FEDERAL PROSECUTORS FACE FALLOUT FOR LAS VEGAS ARMED ROBBERY PLEA DEAL - Letting the Career Criminals Walk Free
Robbery defendant Brian Wright, talks about his federal court case at Bellon & Maningo law office, 732 S. Sixth St., on Tuesday, May 3,2016. A federal judge ripped into prosecutors for waiting to turn over key evidence until the morning of the trial. (Jeff Scheid/Las Vegas Review-Journal) Follow @jlscheid
Facing pressure from a judge, federal prosecutors last month gave the alleged ringleader of a series of armed jewelry store robberies a rare plea deal that left him a free man.
But fallout from that deal has put new strain on prosecutors as they try to reconcile it with a harsher agreement they struck months earlier with a jailed co-defendant who cooperated in the case.
The co-defendant, Philbert Cole, faces roughly 15 years in prison, but he and defense lawyer Lisa Rasmussen are looking for a better deal in light of the government’s decision to let the man it alleges directed the 2014 robberies go free.
“It’s an unfortunate situation for everyone,” Rasmussen said last week. “I expect the government to treat my client fairly in the context of the totality of the case.”
The alleged ringleader, felon Brian Wright, faced more than 100 years in prison had prosecutors gone to trial and convicted him of stealing $1.1 million in jewelry.
Instead, with the jewelry still missing, Wright was released from federal custody after prosecutors recommended he be sentenced to the two years he spent behind bars while waiting to be tried.
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