Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Court briefs for October 12, 2000

Judges consider consolidating cases

A district judge Wednesday transferred the case of a man charged in the June 3 robbery of the Bellagio hotel-casino to another judge.

District Judge Mark Gibbons sent Luis Suarez's case to Judge Kathy Hardcastle, because she had already been assigned the cases of Jose Vigoa and the late Oscar Cisneros Sanchez.

Besides being indicted in the June 3 robbery of the hotel-casino, the three are suspected in a string of armored car robberies as well as a robbery in Henderson that ended in the deaths of two armored car guards.

Prosecutors are now studying the evidence in the fatal robbery near the Ross Dress for Less in Henderson to determine if there is enough evidence to file charges against Suarez and Vigoa.

Hardcastle is expected to decide Oct. 17 whether Suarez and Vigoa should be tried at the same time. Suarez will also be arraigned at that time.

Cisneros Sanchez, who reportedly implicated Suarez and Vigoa in the fatal robbery, committed suicide in the Clark County Detention Center last weekend.

Arraignment set in woman's death

A 37-year-old man accused of chasing down and shooting his former girlfriend to death at the Golden Gate casino is scheduled to be arraigned Oct. 18.

Larry Taylor's preliminary hearing was scheduled for Wednesday, but he waived his right to have one and his case was automatically transferred from Justice Court to District Court.

Chief Deputy District Attorney David Schwartz said that although people typically waive their right to such a hearing when a deal has been struck, that is not the case in this instance.

Schwartz said the district attorney's office should know by Oct. 18 if prosecutors will pursue the death penalty.

Police say Taylor shot Gloria Cohns, a mother of three, to death last November while she worked as a blackjack dealer.

Taylor recently returned from a state mental health facility after being declared competent to stand trial.

$100,000 in bail to be forfeited

The $100,000 bail put up by one of the defendants in the Ted Binion case will remain in the bank until a judge decides which one of his creditors should get it.

Clark County officials were unsure what they should do with John Joseph's bail money, because he owes at least $1.6 million to parties that successfully sued him in two legal actions, defense attorney Stan Hunterton said.

On Wednesday District Judge Joseph Bonaventure ordered the money be placed with the constable's office until Judge James Mahan determines how the money should be paid out.

Joseph pleaded no contest last week to conspiracy to commit extortion and paid a $2,000 fine.

Authorities believe he plotted with one of Binion's murderers, Rick Tabish, to torture and extort a Jean sand pit company owner.

The two lawsuits were unrelated to the Binion case, Hunterton said.

archive