Appeal heard in extortion of Dion, Angelil

A couple convicted of trying to extort money from Celine Dion and her husband should have been allowed to present evidence of an alleged rape at their trial, lawyers argued Tuesday before the Nevada Supreme Court.

Yun Sung and Ae Hoe Kwon were unfairly barred from making the case to jurors that Dion's husband, Rene Angelil, sexually assaulted Sung, attorneys said. The two were convicted of extortion in separate trials in 2004 and 2005.

The prosecution, meanwhile, told justices that the convictions hinged on the fact that the couple tried to "wring money" out of Dion and her husband, not on the allegations against Angelil.

Justices did not issue a decision Tuesday, nor did they indicate when they would do so.

The case dates to 2000, which is when Sung says Angelil assaulted her in an Imperial Palace hotel room, a charge Angelil has denied. Still, the couple received $2 million as part of a confidential settlement.

Two years later they asked for additional millions, and they also filed a police report and a civil lawsuit.

They were arrested following a sting in which the couple's lawyers met with Angelil's lawyers, as well as with a police officer posing as a business partner of Angelil's.

The attorneys said the couple would go public if they weren't paid. Sung and Kwon were arrested at the end of the meeting.

The police investigation into the alleged rape, meanwhile, was closed when the couple wouldn't turn over a dress that allegedly had Angelil's DNA on it.

Information about those allegations should have been allowed into the trial, said Robert Langford, Sung's attorney.

"This particular case was about the truth," he said. "The defendants in this case were not allowed to present the truth."

The truth is that the couple's lawyers were making "clearly extortionate demands," countered deputy Clark County district attorney L.J. O'Neale.

"Everything is context here," he said, stating that the couple was offering to stop cooperating with the police's sexual assault investigation if they were paid more money.