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Thread: Richard Conte Sentenced to LWOP in 2002 AR Double Homicide

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    Richard Conte Sentenced to LWOP in 2002 AR Double Homicide

    A former Douglas County emergency room doctor, scheduled to be released Sunday from Nevada on second-degree kidnapping charges, was charged today with capital murder in the death of the ex-husband of the woman he kidnapped.

    Arkansas authorities will seek the extradition of Richard Conte, 61, to face murder charges in the May 18, 2002, deaths of Carter Elliott, 49, and his employee, Timothy Robertson, 25, in Conway, Ark.

    Both Conte and Elliott had been married to Lark Gathright-Elliott. Conte’s marriage to her in 2001 lasted three months.

    A month after the pair were slain in Arkansas, Conte kidnapped Gathright-Elliott from Utah and took her to his Clear Creek Canyon subdivision home. A contract physician with Carson-Tahoe Hospital, he drugged her. Sheriff’s deputies rescued her.

    Conte pleaded guilty in 2003 to second-degree kidnapping and to illegally administering a controlled substance and received a 15-year sentence.

    Cody Hiland took over as prosecuting attorney in Arkansas’ Twentieth Judicial District, which includes Conway, in January.

    As to why he waited until the Friday before Conte’s release to file charges, Hiland replied: “This is an extensive file and obviously a serious issue. We had to examine it to determine whether prosecution was warranted.”

    As far as prosecutors before him not filing charges, Hiland said, “I can’t speak for what has happened since 2002.”

    Like Nevada, not every murder case in Arkansas can be a death penalty case. Hiland declined to discuss what justified the death penalty charges against Conte.

    Based on his experience with these kinds of cases, he expects it to go to trial in 15 months to 18 months, Hiland said.

    Lake Tahoe lawyer William Cole, who defended Conte on the Nevada charges, said in a 2003 interview that Conte has an alibi. Someone can place Conte in southern Utah the weekend of the Arkansas murders, Cole said.

    “He’s a sitting duck for these kinds of accusations because of what happened with his wife,” Cole said. “If you look in one place hard enough, all the evidence seems to point in that direction because you’re not looking anywhere else.”

    Investigators pointed out that they were able to find on Conte’s computer an Internet map for Conway and a list of law enforcement frequencies for central Arkansas.

    “As far as our division is concerned, we’ve got the right man,” Conway, Ark., police Maj. Mark Elsinger said in 2003.

    http://www.rgj.com/article/20110826/...t|Local%20News

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    Former Carson City doctor fighting extradition to Arkansas in death penalty case

    A former Carson City emergency room doctor who was recently paroled from a Nevada prison after serving time in the 2002 kidnapping of his estranged wife from Utah is fighting his return to Arkansas to face charges in the death of the woman's ex-husband and an associate.

    The Nevada Appeal reports that a Carson City judge on Wednesday set a Friday extradition hearing for 61-year-old Richard Conte.

    Prosecutors in Conway, Ark., filed murder charges last week in the May 2002 deaths of 49-year-old Carter Elliott and his 25-year-old employee Timothy Robertson.

    Conte was paroled last week after serving nine years for drugging and kidnapping Lark Gathright-Elliott from her Salt Lake City home.

    The kidnapping happened about a month after authorities said Carter Elliott and Robertson were killed.

    http://www.rgj.com/article/20110901/...yssey=nav|head

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    Doctor's early prison release shocks victim, authorities

    Nine years ago, Carson City emergency room doctor Richard Conte kidnapped his ex-wife, Lark Gathright-Elliott, in Utah, drugged her and drove her to his Douglas County home, where he chained her to a bed.

    Conte, 61, got a 15-year prison sentence in 2003 for second-degree kidnapping and illegally administering a drug and was sent to prison.

    Gathright-Elliott was stunned to learn on Aug. 22 that Conte wasn't going to be released from prison in late September as originally expected. Thanks to last-minute credits for participating in a prison program, he was getting out the following Sunday, Aug. 28.

    "I felt very angry," Gathright-Elliott said in an interview. "I felt very frustrated by a system that was supposed to protect me. I needed the time to file a restraining order and prepare myself for the fact that my kidnapper was going to walk free."

    The release was also a surprise to authorities in Conway, Ark. Cody Hiland had been elected prosecuting attorney for the area last year, and his platform against his opponent included criticism for not prosecuting Conte on a pair of murder charges in Conway. Carter Elliott, a man to whom Gathright-Elliott was married before her three-month marriage to Conte, was murdered a month before Conte kidnapped her. So was Timothy Robertson, Carter Elliott's employee.

    The Conway Police Department checked in July and was told Conte's release was going to be the end of September, Hiland said.

    After hearing of Conte's impending release on Aug. 28, Hiland's office filed criminal charges in Conway on the Friday before his release and got an Arkansas judge to issue a warrant for Conte's arrest. Hiland is seeking the death penalty on murder charges. Conte is fighting extradition to Arkansas.

    "We had enough time to file," Hiland said. "That's the important thing here, that we were able to make a decision prior to Mr. Conte being released."

    When Conte was scheduled to be released, he would have served every possible day available in his sentence in Nevada's prison system. He was not being paroled, and he would not have been under supervision once he was free. In prison parlance, he had flattened out his time. So what could this have meant to Arkansas authorities if Conte went free before they filed charges?

    "I hate to speculate on hypothetical situations because that's not the way it went down," Hiland responded.

    The Nevada Department of Corrections said there was little it could do about Conte's last-minute efforts that got his release date changed. It came out during his parole hearing that Conte has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Conte took part in a senior structured-living program designed to help inmates cope with infirmities, said Steve Suwe, a Nevada Department of Corrections classification and planning specialist.

    "If a guy finishes a class and gets credit, he's out," Suwe said.

    Suwe said they try to give people registered as victims 30 days of an inmate's release when they can. In Conte's case, they found out about Conte's new release date the same day Gathright-Elliott called, Suwe said.

    The law on victim notification is Nevada Revised Statute 209.52, and it does not set any time requirements for victim notification. And given the flexibility inmates have to earn good-time credit, Suwe said any time requirements would mean the sentencing and good-time credit laws would have to be changed.

    Gathright-Elliott said that sounds like a good idea to her.

    "The victim services at Northern Nevada Correctional Center have always been very helpful to me," she said. "They've always taken my calls. So this was very unexpected."

    Still, Gathright-Elliott was relying on the prison system to notify her that the perpetrator of a crime against her was going to be released. It wasn't until she called that she found out. The prison system sent her a letter informing her that Conte was going to be released postmarked the day after she called.

    "If I wasn't notified, I wonder how many other people have slipped through the cracks," she said.

    Assemblywoman Debbie Smith, D-Sparks, said she understands Gathright-Elliott's concerns and would like to see if changes to the law can be made. Any change in the law would have to be researched by legislative staff to see if it is legal, Smith said.

    "Part of the problem we have on a lot of these parole issues is that we're continually cutting back on the staff that manages these hearings and notifications," Smith said.

    State Sen. Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, called Nevada a victim-friendly state and said it seems Gathright-Elliott should have been given more notice.

    "We try to address victims' rights very clearly in the law, and it sounds like it's a loophole that needs to be closed," Leslie said.

    http://www.rgj.com/article/20110912/...yssey=nav|head

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    Death penalty no longer a possibility for Conte

    The death penalty is off the table for a man accused of the 2002 murders of Carter Elliott, 48, and Timothy Robertson, 25.

    At a pre-trial hearing held Thursday, an attorney for Richard Conte, 61, was informed by representatives for the prosecuting attorney's office that they would not be seeking the death penalty based on the facts in the case.

    According to Cody Hiland, prosecuting attorney for the 20th Judicial District, while the facts in the case are strong, they do not meet the criteria needed to have the death penalty be an option for punishment in this case.

    http://www.katv.com/story/16227020/d...lity-for-conte

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    Ex-Carson City doctor released from jail pending capital murder trial in Arkansas

    A former Carson City emergency room doctor charged in a double murder will be allowed to leave jail — and the state — pending his trial in Arkansas after a judge agreed Friday that prosecutors failed to quickly take the case to trial.

    Richard Conte, 62, will have to wear an electronic monitor and remain under house arrest at his mother’s home in Wisconsin, according to a ruling from Judge Charles E. Clawson Jr.

    Conte’s attorney, Jack Lassiter, had argued that the former emergency room doctor should be released pending his January trial because the law requires that defendants be freed if they are not tried within nine months of being charged. The judge agreed and granted Lassiter’s request.

    Conte was charged in 2011 for the shooting deaths of businessman Carter Elliott, 49, and his associate Timothy Wayne Robertson, 25, in Conway, Ark.

    The charges were filed shortly before Conte was released from prison in Carson city where he was serving a sentence for kidnapping his ex-wife, Lark Gathright-Elliott, who was once married to Elliott. Conte held her captive in his Douglas County home.

    Conte has pleaded not guilty to the murder charges. His trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 8.

    Prosecutor Cody Hiland, who is not seeking the death penalty in the case, said he doesn’t plan to challenge the judge’s decision. He noted that Conte is in a wheelchair and not in good health.

    “We’re completely comfortable with his decision, that it’s within the law,” Hiland said.

    http://www.rgj.com/viewart/20121028/...trial-Arkansas
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    Conte was sentenced to life without parole plus two consecutive 15-year sentences for using a firearm. The judge gave him a chance to speak after the sentence was read but he refused.


    Doctor convicted in Conway double slaying

    A jury in Faulkner County has found a doctor guilty of killing two men at a Conway home in 2002.

    The panel deliberated about an hour on Friday before convicting 63-year-old Richard Conte of two counts of capital murder. Conte was accused in the shooting deaths of 49-year-old Carter Elliott and 25-year-old Timothy Wayne Robertson.

    Little Rock television station KTHV reports (http://is.gd/7qCpwI ) that Prosecutor Cody Hiland did not seek the death penalty. That leaves the only sentencing option of life in prison without parole.

    Prosecutors charged Conte in 2011 as he was being released from prison in Nevada, where he was serving time for kidnapping his ex-wife, Lark Gathright-Elliott — who was once married to Carter Elliott.

    Prosecutors used a fast food receipt to tie Conte to the scene.

    Read more: http://www.ctpost.com/news/crime/art...#ixzz2INNRFGIi
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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