisted her arms behind her back and bound her wrists with an extension cord.
He allegedly held a silver folding knife to various parts of her body, telling her he was going to torture her "for a few hours," and then he sexually assaulted her, she said.
Myrick allegedly stuffed a sock in her mouth and threw water on her face after she lost consciousness.
The victim told police that she believes she is lucky that Myrick did not kill her because he could have at any time.
She said he untied her hands and let her use the bathroom. She managed to escape through the back door and ran to a friend's house, where she called police.
She also obtained a temporary protection order from Family Court.
Police issued a warrant for Myrick's arrest on charges of kidnapping and six counts of sexual assault. He was arrested April 15 in Prescott, Ariz., and was extradited to Nevada.
Myrick posted $2,300 bail on April 25 and was released from the Clark County Detention Center.
Early Monday morning, police were called to a gas station convenience store on Lake Mead Parkway, where Myrick's alleged victim worked. An employee told police she saw a man who looked like Myrick lingering outside the store, but he was gone when officers arrived.
Judge Rodney Burr revoked Myrick's bail Monday because police said he appeared to be stalking the woman. Burr issued a warrant for Myrick's arrest and set bail at $450,000, and police continued to search for Myrick.
A resident of Nevada Way called police about 1 a.m. Tuesday and reported that a man dressed in a blond wig and miniskirt had looked into the windows of their house and was pacing around outside, looking toward the convenience store where the alleged victim worked, according to court records. The residents, a woman and her daughter, were "afraid and shaking."
Officers spoke to the alleged victim, who was unaware that Myrick had been watching her.
"She was upset and crying as she asked if Myrick had been arrested yet," according to court records. She told police "she was afraid since he had been released from jail because she thought he might harm her."
Police canvassed the area but couldn't find Myrick. At about 3 a.m., officers noticed a light on inside his house. They knocked on the door, and Myrick appeared in the window wearing a blond wig. He refused to come out, police said.
The special response team and police negotiators were called to the scene. Myrick appeared in a window holding a "Tec 9" weapon, according to court records.
After nearly six hours, members of the special response team entered the house and found Myrick hiding on a closet shelf, holding the weapon.
Officer Shane Lewis, spokesman for Henderson Police, said even if the clerical error that allowed Myrick to be released had not happened, he still might have been able to post $23,000.
The standoff "could have happened either way," he said. "It would be unfair for us to comment on someone else's error. Nobody got hurt (Tuesday) and that's how we are looking at it."
archive
