Dates set for Dipman murder trial

On Tuesday, Nov. 15, Leviathon Dipman, 20, of Nevada appeared in a Vernon County courtroom before Presiding Judge James R. Bickel for a pre-trial conference. Dipman is charged with two counts of first degree murder in connection with the May 2009 stabbing deaths of Annie Reed and Kylie Leyva, both of Nevada. Bickel set the dates for a jury trial for April 4-6, 2012.

During the court proceeding Dipman claimed an injury at the jail and requested the jail to investigate the matter and that the court order them to do so, according to court documents. The court declined to take any action and directed the jail to do their job, according to the documents.

Dipman was arrested and booked into the Vernon County Jail on Feb. 18 on two felony counts of first degree murder after interviews with a confidential informant revealed that Dipman, Allan Harper, Amanda Sandoval and Garrett Mason had all been at Harper's house when Mason made the decision to go to Reed's apartment, which was a few blocks away and where both youths were stabbed to death.

According to court documents "Mr. Dipman, Mr. Mason and Mr. Harper had a conversation on how Mr. Mason was going to kill both Ms. Reed and Ms. Leyva."

The documents state that informant said "that Mr. Dipman made the comment to go kill them, cut them and make their blood decorate the walls."

A probable cause statement filed in February also states that the informant said the three men spoke about a "butcher knife" that was allegedly in the trunk of a vehicle the group had taken to Stockton Lake over the weekend and how the keys "were already in the vehicle and how all he had to do was to get the knife when he left."

The unnamed informant has been implicated in the case by Mason.

On Feb. 16, Mason gave a deposition to the same investigator who was present during the interview of the confidential informant where "Mr. Mason stated that Mr. Dipman, Mr. Harper and the informant were involved in the planning of the murders of Ms. Reed and Ms. Leyva."

On May 7, 2011, Mason pleaded guilty to two charges of murder in the second degree in a Jasper County courtroom.

He was sentenced to two, concurrent life terms in the Missouri Department of Corrections. Mason has agreed to cooperate in further prosecutions in exchange for the state dropping two felony charges of armed criminal action. Dipman is being held in the Vernon County jail on a $1 million bond.