Bail request denied in Whaley slaying

Thursday, July 8, 2004 | 9:23 a.m.

District Judge Donald Mosley on Wednesday denied a bail request made by one of the three teenagers accused of killing a 17-year-old Silverado High School student last year.

Cody Myers, 18, is charged with conspiracy to commit murder, first-degree kidnapping with a deadly weapon, murder with the use of a deadly weapon and robbery with use of a deadly weapon in connection with Jared Whaley's death.

Whaley was taken out to the desert outside Boulder City and shot in the head and in the stomach on Oct. 14, police said.

Cody Myers' attorney, Andrew Leavitt, asked Mosley to set bail at somewhere between $100,000 to $200,000 for his client, possibly under the condition of house arrest.

Leavitt said Cody Myers' involvement was limited to loading the shot-gun allegedly used by co-defendant Matthew Baker, 18, to shoot Whaley. Leavitt said his client loaded the weapon but never left the Jeep Cherokee that he, Baker and fellow co-defendant and brother Shane Myers used to bring Whaley to the desert.

Baker and Shane Myers, Cody's 18-year-old brother, are facing similar charges.

Leavitt said if it weren't for threats the co-defendants made against Cody Myers and his family, Cody Myers never would have been involved in the matter.

But Chief Deputy District Attorney Chris Owens countered that Cody Myers not only "got together with the other co-defendants the night before (the murder) to determine what roles they would serve" but also dug the hole used to bury Whaley's body.

Leavitt argued that while Cody Myers did dig holes it had not been proven he dug the hole used to bury the body. Leavitt said Baker had everyone digging holes because "he was infatuated with the movie 'Casino' and digging holes in the desert."

The District Attorney's office filed a motion of intent last week to seek the death penalty for Baker and Shane Myers.

Onetime co-defendant Stephen Stringfield, 18, reached a plea agreement on June 30 with prosecutors admitting to cleaning blood off of Baker's jacket and providing gasoline to burn clothes and other evidence.

Stringfield pleaded guilty to gross misdemeanor destruction of evidence. As part of the deal, he has agreed to testify in the trials of others accused in the case.

Mosley could sentence Stringfield to as little as three years' probation or up to a year in jail at his Sept. 15, 2005, sentencing.