Cagliostro
Inner circle
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Posted: Oct 26, 2013 08:27 pm
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Here is an old story I found on my computer that may be of interest to some. It is from the Associated Press and appeared in the Las Vegas Review Journal on April 1, 2004.
Seems like the federal prosecutor got the lower court to enhance this card cheater’s sentence for having “extraordinary” eyesight.
According the story, the cheat and his team stole millions from casinos in Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe and Atlantic City, N.J., using his ability to peek at cards as they were dealt in Baccarat, and marking cards with petroleum jelly.
The 9th Circuit U. S. Court of Appeals overturned the enhancement decision for special skills, evidently believing that having good eyesight is not necessarily a criminal offense.
I was thinking that perhaps the government’s next move might be to proceed against the manufacturer of the petroleum jelly, claiming the manufacturer was selling a cheating device (petroleum jelly), across state lines in violation of the federal anti-gambling statutes.
Stranger things have happened!
Here’s the article:
Quote: Thursday, April 01, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Card cheat's jail term rejected
Court overturns Las Vegas judge's stiffer sentence for gambler with 'extraordinary eyesight'
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal appeals court Wednesday ruled against a stiffer jail term for a convicted card shark the government claimed had "extraordinary eyesight."
Jing Bing Liang, who pleaded guilty to casino racketeering, was among 17 people charged in a cheating ring that stole millions from casinos in Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe and Atlantic City, N.J.
Liang's guilty plea in 2002 was partly for his knack for sneaking peeks at cards as they were dealt.
Others involved in the scam, most of whom have pleaded guilty, would fold or mark cards with petroleum jelly while playing baccarat, a game in which gamblers deal cards one at a time from a case called a "shoe."
The government alleged ring members tipped the shoe to let Liang or others see the next card coming out. Players also would track the marked cards as they were dealt.
In arguing to increase Liang's sentence, federal prosecutors said the San Francisco gambler had "extraordinary eyesight" and that he had become especially adept at peeking at cards.
Judge Roger Hunt of Las Vegas had ordered Liang to serve 27 months, imposing what is called a special skills enhancement under federal sentencing guidelines.
Hunt said since "very few members of the public have the skill suggest that it is not quite that easy to become proficient and successful at it."
But Liang's attorney, Todd Leventhal, argued the enhancement was preposterous and that the government never tested Liang's eyes to determine if he had extraordinary eyesight.
"Here you got a guy who was cheating and he pleaded guilty to cheating," Leventhal said. "They increased his sentence based on cheating."
In overturning Hunt, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals noted special skills enhancements usually are imposed on lawyers, pilots, doctors and chemists using their trades to commit crimes. Liang insisted his skills were relatively simple.
"Unlike a doctor or lawyer gone bad, Liang abused no societal trust by appropriating an otherwise positive education investment," Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain wrote for the unanimous three-member court.
Hunt's sentence was at the low end of the enhanced sentence category. If the appeals ruling stands, Liang must be resentenced in the 21-27 month range.
The U.S. attorney's office in Las Vegas had no comment.
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