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By Cara McCoy 
Wednesday, June 10, 2009 | 11:14 a.m.
Tanner Rosseau
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An 18-year-old man charged in the May stabbing death of another man in the parking lot of a Las Vegas Strip hotel pleaded not guilty this morning to a charge of murder with a deadly weapon.
Tanner Rousseau, of Arlington, Wash., was arrested May 6 after Metro Police officers responded to a report of a stabbing in the parking lot of the Tropicana. Rousseau has been free on bail and waived his right to a speedy trial Wednesday morning.
A jury trial was set for 9 a.m. Oct. 26 in Clark County District Court.
At about 4:12 a.m. on May 8, officers found Gregory Dominique, 35, of Cleveland, lying in the Tropicana's north parking lot with several stab wounds, police said. Dominique was taken to University Medical Center's trauma center, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.
According to police reports, Rousseau and a friend, Brandon Carmack, came into contact with Dominique outside the Tropicana to purchase drugs. Carmack learned after the transaction he had been left with an empty envelope, and a fight ensued. Rousseau assisted his friend by kicking Dominique in the genitals.
The teens thought the fight had ended when Dominique reignited it by hitting Rousseau in the head. Rousseau then stabbed Dominique several times before leaving the scene, police reports said.
About half an hour later, Rousseau turned himself in to an officer driving around the Tropicana looking for suspects, according to the police report.
Tropicana Las Vegas sits on the south-east corner of Tropicana Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard, an intersection which has the most adjacent hotel rooms in the world, also making it one of the most busy. The hotel has 1,658 rooms, three restaurants, a 62,011-square foot casino and a spa.
The Tropicana's five-acre pool complex stretches throughout the center of the the hotel/casino and remains it's most recognizable feature. It features swim-up blackjack during the summer months, a swim-up bar, dining areas and a wedding chapel. The Tropicana is also home to Brad Garrett's Comedy Club. For pre-show dining, take advantage of one the casino’s dinner and a show packages or just head over to Cafe Nikki, Biscayne Steak, Sea & Wine or Bacio Pasta & Vino.
....Hopefully Justice will be served in the best interest of everyone involved in this case.
hmmmmm.....I think that last article posted 6-7-09 was an "eye opener".....hopefully, thats all it was.....
Sorry, if he admitted to all of that, that is not self defense, it is mutual combat. He should be convicted of homicide, second degree. I would convict him and I am a gun owner who believes quite strongly in self defense - which this is not.
I am relieved he didn't plea bargain.. At least now, both parties involved will have a voice. Unfortunately when there is a murder charge pending, there is unsually only one left to speak and tell their side. That is why I began posting to this blog, there are always 2 sides to a story... It felt one dimensional to me.. Now, both parties will be represented in a court of law, the victim has the DA,the suspect has his attorney, and I am done posting.
Just wanted to post one of the blogs I found browsing through My Space. This is one of tanners friends and the mood she was in when posting this was 'PROUD'. This is truly disturbing to me and I think one more time proves that this was a racial hate crime.
You pass me on the street and sneer in my direction.
You call me "Cracker", "Honkey", "Whitey" and even "The Man" and you think it's OK.
But when I call you, "N-gger", "K-ke", "Towelhead", "Sand N-gger", "Camel Jockey", "Beaner" or "Chink" you call me a racist.
You say that whites commit a lot of violence against you, so why are the ghettos the most dangerous places to live?
You say that you want to make a change in this country.
How? By protesting everything that we believe in? By trying to change everything that has made this country run fine for centuries?
You have Martin Luther King Day.
You have the United Negro College Fund.
You have Black History Month.
You have Cesar Chavez Day.
You have Yom Hashoah
You have Ma'uled Al-Nabi
You have the NAACP.
You have BET."
"If we had WET(white entertainment television) we'd be racists."
If we had a White Pride Day you would call us racists.
"If we had white history month, we'd be racists."
In the Million Man March, you believed that you were marching for your race and rights.
If we marched for our race and rights, you would call us racists.
You enjoy the thought of Driver's Licenses for illegals.
We enjoy the thought of people obeying the laws of the land in which they reside. No negotiations.
You are proud to be black, brown, yellow and orange, and you're not afraid to announce it.
But when we announce our white pride, you call us racists.
You call each other "niggas", but when we call you that, you call us racists.
You rob us, carjack us, and shoot at us.
But, when a white police officer shoots a gang member or beats up a drug-dealer running from the law and posing a threat to society, you call him a racist.
We work hard to perserve our history.
You come along and try to re-write it.
We want a safe environment for our families and children.
You want to bring the ghetto to our neighborhoods.
I am white.
I am proud.
I am an American.
But, you call me a racist.
By the way, tanner is looking for a job, hanging out with his friends, and living a normal life... It's not fair! We miss you Gregory! I trust justice will prevail..
Kudos to whatever adult has finally stepped up (a little too late) and forced Tanner out of Arlington and into Auburn. Most of the Arlington crowd will quickly move on without him and pretty much forget about him. This is a good thing because the ones who will forget and get sucked up in their own mistakes are the ones that weren't dong him any good whatsoever. His true friends and real family (not his "adopted cool" mom, brother's, and sister that were dragging him down) will be the only ones left (and their numbers will be fairly small like it is for most people). It's easy to say you are someone's "friend" or you "love" them but it is a whole different world to really mean it and show it.
I'm surprised he managed to land a job with this case pending, but at least it will keep him busy until the trial and what will happen after (more likely than not he will go to prison, but who knows for how long).
If his "friends" really wanted to contribute to Tanner's legal costs (and really the money would be much better used by Greg's family) they should not spend a penny on cigarettes, alcohol, and drugs and put all the money they saved to the side. I bet very few would do this, and that would show who his "friends" really are. They'd rather spread lies and half truths to people who don't know better and try and get money from them instead of themselves. SELFISH.
Tanner was robbed = lie, Tanner was randomly attacked = lie (he was a willing part of the fight at least at first) Tanner being significantly injured = hard to believe, there hasn't been any proof yet, and everything points to him being well enough to be arrested with no medical attention needed.
Big deal he turned himself in, the cops were sealing off the crime scene at the time. It is most unlikely the car wouldn't have been stopped when leaving the parking lot. Once it was who knows what would have happened or what the cops would have saw or what kind of questions they would have asked. They didn't know WHO to look for so they were focusing on everyone Tanner included.
My heart goes out to Greg's family again as always, and I have big wishes for someone somewhere to learn something from this.
Keep in mind that "poem" or whatever it is was a piece of trash stolen from other parts of the internet, not something original in the least.
I don't think that certain subset of Tanner's friends are racist as much as ignorant and overly self confident (I blame indulgent permissive adults, that want to be friends (and regarded as cool) with young people instead of shaping them into real adults). He or she probably didn't think very hard before posting that.
I had the opportunity to sit on what may be the bench where the kids met Gregory that tragic night (one of the benches in that area has been removed so I'm not sure which was "the bench"). I thought and I prayed, I wished peace for Gregory and his family, I lamented what a senseless even it was. It was a very profound feeling to partly know what had happened in an area where tourist were drunkenly plodding along oblivious. I wish you peace and justice and I hope something good can come of this tragedy in some way.
With the limited information we have now, I believe more likely than not the chain of events happened very close to as written in the incident report. I frankly don't think Tanner and the friends he was with are smart enough to come up with a story like that out of thin air. If Gregory was doing what they say, I don't hold it against him in the least. It is a miniscule mistake compared to the horrors Tanner and his friends inflicted.
From the police report we can see Gregory was not being violent. He was defending himself (and I wish he put his full athletic force into it instead of seemingly "going easy on them). If these kids are to be believed they were tricked out of a small amount of money and drugs. Brandon Carmack was the aggressive attacker, he admits to jumping on Gregory from behind not because he felt threatened, not because he was scared, just because he was upset that he may have gotten ripped off due to his own stupidity. I hope deep down he knows he is partly responsible in a HUGE way as to what happened to Gregory and what is happening to Tanner. Tanner should have helped Brandon is a more helpful way GO GET HELP! I'm tiny like him, the last thing I'd be doing is joining in the fight my friend started against a man who didn't want to fight (Brandon attacked him from behind).
If Gregory did what the kid's said he did (and there credibility is sorely lacking). It's not that big of a deal. I bet Tanner or one of his friends has sold someone a light bag of weed or passed off ditch as BC bud at some-point in their lives. If they have they have no room to talk whatsoever. If believed, they were involved in a drug deal not shopping at wal-mart or something. As far as drug deals go, Buyer and seller beware, you will be ripped off at some point. Suck it up learn and move one. Demanding your money back is stupid. Brandon lost his money and weed due to his own overconfidence and stupidity, nothing else.
f Gregory did what the kid's said he did (and there credibility is sorely lacking). It's not that big of a deal. I bet Tanner or one of his friends has sold someone a light bag of weed or passed off ditch as BC bud at some-point in their lives. If they have they have no room to talk whatsoever. If believed, they were involved in a drug deal not shopping at wal-mart or something. As far as drug deals go, Buyer and seller beware, you will be ripped off at some point. Suck it up learn and move one. Demanding your money back is stupid. Brandon lost his money and weed due to his own overconfidence and stupidity, nothing else.