Judge says Bassett should stand trial

Steven Wayne Bassett

CENTENNIAL | A judge said Tuesday a man accused of helping to arrange a marijuana deal that led to the dealer’s death knew, or should have known, that his friends planned to attack the dealer that night. 

Arapahoe County District Court Judge Gerald Rafferty said during Steven Wayne Bassett’s preliminary hearing Tuesday that when one of Bassett’s co-defendants said he didn’t plan to pay Michael Pinkus, it was an obvious sign a crime was planned. 

“The clear inference of that is that, at a minimum, a robbery is going to occur,” Rafferty said. 

Bassett, 27, along with Maliek Bailey, 36, and Robert Lee Harper, 18, were arrested and charged with murder last fall in connection with Pinkus’ slaying at the Crestwood Inn and Suites motel in Aurora. 

During the two-day hearing, which started Feb. 4 and continued Tuesday, the lead police investigator testified Bassett told police he hid in the motel room’s bathroom while Bailey and Harper attacked Pinkus. Bassett and Bailey later went to Pinkus’ nearby home on East Baltic Circle in an attempt to steal marijuana they believed Pinkus kept there. 

Police later found Pinkus’ battered body in the motel room, his hands and feet bound. The Arapahoe County coroner’s office said he was strangled.  

Bassett’s lawyer, Eric Sims, argued Tuesday that while Bassett helped arrange for Pinkus to come to the motel that night, he didn’t know Pinkus would be attacked. 

“Mr. Bassett didn’t realize what Mr. Bailey’s plan was,” Sims said. 

Sims asked that Rafferty set bond for Bassett, who has been held without bond since his arrest hours after Pinkus’ Oct. 15 slaying. 

Rafferty ruled Tuesday that there was enough evidence for Bassett to stand trial on a first-degree felony murder charge, pointing to the fact that Bassett hid in the bathroom during the attack and later attempted to rob Pinkus’ home. He declined to set bond for Bassett. 

Bassett is scheduled to appear in court again April 8 for arraignment. 

Bailey, who also appeared in court Tuesday, waived his right to a preliminary hearing and is set for arraignment March 11. 

Harper last week accepted a plea agreement with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to robbery and burglary. In exchange for the plea, prosecutors dropped the other charges against him. Harper is scheduled for sentencing in April.