Jurors find DeChant guilty of ‘96 murder

Friday, Oct. 30, 1998 | 11:09 a.m.

The family of slain Las Vegas bookmaker Bruce Weinstein cried with joy after his former girlfriend, Amy DeChant, was convicted of murder in his July 1996 death.

"It's been two years, three months and three weeks," said Sylvia White, Weinstein's mother. "All I want to do is go to the cemetery to see my son. We don't have him anymore, but we do have justice."

The jury of nine women and three men spent 15 hours over a three-day period deliberating the case of the 50-year-old DeChant and her 59-year-old co-defendant, Robert Wayne Jones.

DeChant was found not guilty of conspiracy to commit murder but guilty of first-degree murder and of robbery with the use of a deadly weapon. She is expected to receive a life sentence.

That's fine with Weinstein's family. They said they prefer the life sentence to the death penalty because DeChant will have to live in a cage for at least 40 years before she walks free again.

Jones was found not guilty of direct involvement in the murder but was convicted of being an accessory to murder after the fact, which carries a sentence of one to six years.

District Judge John S. McGroarty set a sentencing date of Dec. 18.

The jury found that DeChant, Weinstein's former live-in girlfriend, killed him by herself. Jury foreman Cliff Moody said Jones' role took some time to deliberate.

"We couldn't stick him (Jones) there (at the scene of the murder)," Moody said. "But we believe he was responsible for cleaning up the blood."

Moody said there was little doubt among the jurors from the beginning that DeChant was guilty.

She was arrested in Maryland three weeks after Weinstein's disappearance with more than $100,000 in her car. But after being released on $2 million bail, she fled again and was not found until earlier this year. She was tending bar in Florida.

The jury foreman said no one bought her story about a mob hit or her fleeing in fear of her own life being taken.

He said Jones also fled after helping DeChant, indicating he was at least aware that a crime had been committed.

Weinstein's body was found in the desert near Mesquite a month after the slaying.

After his disappearance, DeChant told Weinstein's family and friends that the bookmaker was away from home, Deputy District Attorney David Roger said. But the family never believed the story because the cellular telephone that was his link to his bookmaking business remained in the house, as did his beeper and an American Express card.

"He never left home without it," the prosecutor said.

DeChant quickly became a police target in the case, but it took more than a year for authorities to amass enough evidence to obtain a grand jury's indictment.

The family hired private investigator Mike Wysocki to help solve Weinstein's disappearance.

A grand jury handed up an indictment in September 1997, and Jones was arrested in New Mexico a month later. DeChant was tracked down in January in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

Fred White, Weinstein's father, was filled with emotion after the verdict. He expressed gratitude to the private investigator, Metro Police, America's Most Wanted television program and others who helped find and convict DeChant.

"We had the biggest loss of our life," he said. "And now the biggest win."