Friday, September 16, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
12 Wynn stalker convictions lifted
High court decision could affect Angelil case
By GLENN PUIT
REVIEW-JOURNAL
A man who stalked casino executive Steve Wynn had 12 of his 14 convictions overturned by the Nevada Supreme Court on Thursday, but the man will still spend the rest of his life in prison on the remaining convictions.
The court's ruling in the case of Donald E. Phillips, however, may have an impact the criminal case of a California couple recently convicted of extorting Celine Dion's husband, Rene Angelil.
Defense attorneys for Angelil's extorters, Ae Kwon and Yun Sung, said Thursday the state's high court ruled in the Phillips case that a legal definition of extortion used to convict Kwon and Sung is invalid.
"The court's ruling is highly relevant to our appeal," said Lisa Rasmussen, defense attorney for Kwon.
But Clark County prosecutor L.J. O'Neale disagreed, saying the convictions of Sung and Kwon are legally sound.
Phillips, 48, wrote a series of threatening letters to Wynn and left threatening voice mail messages at Wynn's home and business in 2000 and 2001. Phillips maintained that Wynn is his long-lost half-brother and that he therefore was entitled to a supposed $50 million family inheritance. Wynn testified at Phillips' trial that he and Phillips are not related and that his father was broke when he died.
Phillips was convicted of 12 extortion counts, one count of dissuading a witness and one count of aggravated stalking. He received 14 life sentences as a habitual criminal, but on Thursday the the extortion convictions were reversed.
The court noted that Phillips had filed a motion seeking a DNA comparison with Wynn to determine whether Phillips' heritage claims were false. Not wishing to subject Wynn to a DNA analysis, prosecutors argued that extortion was a crime of threat and that the truth or falsity of the threat did not matter.
But the Supreme Court said the allegation Phillips threatened to expose had to be false.
In the case of Sung and Kwon, they were accused of trying to extort $20 million from Angelil. They claimed Angelil raped Sung in a room at the Imperial Palace in 2000.
Angelil always denied any improprieties with the woman and never has been charged with a crime in the matter.
Defense attorneys for Sung and Kwon, however, claimed the rape allegation was true. They sought permission to obtain a DNA sample from Angelil for comparison to semen on a dress that Sung claimed she wore the night of the alleged encounter with Angelil.
District Judge Jackie Glass would not compel Angelil to give a DNA sample, and she also would not let Rasmussen call Angelil as a witness in Kwon's trial, saying the truth of the rape allegation was irrelevant to the charge.
Rasmussen said given the Supreme Court ruling in the Phillips case, the convictions of Sung and Kwon should be reversed.
