Grand jury will hear Frontier beating case

Bill Gang

Friday, Jan. 30, 1998 | 9:30 a.m.

First published on May 7, 1993

The Clark County grand jury will be asked to determine whether up to 40 felony and misdemeanor charges should be leveled against Frontier Hotel strikers shown on videotape beating two California tourists.

Deputy District Attorney Ulrich Smith said he would begin notifying seven pickets today that they are targets of the grand jury probe into the politically volatile case, which has become the object of media attention nationwide.

The presentation of evidence and testimony from about 30 witnesses is set to begin Thursday, Smith said. The process will continue on the following Thursday and perhaps beyond.

Some pickets could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted, Smith said.

The videotape shows Gail White being attacked after she exchanges words with Frontier pickets.

She finally escapes across the Strip but her husband, 24-year-old Sean, then runs across the busy street to confront the pickets. As he argues with one union member, he is punched from the blind side by another.

With strikers swarming over her husband, Gail White, 28, races to his aid and is shown grabbing a pole wielded by a female striker. Gail then becomes a target of the beating frenzy.

The April 25 incident lasted just a few seconds before the Moorpark couple fled across the Strip.

"The union has said it is sorry, but we hope the grand jury will take into consideration the words exchanged between the couple from Simi Valley and the black picketers," Culinary spokesman Sam Singer said.

"There is no justification for violence, but there also is no justification for using racial slurs," Singer said.

He added, however, "This is one incident when the picketers should have turned the other cheek but didn't."

Union attorney Tom Pitaro said he will wait until the strikers are formally notified that they are grand jury targets before deciding on a defense strategy.

Smith said many of his 30 witnesses will be pickets who watched the altercation from the sidewalk, where strikers have marched for the past 20 months.

"Whether they will respond or testify is unknown," the prosecutor said, noting he has a legal obligation to present all evidence to the grand jury that might explain away the allegations.

Indictments are expected no earlier than May 21. Singer said if that occurs, those named will voluntarily surrender

Smith said he chose to take the case to the grand jury rather than through a Justice Court preliminary hearing because of the large number of witnesses involved, the complexity of the case and the videotaped evidence, which he said will have to be slowed down and shown repeatedly.

"We could be in Justice Court a month but we can do it before the grand jury in two days," he said.

Smith emphasized, however, that he has had no pressure to rush the case to indictment.

"Metro gave us the case in a timely fashion and my caseload allowed me to present it to the grand jury over the next two weeks," he said. "Political considerations were not a factor. Nobody was pushing."

The potential charges range from misdemeanor counts of disturbing the peace and provoking a breach of the peace to felonies such as coercion, assault with a deadly weapon and battery with substantial bodily harm.

The coercion charge apparently relates to allegations that Gail White was not allowed to escape the initial confrontation. The assault with a deadly weapon charge involves the pole wielded against the couple, and the battery with substantial bodily harm stems from the punch thrown at Sean White, which reportedly broke a bone in his face.

Original allegations that Sean White was hit with a beer mug held by a picket have proved to be unfounded. A close examination of the video shows that the striker dropped the mug an instant before the punch was thrown.

Singer said the seven grand jury targets have been removed from the Frontier picket line.

The remaining pickets, he said, "have a mixture of concern and hopefulness" as a result of the incident.

"They have concern that they may be attacked and hopefulness that the renewed attention on the strike will result in it being settled," Singer said.

"There have been many, many incidents ... of unprovoked attacks on strikers."