Four ordered to trial in Whaley killing

Friday, May 14, 2004 | 9:14 a.m.

Four high school friends of Jared Whaley will stand trial on murder charges in the teen's June 2 death, Boulder City Justice of the Peace Victor Miller ruled Thursday.

Matthew Baker, 18, Stephen Stringfield, 19, and Shane and Cody Myers, both 18, are scheduled to appear before District Judge Donald Mosley on June 2 on charges of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon, first-degree kidnapping, conspiracy to murder and robbery in connection with the death of Whaley, a Silverado High School student.

The final day of the preliminary hearing focused on the validity of statements given by Stringfield and the Myers brothers during an interrogation by a Boulder City detective and on evidence found on a computer registered to Baker.

Springfield's attorney, Jason Weiner, argued that Boulder City Police Detective Jeff Lomprey bullied and threatened Springfield into delivering a statement that placed him and the other three defendants at a dry lake off U.S. 95. where Whaley was found dead in a shallow grave, shot twice and his face mutilated beyond recognition.

Lomprey told Stringfield that if he didn't tell him what he wanted to hear that he would "be locked up with your cellmates for 25 years," Weiner said. Lomprey used harsh language and lied to Stringfield, the attorney said, telling him the other teens had already told him what happened and he would be doing himself a favor if he told the truth.

What Weiner called lies and threats, Lomprey called ruse and verbal checks -- police interrogation tactics that he learned in the police academy and on the job.

Lomprey admitted to pressing Stringfield, saying he did so because he knew he was holding back information during the almost 10-hour long interrogation.

Stringfield has maintained that he had no part in the murder, and that he knew details only because Baker told him a day after they occurred.

Co-defendants Shane Johnson, 17, and Gerald Wilks, 20, who have entered plea agreements in exchange for tesifying against their friends, have both said Stringfield was not present.

Weiner said he would file a motion in District Court to suppress Stringfield's statement to Lomprey.

Shane Myers' attorney, Glenn Schepps, said he needed he would need some time to figure out what the game plan would be for District Court.

"Our next step will be to review the transcripts of the preliminary hearing to determine what issues we will raise in District Court," Schepps said. "It's been a long hearing and we need some time."

Chief Deputy District Attorney Chris Owens called a computer forensics expert from the Henderson Police Department to testify about his findings from an examination of a computer registered to Baker.

Detective David Burns, who served as the head of Henderson's computer forensics department for roughly four years before moving into missing persons, said he found a chat room conversation in which two people, Vinny and Steve027, discussed digging holes in the desert and murdering someone.

He also found a series of online searches using the Google search engine for information on murder, homicide and high percentages of unsolved murders, Burns said, as well as strings of searches on a newspaper Web site for stories about Whaley's death.

During cross-examination Baker's attorney, Richard Wright, asked Burns if he could prove the chat room discussion and the web searches were performed by Baker. Burns testified he could only prove the computer was registered to Baker, conceding the searches and conversation could have been done by any user.

Authorities have argued that Baker was the leader and wanted to kill Whaley because he had interfered with drug dealing the group was involved in, according to police reports.