No Bail For Accused Sex Offender Killer

INDIO -A judge today denied bail for a self-avowed white supremacist accused of using California’s Megan’s Law registry to track down and kill a convicted sex offender.

Steven Banister, 28, of Desert Hot Springs, faces a first-degree murder charge in the Aug. 10 death of Edward Vaughn Keeley, whose body was found in his back yard in the 64000 block of 16th Avenue in North Palm Springs.

Banister also faces two special circumstance allegations of committing a murder during a robbery and a burglary, which make him eligible for the death penalty if convicted. Prosecutors have not decided whether to seek capital punishment for Banister.

Riverside County Superior Court Judge Arjuna T. Saraydarian denied bail because of the special circumstance allegations, and ordered Banister to return to court on Feb. 18 for a felony settlement conference.

Banister had been free from prison less than one month before Keeley’s death, according to a declaration in support of an arrest warrant.

Keeley’s address was listed as the home of a convicted sex offender on a publicly-available database created by Megan’s Law.

Banister had reportedly bragged in prison that he planned on assaulting homosexuals, rapists and pedophiles. He alleged used Megan’s Law to target pedophiles and sex offenders for his burglaries, said sheriff’s Investigator Josh Button, who prepared the declaration.

Banister told his girlfriend that he had got into a fight with an old man, but he did not know if the victim was dead or not, according to Button.

After Keeley’s death, Banister went to Tennessee, where he was arrested in December.