heajung shin pechanga resort and casino arrest

“There is no evidence a robbery occurred,” Bluthenthal wrote. The purse was never recovered, Blumenthal said. Williams is the sister of Clippers basketball star Kawhi Leonard.ĭefense attorney Virginia Blumenthal sought to establish that Assad was already unsteady on her feet and could have slipped on wet tile in the bathroom. Assad had suffered neck injuries both in a Mother’s Day traffic collision in 2019 and two years before that during a fall down the stairs at home.īlumenthal wrote in a March court filing that video shows Williams and Townsel leaving the casino without bulges under their shirts that would have been created had they attempted to hide the purse, which Mary Assad testified was 18 inches wide and 6 inches tall. That same year, Williams was arrested on suspicion of trespassing at Morongo Casino Resort in Cabazon and pleaded guilty to intimidating a business, court records show.

Williams had been banned from the casino after she was convicted of stealing a wallet out of a purse there in 2015. Williams and Townsel had criminal records for theft but nothing more violent than snatching a purse. 5 when a Hemet police officer stopped her for jaywalking and discovered the warrant. 3 in Perris, and Townsel was arrested on Sept. Sheriff’s investigators recognized them from the video. 4.Ĭommitting a robbery during a murder made the defendants eligible to receive the death penalty, but District Attorney Mike Hestrin did not pursue that punishment.Īfter the attack, warrants were issued for the arrests of the suspects. Prosecutors contended that Assad fell or was knocked down and hit her head during the robbery, leading to her death on Sept.

Heajung shin pechanga resort and casino arrest