Friday, Aug. 1, 2003 | 9:38 a.m.
Jurors on Thursday convicted the man prosecutors say drove the getaway car in a 1999 robbery outside the Desert Inn, wrapping up the final case in a string of casino heists in which two of the man's accomplices were also convicted.
After deliberating for two days, jurors found Pedro Duarte, 38, guilty of all seven counts charged against him, including attempted robbery, attempted murder and conspiracy to commit robbery and/or murder in the heist in which two armored guards were shot.
Duarte faces two to 40 years in prison when he is sentenced before District Judge Kathy Hardcastle on Sept. 17.
He will be eligible for probation on all of the charges.
Still, jurors decided against adding a deadly weapon enhancement to the attempted murder and attempted robbery charges, as had prosecutors asked. That enhancement would have automatically doubled the penalty for each charge.
Prosecutors Pam Weckerly and Roger Cram, who admitted that much of the evidence presented at trial was circumstantial, said they were pleased with the verdict.
"It sounds like a compromise verdict," Weckerly said, after speaking to jurors. "The jurors were concerned because Duarte was never in possession of a weapon."
Defense attorney Michael Cristalli called the verdict "inconsistent," but said jurors' decision to vote against the weapon enhancement "changes the sentencing guidelines substantially."
"They didn't believe he participated in the actual shootings and the evidence supports that," he said.
The jury's forewoman, who spoke to the Sun under the condition of anonymity, said jurors decided against the enhancements because as the getaway driver, Duarte did not directly participate in the shootings or the robbery.
Some jurors wavered on finding Duarte guilty at all, she said.
"Some said they would never go for attempt murder," she said. "It was really hard."
Those jurors were convinced when they reread a jury instruction explaining the state's conspiracy laws, she said. In Nevada, conspirators can be charged with the same charge as their accomplices in the commission of a dangerous crime.
"That was the turning point," she said.
During the trial, prosecutors alleged that Duarte conspired with his brothers-in-law, Jose Vigoa, and Oscar Cisneros to rob the casino.
They said Duarte waited in a stolen getaway vehicle while Vigoa and Cisneros engaged in a shootout with the armored truck guards in front of the Desert Inn.
A water bottle with Duarte's DNA on it was found in the getaway vehicle and Duarte's pickup truck was discovered in the parking lot of the nearby Vagabond Inn.
Duarte's fingerprint was found on a fake license plate on that truck.
Cristalli said he still believes the state's case was full of holes.
"My position is that the state didn't prove its case," he said. "There was no direct evidence and the circumstantial evidence in the case was questionable."
The jury forewoman said the circumstantial evidence may have seemed minimal when standing alone, but the combination of evidence was significant.
"The DNA, the fingerprint, all that evidence I could explain away," she said. "But gathering it together it was a one in never chance that it could all happen at the same time."
Cristalli said he plans to appeal the conviction to the Nevada Supreme Court.
"Pedro felt he was framed in this case," he said. "There are a lot of issues to raise on appeal."
Duarte's wife, Vilma Farray, was in the courtroom when the verdict was read, along with Duarte's mother. Both women were upset by the verdict and declined to comment.
Farray has said she believes the charges filed by police and prosecutors were racially motivated because the men are Cuban. Duarte, a father of two, was studying to be a jewelry apprentice.
Cristalli said he did not feel the charges were a result of racial profiling by local authorities.
"(Prosecutors) needed a third person," he said. "They are all related and that hurt him."
The jury forewoman also said she didn't believe race had anything to do with the case and pointed out that one juror was Colombian and another was Puerto Rican.
The verdict marked the end of several related cases, which involved similar heists at the Bellagio and Mandalay Bay between 1998 and 2000.
Vigoa, who prosecutors allege was the ringleader in those robberies and another robbery at the Henderson Ross Dress for Less store in which two guards were killed, is serving a life prison sentence for multiple felony convictions stemming from the robberies.
Luis Suarez, 38, pleaded guilty Wednesday to a single count of robbery in the 2000 Bellagio robbery, which netted about $175,000.
He faces a two- to 15-year sentence when he is sentenced on September 17. Suarez is also eligible for probation.
Cisneros committed suicide in prison after implicating the other men.
"These cases were incredibly complex," prosecutor Cram said. Prosecutors initially alleged Duarte conspired with Vigoa and Suarez in several of the other heists. Conspiracy charges in those cases were dropped.
Weckerly said prosecutors no longer believe Duarte was involved in those crimes.
The jury forewoman said she was surprised to learn that Duarte's accomplices were charged in string of other dangerous robberies.
"That sounds more like a hardened criminal," she said. "(Duarte) looked like such a nice guy."
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