NEVADA
‘Enforcer’ to get life sentence in Vegas slaying
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A man convicted of being an enforcer for a Taiwan-based criminal gang was to be sentenced Tuesday to life in a Nevada prison without parole for murder, but could get more than 100 additional years on other charges in a bloody stabbing and slashing that left one man dead and two people wounded in a Las Vegas karaoke bar in July 2009.
A state court jury in Las Vegas decided in December that 26-year-old Xiao Ye Bai won’t be put to death. The remainder of Bai’s sentence for crimes including kidnapping, conspiracy, attempted murder and extortionate collection of a debt will be up to Clark County District Court Judge Michael Villani.
Prosecutor Marc DiGiacomo said Monday that a state presentencing report recommended maximum sentences.
Bai still faces prosecution in California in a separate shooting several months before the Las Vegas attack that left one person dead and another wounded outside a karaoke bar in the city of San Gabriel.
Bai’s lawyer, Robert Draskovich, said Monday he’s satisfied the Nevada jury spared Bai’s life for stabbing and slashing Wen Jun “James” Li at least 32 times in the Forbes KTV bar and restaurant several blocks west of the Las Vegas Strip.
“Our whole case from beginning to end was about keeping him off death row,” Draskovich said.
DiGiacomo said Bai was trying to collect a $10,000 gambling debt on behalf of a gang called United Bamboo when his ex-girlfriend, Pei “Nikki” Pei, drove him to the karaoke bar in Las Vegas.
Pei pleaded guilty before trial to reduced felony charges of accessory to murder and testified at trial against Bai. She was sentenced Feb. 7 to two years’ probation.
CALIFORNIA
3 Filipinos guilty of importing weapons to U.S.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Three Philippine nationals caught in a sting operation in their native country were convicted Monday of importing military-grade weapons to the United States in a case that earned international attention last year because of a defense lawyer’s contention that an undercover FBI agent spent U.S. taxpayer dollars on prostitutes.
After a four-week trial, a federal jury in Los Angeles convicted Sergio Syjuco, 26, Cesar Ubaldo, 27, and Arjyl Revereza, 26, of conspiring to illegally import the weapons and aiding and abetting their importation to the U.S.
Each of the men could be sentenced to more than 20 years in prison and fined $1 million or more. They’re scheduled to be sentenced June 9.
In late 2010, Ubaldo began meeting an FBI agent who was posing as a prospective buyer of high-powered weapons for U.S. and Mexican drug cartels, according to evidence presented at trial.
Prosecutors said Ubaldo introduced the agent to Syjuco, who supplied the weapons, and Revereza, an officer in the Philippines Bureau of Customs who facilitated the movement of the weapons between the Philippines and the U.S.
The men were indicted after authorities seized weapons at the Port of Long Beach in California in June 2011. The weapons seized included a grenade launcher, a mortar launcher and 12 machine guns.
Before the trial began, Syjuco’s attorney John Littrell alleged that the undercover FBI agent spent U.S. taxpayer dollars on prostitutes in the Philippines for himself and others during the investigation, and asked that the charges be thrown out because of the misconduct. The motion was denied.
Prosecutors acknowledged the agent sought nearly $15,000 in reimbursements for “entertainment” and other expenses.
But Littrell said in court documents that two clubs where the men met were suspected brothels, one of which was raided in May by Philippine authorities, with dozens of victims of sex trafficking rescued, some of them under-aged girls.
The agent, whose name was not made public, vehemently denied this, saying he never paid to have sex or knowingly paid a bill that included prostitution.
Bill Lewis, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles office, said in a statement Monday that the verdict vindicated the agent’s work.
ARKANSAS
Man says lawyer was ineffective at his murder trial
NASHVILLE, Ark. (AP) — An Arkansan serving a life term for hiring a hit man to kill his wife at a Nashville store says his lawyer failed to tell him about a possible plea bargain.
A jury said 68-year-old David Camp hired Harry Surber to shoot Robin Camp at the Family Dollar store in Nashville, Ark., on Memorial Day 2008. In court Monday in Nashville, Camp said his now-dead lawyer was ineffective and cost him an additional 20 years in prison.
According to the Texarkana Gazette, Camp said Paul Hoover failed to keep him informed about a potential plea deal in which he would have served 20 years instead of going to trial.
Surber is serving 40 years. Camp’s sister JoAnn Hicks of Ogden was convicted of conspiracy and is now on parole.
OKLAHOMA
Lawyers appeal probation for ex-Senate leader
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Federal prosecutors say former Oklahoma Senate President Mike Morgan should be in prison instead of on probation.
In January, a federal judge sentenced Morgan to five years’ probation and 104 hours of community service. He had faced 10 years in prison after jurors found him guilty of accepting a $12,000 bribe to influence legislation. Morgan said the payment was for legal work.
Jurors acquitted Morgan of other charges or couldn’t reach a verdict. U.S. District Judge Robin Cauthron said the ex-Senate leader had been convicted on “suspect evidence.”
According to The Oklahoman newspaper, prosecutors have filed a notice of appeal with the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Prosecutors said giving Morgan probation sends the wrong signal to public officials.
Morgan is also appealing his conviction.
MISSOURI
Podiatrist is sentenced for Medicare fraud
ST. LOUIS (AP) — An eastern Missouri podiatrist has been sentenced to eight months in prison for making false statements to the Medicare program.
Dr. John M. Dailey of St. Louis County must also pay restitution to Medicare. He practiced medicine in Washington, Mo. The 55-year-old podiatrist pleaded guilty to federal charges in September and was sentenced Monday.
Court records show that in 2008 and 2009, Dailey falsely claimed to Medicare that he examined and treated three patients in his office. The U.S. Attorney’s office in St. Louis says Dailey was on vacation in Las Vegas and Honolulu at the time.?
