Prosecutors say evidence links man to heists

Erica D. Johnson

Tuesday, July 29, 2003 | 9:15 a.m.

Prosecutors on Monday laid out for jurors the "mountain of circumstantial evidence" they say links Pedro Duarte to a casino heist in which two armored truck guards were shot.

In their closing statement, prosecutors Pam Weckerly and Roger Cram outlined the chain of events they say proves Duarte drove the getaway vehicle when his brother-in-law, Jose Vigoa, and Oscar Cisneros tried to rob a Brinks armored truck on June 28, 1999 in front of the Desert Inn.

Duarte, 38, faces multiple felony charges, including attempt robbery and attempt murder, in the incident. Jurors were expected to begin deliberating this morning.

"The evidence in this case is overwhelming," Weckerly told jurors. "All the evidence when put together paints a pretty clear picture that Mr. Duarte was involved in this crime."

Duarte's DNA was found on a water bottle in the rear of the getaway vehicle and Duarte's pick-up truck was found in the parking lot of the Vagabond Inn, where authorities say the men stopped briefly to switch vehicles.

That truck also had a fake license plate on it on which Duarte's fingerprint was found, Weckerly said.

Police testified that dozens of phone calls were traced from Vigoa's cell phone to Duarte's home in the hours and days leading up to the crime.

"That's pretty darn unlucky, isn't it?" she asked rhetorically. "And all this happens during 19 hours that Mr. Duarte can't account for where he is. It borders on the absurd."

But defense attorney Michael Cristalli told jurors that while there may have been a mountain of evidence against Vigoa and Cisneros, there was no direct evidence linking Duarte to the robbery.

None of the three armored truck guards could identify Duarte and several other witnesses testified that there were only two men at the scene and that those men wore disguises, Cristalli said.

He said there were various ways the water bottle with Duarte's DNA on it could have gotten into the getaway vehicle.

"In this case there is reasonable doubt all over the place," he said. "There is not one piece of evidence that incriminates Mr. Duarte."

Cristalli also reminded jurors that the state's only eyewitness mistakenly identified Cristalli, and not Duarte, as one of three men he saw switch vehicles at the Vagabond Inn.

"This guy identifies me as the suspect not once, not twice, but three times," he said. He then added, "There's more evidence in this case against me than against Mr. Duarte."