Prosecutors stop Pope's release from custody

Defense attorneys for a freshman high school student accused of shooting his father to death won a major victory Wednesday when a district judge dismissed his murder charge.

District Judge Mark Gibbons ruled that prosecutors Melissa De La Garza and Christopher Laurent had a duty to tell grand jurors that the victim was a convicted baby killer and had been investigated in the past for other alleged acts of child abuse.

Before Gibbons made his formal ruling, the prosecutors took steps to obtain a second arrest warrant to prevent 15-year-old Conan Pope from being released from custody. Had they not done so, the boy would likely have been placed in Child Haven, a county facility for children placed in the custody of the Nevada Division of Child and Family Services.

De La Garza and Laurent now have the option of taking the case against Pope back to a grand jury or conducting a preliminary hearing. Regardless of their decision, the evidence about Frank Pope, 62, will now be disclosed.

Laurent said after Wednesday's hearing that he hasn't yet made a decision as to which route he will take. However, he still expects Pope to be indicted on murder charges.

The Silverado High School student was arrested in January in connection with the shooting death of his father.

Pope's attorneys say the boy shot his father because he was walking toward his older sister's bedroom holding a broom in a menacing manner moments after a volatile argument over dirty dishes.

They further contend that Conan Pope was responding to a pattern of violence, much like women who have been identified as having Battered Women's Syndrome. In such cases, women have been acquitted on first-degree murder charges even though they were not in imminent danger. In one such case, the alleged batterer was asleep.

During a hearing Tuesday and again Wednesday, Deputy Special Public Defenders Kristina Wildeveld and Dayvid Figler told Gibbons they believe that had grand jurors heard the evidence about Frank Pope's past, they may not have indicted their client.

Or, the defense attorneys said, the jurors could have chosen to indict Pope on a less serious charge that can be handled in the juvenile system, where rehabilitation and not punishment is the goal.

Wildeveld and Figler said that although the prosecutors knew about the smothering death of Frank Pope's infant daughter in 1962 and a couple of other incidents, they chose not to investigate further or tell the grand jury about them.

De La Garza and Laurent, however, say Conan Pope killed his father in cold blood, noting that the sister, Desiree, told police she heard Pope tell his father he was going to shoot him seconds before the fatal shots. They also point out that Desiree Pope denies allegations of abuse by her father.

The prosecutors told Gibbons that a nearly 40-year-old murder case and a 1997 case in which Conan Pope instigated a physical fight with his father don't make a pattern.

Conan Pope is expected to make his initial court appearance Monday before Justice of the Peace Deborah Lippis. Wildeveld said she will ask for her client to be released on bond or house arrest at that time and Laurent said he plans to argue Conan Pope remains a flight risk and a danger to society.

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