Uncle’s trial set in boy’s death
If he didn’t know it before Tuesday, Sean Conrad knows it now: He can’t go home again.
Conrad was arraigned in District Court on charges stemming from the drowning death of his 16-month-old nephew, Logan Conrad.
“He has no family support,” said Deputy District Attorney Vicki Monroe, arguing against a reduction in Conrad’s bail. She told Hearing Master Kevin Williams that the 27-year-old, who has no prior criminal record, would be a flight risk if released on his own recognizance. He has no place to stay and is not working, she said.
Conrad, an admitted drug abuser, fell asleep on the morning of Feb. 16 while watching his nephew, Logan Conrad, who crawled out the doggy door and fell in a swimming pool. The pair had been watching a movie together in the living room. Conrad told police he’d returned from a friend’s house at about 5 a.m. A police toxicology report found that he had marijuana and cocaine in his system as well as hydrocodone, a prescription pain reliever.
Wearing handcuffs and the blue jump suit issued inmates at the jail, Conrad stared at Monroe as she said his immediate family wouldn’t allow him to stay with them. When she said she personally wished Conrad had been charged with second-degree murder, he shook his head.
At the time of Logan’s drowning, Sean Conrad lived with his parents, John and Darlene Conrad.
“They no longer think that’s a good idea that he live with them,” Sean Conrad’s attorney, public defender Laurie Diefenbach, conceded after the hearing.
Conrad has been in jail since June 6 in lieu of $10,000 bail on a felony charge of child abuse and neglect with substantial bodily harm. He pleaded not guilty Tuesday.
Diefenbach said a lack of family harmony does not necessarily translate into an individual fleeing from justice and asked that the $10,000 bail be dropped. But Williams said he found the bail appropriate and set Conrad’s trial for Aug. 27.
The charges carry punishment ranging from probation to 20 years in prison.
Sean Conrad’s mother, Darlene Conrad, was arrested on the same felony charge as her son. Authorities said she allowed Sean to care for Logan even though she had been asked not to by his parents, who were taking an overnight trip to California with Logan’s 4-year-old brother.
Michelle Conrad, Logan’s mother, said Darlene promised not to leave her son in Sean’s care. But police reports show that Darlene left Logan with Sean so she could get her hair done.
Darlene Conrad, 54, was allowed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor failure to supervise charge. She received a six-month suspended sentence.
Diefenbach said her client should receive no more punishment than did his mother. Sean Conrad refused to accept the state’s offer of five years’ probation on the felony charge in exchange for a guilty plea, which would have rendered him a convicted felon.
“It surprises me that the state is treating a tragic accident as a crime,” she said. “Sean loved his nephew.”
In the last three months, Diefenbach said her client has had to be treated at Montevista Hospital, which deals with psychiatric problems.
Diefenbach would not reveal how many times Conrad has been treated or for what condition.
She said Conrad became addicted to pain relievers after an auto accident in which he was a passenger three years ago. One of his ears had to be reattached from the accident, she said. Diefenbach also said Conrad has undergone knee and ankle surgery in the last three years as a result of football injuries he suffered while playing football at Clark High School. He is on medical leave from a gaming company, she said.
After graduation in 1998, Conrad attended community colleges in California and Las Vegas, Diefenbach said.
Lynne Henderson, a criminal law professor at the Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, said it seems clear to her that prosecutors are taking a tough line with Conrad because drugs were found in his system.
“They are sending out a message to people: Don’t use drugs if you’re caring for children,” she said.
Henderson said prosecutors are not abusing their discretion.
When children die in accidents where they have been cared for by parents who have been using drugs, she said prosecutors generally file charges.
“It’s a whole different thing if a parent or caregiver is absent-minded as opposed to being on drugs,” she said.
