Accused Sex Offender Gunman Pleads ‘Not Guilty’

INDIO -A reputed drug dealer accused, along with another man, in the death of a convicted sex offender in North Palm Springs pleaded not guilty today to a murder charge.

Travis Martin Cody, 27, faces one count of first-degree murder and two special circumstance allegations — committing a murder during a robbery and a burglary — in the Aug. 10 death of Edward Vaughn Keeley, whose body was found in his back yard in the 64000 block of 16th Avenue.

Cody was in state prison on an unrelated offense and was transported on Feb. 5 to the Indio Jail for prosecution.

Also accused in Keeley’s death is self-avowed white supremacist Steven Banister, 28, who is accused of using California’s Megan’s Law registry to track down Keeley.

Banister also faces the same special circumstance allegations, which make both men eligible for the death penalty if convicted. Prosecutors will decide later in the case whether to seek capital punishment for the defendants.

Both men are due in court on Feb. 18 for a felony settlement conference.

Banister was released from prison less than a month before Keeley’s death, according to a declaration filed in support of an arrest warrant.

Keeley’s address was listed as the home of a convicted sex offender on a publicly accessible database created as a result of Megan’s Law, said sheriff’s Investigator Josh Button, who prepared the declaration.

Banister reportedly bragged in prison that he planned on assaulting homosexuals, rapists and pedophiles, according to Button. He allegedly used Megan’s Law to target pedophiles and sex offenders for his burglaries.

Banister told his girlfriend that he had gotten into a fight with an old man, but 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.

Cody, who is being held without bail, told his mother and girlfriend in recorded jail conversations that he was at Keeley’s home during the murder, Button wrote.