{"id":272858,"date":"2023-05-10T12:24:13","date_gmt":"2023-05-10T17:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=272858"},"modified":"2023-05-11T13:09:31","modified_gmt":"2023-05-11T18:09:31","slug":"harrahs-joliet-murder-accused-prowled-casino-for-two-days-court-hears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/harrahs-joliet-murder-accused-prowled-casino-for-two-days-court-hears\/","title":{"rendered":"Harrah\u2019s Joliet Accused Murderer Prowled Casino for Two Days, Court Hears"},"content":{"rendered":"

A man accused of brutally murdering a stranger at Harrah\u2019s Joliet was permitted to wander the casino for two days without being challenged, a jury in Will County, Ill. heard.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Robert Watson (right) appears in court at the start of his trial last week. The defendant initially denied he wanted to plead insanity before changing his mind. (Image: Patch.com<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Robert Watson<\/a> allegedly stabbed 76-year-old Emmanuel \u201cSam\u201d Burgarino 26 times in a hallway on the fifth floor before robbing him and leaving him to die. His lawyers contend he suffers from schizophrenia and was mentally incompetent at the time of the killing.<\/p>\n

On Monday, the jury saw a security video from Harrahs that showed Watson prowling the property over two days without being questioned by casino staff, Patch.com<\/em> reports.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Larry Ferguson, manager of surveillance at Harrah’s Casino Joliet, testified that Watson must have spent the night somewhere inside the casino as there was no footage that showed him exiting the building between midnight and 7 a.m.<\/p>\n

\u2018Deserves Oscar\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

On Tuesday, Dr. Monica Argumedo told the jury that if Watson was faking his mental illness, as prosecutors contended, he deserved an Oscar, Patch.com<\/em> reported. Argumedo said Watson was admitted to a mental institution in 2013 after he climbed a water tower naked. He later told doctors that he had heard voices and threatened to jump from the tower because he \u201cwanted to see God.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Watson has since developed a preoccupation with water, which he believes has been poisoned to control his mind. He has refused to eat food at the Will County Jail because he believes this has also been poisoned. He has repeatedly exposed himself to the staff at the jail, according to Argumedo.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Last week, at the start of his trial, Watson told the judge that he wanted to get rid of his public defense lawyer, Shenonda Tisdale, and denied he was insane.<\/p>\n

“I did not kill the man at the casino,” Watson said. “My public defender is trying to get me to make an insanity plea.”<\/p>\n

After the court was briefly adjourned so that Tisdale could consult with her client, Watson agreed to proceed with the insanity plea.<\/p>\n

Civil Claim Stalled<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Burgarino was visiting the casino with his girlfriend, Denise Dixon, when he was killed. Dixon, who had been waiting for him on the gaming floor, later sued<\/a> operator Caesars Entertainment for negligence, arguing Harrah\u2019s staff failed in their duty of care to protect Burgarino.<\/p>\n

The case went to mediation, but as of June last year, no settlement had been reached, and the parties were \u201cat an impasse,\u201d according to court documents.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Watson was arrested the day after the murder in the Joliet Public Library, just two blocks from the casino. Police found Burgarino\u2019s bloodstained cash in his backpack.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A man accused of brutally murdering a stranger at Harrah\u2019s Joliet was permitted to wander the casino for two days without being challenged, a jury in Will County, Ill. heard. Robert Watson allegedly stabbed 76-year-old Emmanuel \u201cSam\u201d Burgarino 26 times in a hallway on the fifth floor before robbing him and leaving him to die. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":272864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,21,18],"tags":[86243,84632,84931,13692],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHarrah\u2019s Joliet Murder Accused Prowled Casino for Two Days<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Robert Watson is accused of the shocking murder of Emmanuel Burgarino at Harrahs Joliet in March 2019. He is pleading insanity.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Harrah\u2019s Joliet Murder Accused Prowled Casino for Two Days\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Robert Watson is accused of the shocking murder of Emmanuel Burgarino at Harrahs Joliet in March 2019. He is pleading insanity.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/harrahs-joliet-murder-accused-prowled-casino-for-two-days-court-hears\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-05-10T17:24:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-11T18:09:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/watson.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/harrahs-joliet-murder-accused-prowled-casino-for-two-days-court-hears\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/harrahs-joliet-murder-accused-prowled-casino-for-two-days-court-hears\/\",\"name\":\"Harrah\u2019s Joliet Murder Accused Prowled Casino for Two Days\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/harrahs-joliet-murder-accused-prowled-casino-for-two-days-court-hears\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/harrahs-joliet-murder-accused-prowled-casino-for-two-days-court-hears\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/watson.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-10T17:24:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-11T18:09:31+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Robert Watson is accused of the shocking murder of Emmanuel Burgarino at Harrahs Joliet in March 2019. He is pleading insanity.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/harrahs-joliet-murder-accused-prowled-casino-for-two-days-court-hears\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/harrahs-joliet-murder-accused-prowled-casino-for-two-days-court-hears\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/harrahs-joliet-murder-accused-prowled-casino-for-two-days-court-hears\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/watson.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/watson.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":750,\"caption\":\"Robert Watson appears in court at the start of his trial last week. The defendant initially denied he wanted to plead insanity before changing his mind. (Image: Patch.com)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/harrahs-joliet-murder-accused-prowled-casino-for-two-days-court-hears\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Crime & Scandals\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/scandals\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Harrah\u2019s Joliet Accused Murderer Prowled Casino for Two Days, Court Hears\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\",\"name\":\"Philip Conneller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Philip Conneller\"},\"description\":\"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Harrah\u2019s Joliet Murder Accused Prowled Casino for Two Days","description":"Robert Watson is accused of the shocking murder of Emmanuel Burgarino at Harrahs Joliet in March 2019. He is pleading insanity.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Harrah\u2019s Joliet Murder Accused Prowled Casino for Two Days","og_description":"Robert Watson is accused of the shocking murder of Emmanuel Burgarino at Harrahs Joliet in March 2019. He is pleading insanity.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/harrahs-joliet-murder-accused-prowled-casino-for-two-days-court-hears\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2023-05-10T17:24:13+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-05-11T18:09:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":750,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/watson.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Philip Conneller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@casinoorgphilc","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Philip Conneller","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/harrahs-joliet-murder-accused-prowled-casino-for-two-days-court-hears\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/harrahs-joliet-murder-accused-prowled-casino-for-two-days-court-hears\/","name":"Harrah\u2019s Joliet Murder Accused Prowled Casino for Two Days","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/harrahs-joliet-murder-accused-prowled-casino-for-two-days-court-hears\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/harrahs-joliet-murder-accused-prowled-casino-for-two-days-court-hears\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/watson.jpg","datePublished":"2023-05-10T17:24:13+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-11T18:09:31+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b"},"description":"Robert Watson is accused of the shocking murder of Emmanuel Burgarino at Harrahs Joliet in March 2019. He is pleading insanity.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/harrahs-joliet-murder-accused-prowled-casino-for-two-days-court-hears\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/harrahs-joliet-murder-accused-prowled-casino-for-two-days-court-hears\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/harrahs-joliet-murder-accused-prowled-casino-for-two-days-court-hears\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/watson.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/watson.jpg","width":1000,"height":750,"caption":"Robert Watson appears in court at the start of his trial last week. The defendant initially denied he wanted to plead insanity before changing his mind. (Image: Patch.com)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/harrahs-joliet-murder-accused-prowled-casino-for-two-days-court-hears\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Crime & Scandals","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/scandals\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Harrah\u2019s Joliet Accused Murderer Prowled Casino for Two Days, Court Hears"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b","name":"Philip Conneller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","caption":"Philip Conneller"},"description":"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk","https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272858"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272858"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":273062,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272858\/revisions\/273062"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}