Judge held secret hearing

Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2001 | 11:34 a.m.

District Judge Kathy Hardcastle, without notifying the public, held an unusual hearing at the Clark County Detention Center last month in the high-profile case of a dangerous suspect in a string of Strip casino robberies.

The hearing for the suspect, Jose Manuel Vigoa, took place at 1:30 p.m. Jan. 3 on the fifth floor of the detention center in the presence of heavily armed Metro SWAT officers.

No one appeared to be willing to take responsibility for conducting the proceeding behind closed doors outside the courthouse.

Hardcastle said at the hearing that jail officials led her to believe they had security concerns about transporting Vigoa out of the detention center.

But jail officials said they were accommodating Hardcastle, who decided at the last minute that she preferred the detention center over a tightly secured courtroom.

And the county's top court administrator said he was kept in the dark about the hearing.

Vigoa has been behind bars without bail on robbery and attempted murder charges stemming from the June 3 robbery at the Bellagio. He also is a suspect in an ongoing criminal probe of several other Strip robberies, as well as the botched armored car heist at the Ross Dress for Less in Henderson, where two guards were gunned down.

Last July's preliminary hearing in Justice Court for Vigoa and his co-defendant, Oscar Cisneros Sanchez, who later committed suicide at the jail, also was conducted in the presence of SWAT officers.

Vigoa's lawyer, Deputy Public Defender Drew Christensen, objected to the Jan. 3 jailhouse hearing at the start of the proceeding, according to a 24-page transcript obtained by the Sun.

The hearing was called to hear arguments on a writ by Christensen attacking the charges against Vigoa, who showed up in handcuffs and chains and wearing a stun belt and large protective mittens.

"We were informed yesterday afternoon by your bailiff of the unusual circumstances of the hearing taking place in jail," Christensen told Hardcastle. "We feel compelled to object just because Mr. Vigoa is being treated very differently than any of the other defendants in the Clark County Detention Center."

Christensen said his client had a right to a public hearing.

"We were told to keep this a secret from the press and told not to let anybody know when it was to take place," Christensen said. "Obviously this puts my client in a dim light. He is innocent until proven guilty. He has a right to make an appearance in an appropriate courtroom."

Hardcastle told Christensen the hearing was held at the detention center for security reasons, but she said she did not know the exact reasons.

"I believe there is a legitimate concern ... based upon the fact there has been action taken," she said. "But I don't know what that is based on."

The judge said she was told that similar hearings had been conducted at the jail in the past for security reasons.

Hardcastle was out of the state and could not be reached for comment Monday.

But her law clerk, Noel Eidsmore, said the proceeding was held at the jail "to make it much easier on everybody involved."

District Court Administrator Chuck Short acknowledged that the hearing was "highly unusual," even for what he called a "high risk" case such as this.

"My guess is there was an unusual set of circumstances that led to this," he said. "The hearing was publicly noticed to happen in the courtroom. But something happened at the 11th hour to change that.

"There must have been some compelling security concern that arose that you and I are not aware of."

Metro sources said police had received intelligence information early in the case that Vigoa, a convicted felon who has used violence in past crimes, might have friends outside the jail planning his escape.

"The only time we're vulnerable is when we're in court or out of the facility," Deputy Chief Bill Young said. "There has never been a breakout or an escape from the detention center."

Prosecutors David Roger and Frank Coumou also attended the hearing, but did not object to it being held at the jail.

"Obviously the court felt that the risk of harm to others mandated this high-security meeting," Roger said.

But attorney Dominic Gentile, who represents the Sun and other news organizations, said Hardcastle was setting a bad precedent.

"I've been practicing criminal law for 30 years, and I've never heard of this happening," Gentile said. "The right of access to criminal proceedings is the public's right.

"It's designed to protect both the public and the defendant from corrupt, overzealous prosecutors and judges. It's one of the most fundamental principles of a democracy."

At the hearing Christensen said authorities have been treating Vigoa differently since Sanchez hanged himself in the jail in October.

"After (his death) everything changed," he said. "I think Mr. Vigoa has a right to have his case heard like everybody else unless there is evidence of some subterfuge that I don't know about. He is entitled to know why there is extra security ..."

Christensen told the Sun that his client has behaved like a "complete gentleman" during all of his court proceedings.

"He's never given me any reason to believe he's a security risk," the lawyer said.

Prior to his death, Sanchez confessed to killing the two armored truck guards, Richard Sosa and Gary Prestidge II, outside the Ross Dress for Less. He also implicated Vigoa and another co-defendant in the Bellagio heist, Luis Suarez, in the shooting deaths.

Prosecutors have yet to charge Vigoa and Suarez in those deaths, as well as in a robbery at New York-New York and armored car heists outside the MGM Grand, Desert Inn and Mandalay Bay.

Suarez did not attend the hearing, but his attorney, Peter Christiansen, was on hand and also lodged an objection to the jail venue.