Separate juries to hear cases

Kim Smith

Friday, Dec. 14, 2001 | 10:01 a.m.

When prosecutors try Jose Vigoa for allegedly robbing the Bellagio of $188,000 last year, they don't want to stop there.

Chief Deputy District Attorneys David Roger and Frank Coumou also want to tell the jurors they suspect he killed two armored truck guards and robbed three other casinos.

The prosecutors also would like to tell the jurors that one of Vigoa's brothers-in-law, Pedro Duarte, helped Vigoa rob the Desert Inn and another brother-in-law, Luis Suarez, helped Vigoa rob the Bellagio.

As things stand right now, however, one jury will hear the evidence in the Bellagio case and another jury will hear about the double slaying and the robberies at the Desert Inn, MGM Grand and Mandalay Bay.

On Thursday, Roger filed a motion with District Judge Kathy Hardcastle asking her to combine the Bellagio case with the other cases. Hardcastle is expected to hear arguments on the matter after Christmas.

According to the motion, the law allows cases to be consolidated if they are connected together by a common scheme or plan.

Roger believes that although Vigoa, 41, Suarez, 37, and Duarte, 37, are not all charged with the same crimes, they conspired over a two-year period to pull off the heists.

A fourth alleged co-conspirator, Oscar Sanchez Cisneros, 23, committed suicide in October 2000 -- four months after he was arrested in connection with the Bellagio robbery.

The attorneys for Suarez and Duarte, Pete Christiansen and Michael Cristalli, respectively, said they plan to fight Roger's motion. They intend to argue there is no evidence of a conspiracy.

They further intend to argue that jurors maybe unduly prejudiced against their clients merely because they would be sitting at the same table as a man accused of shooting two armored truck guards to death at a Henderson Ross Dress-for-Less store.

The fact that prosecutors may seek the death penalty for Vigoa would only make it worse for their clients, the attorneys said.

Vigoa's attorneys, Deputy Public Defenders Steve Immerman and Drew Christensen, said they also intend to fight the consolidation motion. They say there is no evidence linking the Ross slayings to the casino heists.

Should Hardcastle deny the motion, District Judge Jeffrey Sobel will arraign Vigoa and Duarte on their respective charges Jan. 3. He would also preside over that trial while Hardcastle would oversee the Bellagio case.