Some Charges Dropped in Colorado Snake-Murder Case
Christopher Steelman, one of two men arrested in a bizarre murder/extortion plot against former Amateur Poker Tour owner Matthew Sowash involving rattlesnakes inside a box with a trap door designed to capture Sowash's legs, has had some of his charges dropped. Like co-defendant Herbert Beck, Steelman was originally facing charges of conspiracy to commit murder, kidnapping, and felony extortion. The murder-conspiracy and kidnapping charges against Steelman have now been dropped, leaving only the extortion charge to be address at the arraignment, scheduled for October 29th. The judge also dropped Steelman's bond from $500,000 to $10,000 in the case.
Pennsylvania Attorney Faces Additional Charges for Running Poker Tourneys
Additional charges have been filed against Westmoreland, PA attorney Lawrence Burns in a matter surrounding Burns' running of smallish poker tourneys at suburban Pittsburgh locations. Burns already faced charges based on the original raid, and based on search warrants and computers and documents seized, have added charges connected to three other tournaments in nearby Seward that Burns is accused of operating. Burns insists in his defense that the tournaments are legal because poker is a game of skill and are therefore exempt from Pennsyvania gambling statutes, with the case providing a possible legal test for the poker-as-skill-game argument.
Betcha.com Extradition Request Postponed
A hearing to determine whether Washington-based Betcha.com founder Nick Jenkins will be extradited to Louisiana to face charges in that state has been delayed for a week when the Washington governor's office declined to immediately sign the Louisiana extradition request. The groundbreaking betcha.com site allowed sports bettors to communicate with each other but accepted no bets itself, and was therefore declared by founder Jenkins to be legal. Louisiana's efforts to prosecute Jenkins test the reach of state's rights and could serve as an important precedent for Internet gambling in general.
Pamela Anderson, Rick Salomon Get Hitched
"Baywatch" star Pamela Anderson officially re-tied the knot with her marriage to Rick Salomon on Saturday. Anderson, most noted in poker circles for her very short-lived PamelaPoker online room (a part of the Doyle Brunson Poker Network), married Salomon at the Mirage in Las Vegas only a few weeks after disclosing on the "Ellen" show that she'd fallen madly in love with a "professional poker player" that she'd owed $250,000 to from poker, and had then paid off that debt through, as she put it, "sexual favors." This is Salomon's second extended encounter with paparazzi starlet fame; Salomon first became notorious for marketing the video of his sex romp with Paris Hilton on the Internet.
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