Death Penalty Won't Be Sought in Vegas Casino Picnic Killing
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A former casino employee accused of killing a work supervisor and wounding another at a company picnic will not face the death penalty but could receive life in prison without parole if convicted, the top prosecutor in Las Vegas said Tuesday.
Anthony Wrobel, 43, said nothing in court while prosecutor Pamela Weckerly and appointed defense lawyer Joseph Abood told a judge about the decision.
Clark County District Court Judge Douglas Herndon set an October 2019 trial date.
Wrobel has pleaded not guilty to an indictment charging him with murder, attempted murder and battery with a weapon in the shooting death in April of Venetian casino executive Mia Banks and the wounding of co-worker Hector Rodriguez.
District Attorney Steve Wolfson said he and a panel of prosecutors considered factors such as Wrobel's lack of a criminal history before determining the case did not warrant what the prosecutor called the ultimate punishment.
Banks and Rodriguez were Wrobel's supervisors at the Las Vegas Strip property where he worked as a table games dealer.
Police say he left a one-page note at his home expressing anger at Venetian casino management.
He left his car at McCarran International Airport after the shooting and drove another car to Utah and Texas, where he was arrested four days after the shooting while sleeping with a 9mm handgun in a car with a stolen Utah license plate. He surrendered without incident.
Authorities believe Wrobel acted alone in the shooting.
