News briefs for July 18, 2002

Thursday, July 18, 2002 | 11:11 a.m.

Idaho president reconsiders move

Under pressure from political and business leaders, University of Idaho President Robert Hoover said he is reconsidering his decision to leave his post for the new Nevada State College in Henderson.

Hoover is among six semifinalists for the presidency in Henderson.

Hoover's announced departure followed a move by Gov. Dirk Kempthorne and legislators to reduce state support for higher education by $23 million. But Hoover, a former academic vice president at the University of Nevada, Reno, said he was considering leaving Idaho not because of the cut, but because of the prospect of starved budgets in the future.

Trial set for Vigoa relatives

December trial dates were set Wednesday for Luis Suarez and Pedro Duarte, the brothers-in-law of casino robber Jose Vigoa.

In a plea agreement that cannot be used in court, Vigoa implicated Suarez as having taken part in armed robberies of Mandalay Bay, Bellagio and a Henderson Ross Dress for Less that left two armored truck drivers dead. He implicated Duarte in robberies of the MGM Grand and the Desert Inn. A fourth implicated suspect, Oscar Cisneros, committed suicide while in the Clark County Detention Center for the robberies.

Both men face attempted murder charges with a deadly weapon for their part in the casino heists, in which Vigoa pleaded guilty June 24 to avoid the death penalty for the deaths of armored guards Richard Sosa and Gary Prestidge Jr.

Duarte goes to trial Dec. 2 and Suarez's trial is scheduled for Dec. 16.

Vegas man asks to withdraw plea

An additional defense attorney has been appointed for a 23-year-old Las Vegas man who wishes to withdraw his plea of guilty in a fatal robbery.

Frederick Benson faces a no-parole life sentence per his plea agreement to the first-degree murder of Henry Zegler, 58.

Authorities allege Benson, Lakeisha Smith, 24, and Taras Bartell Stewart, 18, shot Zegler in a dispute over a Ford Mustang and $800 in February 2000.

Smith pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and is serving a 20-year to life sentence, and Stewart pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison with parole possible after 10 years.

Defense attorney Betsy Allen said that she was only aiding Benson in withdrawing his guilty plea and that the public defender's office is still handing the rest of the case.

Arguments for the motion will be heard Aug. 26 by District Court Judge Kathy Hardcastle.

A man accused of shooting

another man to death at the Moulin Rouge on Bonanza Road will go to trial Dec. 16. Jermaine Smith, 22, was arrested in Louisiana for the Jan. 8 slaying of 24-year-old Derrick E. Caver.