Supreme Court asked to restore admitted killer's holiday

An emergency motion has been filed with the Nevada Supreme Court on behalf of an admitted killer who was told he could spend one last Christmas with his aging parents before going to prison for the next 40 years.

The motion complains that District Judge Jeff Sobel abused his discretion when he reversed his agreement to let 33-year-old David Wayne Crawford remain free on $360,000 bail posted by his parents pending his Jan. 10 sentencing.

Defense attorney Scott Bindrup stated that Crawford never would have pleaded guilty if it weren't for the judge's assurances that he could stay a free man.

Bindrup argued in the court documents that if Sobel wasn't going to follow through with the deal, he had an obligation to let Crawford withdraw his guilty plea -- a move that would reinstate the bail and guarantee no resolution to the case until well after the holidays.

The Supreme Court is being asked to order Sobel to free Crawford through the holidays or at least freeze the sentencing until the issues can be addressed before the high court. That has the potential to let Crawford have yet another holiday season as a free man.

Sobel ordered Crawford back to jail on Sept. 9 so he simply won't have a chance to flee before the sentencing, since the lightest possible sentence would still require him to serve the next 40 years behind bars before eligibility for parole.

At that hearing, defense attorney Scott Bindrup accused the judge of bending to media pressure, sending Sobel into an angry outburst of denial.

In court documents, Bindrup said Sobel made Crawford jump through a number of hoops to prove he continues to be a good risk for bail, but then ordered him back to jail anyway.

Bindrup contended that Sobel's decision to incarcerate Crawford was personal rather than objective after the judge stated at the Sept. 9 hearing that "I personally had second thoughts absolutely unrelated to public perception about this case that makes me feel I will be more comfortable when I go to sleep at night with Mr. Crawford in jail."

While the prosecution has argued in court motions that Crawford pleaded guilty because he was guilty and not because of the holiday promise, Bindrup said Crawford would have gone to trial were it not for the judge's agreement.

Sobel admits he had indicated his willingness to leave the defendant out of custody until next year, but said in court that the condition was not part of the plea bargain.

At the time he changed his mind and ordered Crawford returned to jail, the judge said he couldn't live with his conscience if anything had happened before Crawford's surrender.

In addition to the allegations of abuse of discretion, the emergency motion alleges Sobel breached judicial ethics by personally contacting Bindrup about the status of the case before the plea bargain. Conversations about a case between a judge and one lawyer, but not the opposing lawyer, are generally deemed to be unethical. Sobel has denied any wrongdoing.

Crawford admitted in his guilty plea to charges of first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon that he shot and killed 26-year-old Gloria Joann Dugan in her southeast Las Vegas home in April 1997. Her body was found by co-workers when she failed to show up for work.

Crawford, who surrendered to authorities after the incident, sometimes shared the home at 7077 Orange Grove Lane, near Tamarus Street and Warm Springs Road.

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