LAS VEGAS >> Two years after their granddaughter was fatally shot by a suspected thief struggling with guards in a Las Vegas casino, the grandparents who had adopted her are suing the casino for damages. Casino death
draws lawsuitA Maui couple alleges that guards
botched a suspected thief's arrestAssociated Press
"How can you describe the loss of a child?" Maui resident Henrietta Vitarelli said, weeping during testimony Wednesday before a six-member civil jury and Clark County District Judge Mark Denton in Las Vegas. Testimony continued yesterday. Closing arguments were due to begin today.
"It leaves an empty hole," she said, "and it's something you can't fill. It's always there."
Vitarelli and her husband, William Vitarelli, 91, are seeking unspecified monetary damages from Harrah's hotel-casino, alleging negligence by resort security guards who they say botched the arrest of suspected coin thief Stephen Mullen, 34.
According to trial witnesses and previous court proceedings, Mullen drew a gun and began shooting when two casino security officers confronted him and tried to handcuff him on Sept. 8, 2000.
Heather Vitarelli, 29, was killed by a bullet to the back.
Mullen is now serving life in prison for first-degree murder and attempted murder.
The Vitarellis' lawyer, Wayne Shaffer, said more Harrah's guards should have confronted Mullen and hustled him out of the crowded casino.
Harrah's Security Manager James Cudney testified Wednesday that hotel security officers can only remove a person from a casino if they have probable cause that a crime has been committed and are sure the person is the one they are seeking.
Vitarelli, a 1988 Baldwin High School graduate, was born on Saipan and moved when she was 3 to Maui, where she was raised by her grandparents. She was attending college in Napa, Calif.