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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NATIONAL
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Pamela Phillips looks on in Pima County Superior Court Tuesday, April 8, in Tucson, Ariz. Phillips, a once-prominent socialite, was found guilty Tuesday of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the 1996 killing of her ex-husband.
Woman found guilty in 1996 hit man killing of ex-husband
ASSOCIATED PRESS
TUCSON, Ariz. — A once-prominent socialite was found guilty Tuesday in the 1996 Tucson car bomb killing of her ex-husband after spending years abroad living a lavish lifestyle across Europe.
Pamela Phillips, 56, was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder after less than three days of deliberations that began last week. She faces life in prison at her May 22 sentencing hearing.
During the trial that began in February, Phillips' lawyers told jurors their client had nothing to gain from the death of businessman Gary Triano and that she was the victim of overzealous authorities who failed to follow other leads. They said Phillips was already a successful real estate broker with her own money, and suggested that Triano had numerous other enemies.
But prosecutors described Phillips as a gold digger who hired a former boyfriend to kill Triano to collect on a $2 million life insurance policy in order to maintain her extravagant taste for the good life.
Triano died when his car exploded as he was leaving a Tucson-area country club after playing golf. Authorities said Phillips paid Ronald Young $400,000 to carry out the hit. Young was convicted in 2010 and sentenced to two life terms in prison, but jurors weren't allowed to consider his case while determining Phillips' fate.
Prosecutors presented a portrait of a woman who grew accustomed to the high life and
found herself struggling finacially with an easy $2 million way out.
The state's case against her hinged largely on the purported secret arrangement between Phillips and Young, who the defendant dated while working as a real estate broker in Aspen, Colo., after she divorced Triano.
While Phillips claimed she had paid Young the $400,000 for assistance with business ventures and financial planning, prosecutors argued the money was clearly payment for the hit.
"He's not getting paid for business advice that she never takes — he's getting paid for murder," prosecutor Rick Unklesbay said in closing arguments.
During the trial, in addition to witnesses, prosecutors used financial records and telephone conversations that Young secretly recorded during talks with Phillips. In one recording, Young appears to grow angry over not receiving his payments, telling Phillips, "You're going to be in a woman's prison for murder."
Defense lawyers said the calls were merely the ramblings of a con man.
One prosecution witness, a longtime friend of Phillips, testified that Phillips once told her how easy it would be to hire someone to kill her husband.
The defense downplayed the testimony, noting Phillips was distraught at the time after having a fight with Triano during which he threatened her. Phillips' lawyers also called into question the witness' memory.
Triano was a developer who made millions investing in Indian bingo halls and slot-machine parlors in Arizona and California before Congress authorized tribes to open full-blown casinos. But after the real estate market declined and he lost control of his gambling interests, Triano went broke.
That's around the time Phillips filed for divorce, prosecutors said.
The couple, who had two children together, separated, but Phillips remained the beneficiary of Triano's insurance policy, paying the premiums herself.
She eventually moved to Aspen and worked in real estate before meeting Young, and prosecutors said the two would later hatch a plan to kill Triano and collect on the policy.
After the killing, Young was on the run from a warrant for his arrest in Colorado on fraud charges while Phillips was sending him money for the hit.
The investigation into Triano's killing stalled until Young's arrest in 2005 in Florida on the fraud charges. That's when both Phillips and Young became the key suspects in the killing. Authorities say he kept detailed records of his financial transactions with Phillips, including recorded telephone conversations and invoices.
By then, Phillips had received the $2 million insurance payout and had left Aspen for a life overseas.
She was arrested in Austria in 2009 and extradited to Tucson. Her case was delayed after a judge ruled she was mentally unfit to stand trial at the time.
California bill that would end orca shows put on hold
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A California bill that sought to end killer whale shows at SeaWorld in San Diego and phase out their captivity was put on hold Tuesday, dousing an escalating fight between animal activists and a major tourist attraction. The bill's author, Democrat Richard Bloom of Santa Monica, agreed during the bill's first hearing before the water, parks and wildlife committee to revisit his proposal after further study. As a result, AB2140 is dead for this year and the soonest lawmakers could vote on the proposal would be mid-2015 following additional hearings.
Bloom was inspired by the 2013 documentary "Blackfish" in which filmmakers argue that captivity and mistreatment of orcas make the animals aggressive and has led to attacks on trainers. It examined the events leading to the 2010 death of trainer Dawn Brancheau in SeaWorld Orlando when the whale Tilikum pulled her under water.
It's unfortunate that much of the conversation has been fueled ... by fear and invective and misinformation," Bloom said.
The bill would have banned the import, export and breeding of orcas while requiring SeaWorld San Diego to move its 10 killer whales out of
tanks and into larger sea pens. Witnesses for the marine park said that was not a viable option, and lobbyist Scott Wetch told lawmakers the bill would have likely resulted in SeaWorld sending its orcas to parks outside the state.
Public outrage over the movie drove 1.2 million people to sign a petition supporting the bill that was delivered Monday to the Assembly by three elementary school students who successfully stopped an overnight school field trip to SeaWorld.
Dozens of animal rights activists packed the hearing room on Tuesday to support the bill, with more who were unable to get seats waiting outside.
SeaWorld dismissed their contention that orcas are too intelligent and too large for captivity.
"That argument is not based on credible peer-reviewed science," John Reilly, president of SeaWorld San Diego Park, said in an interview. "It's based on emotion and a propaganda film."
Business and tourist groups supported SeaWorld, saying it provides thousands of jobs and attracts tourists to San Diego.
John Hargrove, a former SeaWorld trainer in Texas and San Diego who appeared in "Blackfish," told lawmakers that orcas appeared agitated and pulled him under water multiple times.
SeaWorld has mounted an aggressive public relations campaign to discredit the film for relying on what it calls unqualified former employees and biased experts.
The publicly traded company bought newspaper ads, set up a website countering "Blackfish," and criticized the film on Twitter. SeaWorld says it expects record revenue in 2013 even after the documentary aired on CNN and at the Sundance Film Festival.
Recent filings, however,
showed a dip in attendance
at the start of the year that
the company attributes to a
change in how holidays fall in
the calendar year.
Witnesses for SeaWorld said the animals receive the highest level of care and provide opportunities for research to help conserve killer whales in the wild.
Naomi Rose, a marine mammal scientist with the Animal Welfare Institute, a sponsor of the bill, said she was disappointed by the delay but believes the science will ultimately show orcas are ill-suited for captivity.
"Nobody likes to wait, but I've been doing this for over 20 years," she told reporters after the hearing. "I'm playing the long game."
Rose said she had been working with lawmakers in Texas and Florida to introduce similar legislation.
NATIONAL
Male stripper did show at NY nursing home
WEST BABYLON, N.Y. — An 85-year-old woman with dementia had a male stripper gyrate in front of her against her will at her suburban New York nursing home, according to a lawsuit filed by her family but the facility's lawyer said Tuesday the performance had been requested by its residents.
John Ray, the attorney for Bernice Youngblood and her family, said the woman's son found a photograph of a man in white briefs dancing in front of his mother when he visited her in January 2013 at East Neck Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.
The photo, which Ray distributed to reporters, shows Youngblood putting money into the dancer's waistband. Ray said Youngblood had been urged to participate and did so against her will.
Franklin Youngblood, who attended the news conference outside the Long Island facility, said he immediately went to a nursing supervisor for an explanation. The lawsuit claims the nurse attempted to grab the photo from him.
Ray said Bernice Youngblood, who herself had worked as a health aide for the elderly when she was younger, had her dignity taken away when "nursing home employees subjected her to this disgraceful sexual perversion."
Bernice Youngblood, who attended the press conference in a wheelchair with some of her relatives at her side, mumbled in a barely audible voice that she felt "terrible" and "ashamed" about what happened, but had no specific recollection of the details of the incident.
Ray said he has yet to determine who took the photograph, or how it got in the woman's bedroom drawer.
Howard Fensterman, an attorney representing the facility, said a 16-member resident committee had requested the September 2012 performance and the nursing home paid the $250 fee.
Fensterman said the facility's management reserves the right to reject a request by the residents' committee, particularly if the activity were deemed detrimental.
"But in this instance these are adults who wanted to have this activity, they requested it, they
The claims and counter-claims came during a sequence of heated news conferences outside the facility in West Babylon. Reporters and cameramaster josted in a large scrum around Fensterman and Ray when they briefly became embroiled in an argument after Ray presented his counterpart with a copy of the lawsuit complaint.
voted on it and the nursing home approved of it," he said.
Fensterman also chided Ray for claiming that Bernice Youngblood was suffering from dementia, while at the same time noting the woman signed a power of attorney document claiming she was competent to sign it.
"Ms. Youngblood suffers from partial dementia," Ray said. "She has moments of partial lucidity."
Ray said Youngblood's son disputed that claim and, in any case, that does not mean Bernice Youngblood was not harmed by what she saw.
Fensterman said the girlfriend of one of Youngblood's sons had taken her to the stripper show, and not nursing home employees.
Associated Press
IN
RUN OR WALK TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT
Date: Sunday, April 13th
Time: Race starts at 9:30am-12:00pm. Check-in on race day starts at 8:30am.
Where: South Park
Why: commitment to the prevention of child abuse through the support of Kansas Childrens Service League, along with Prevent Child Abuse America.
f KU Kappa Delta Shamrock 5K
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