{"id":273600,"date":"2023-05-15T15:11:37","date_gmt":"2023-05-15T20:11:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=273600"},"modified":"2023-05-16T12:58:16","modified_gmt":"2023-05-16T17:58:16","slug":"harrahs-joliet-stranger-killer-guilty-of-murder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/harrahs-joliet-stranger-killer-guilty-of-murder\/","title":{"rendered":"Harrah\u2019s Joliet Stranger-Killer Guilty of Murder"},"content":{"rendered":"

A homeless man who stabbed a senior citizen to death in a hallway of the Harrah\u2019s Joliet Casino, apparently at random, has been found guilty of first-degree murder, Patch.com<\/em> reports.<\/p>\n

\"Harrah\u2019s
Lawyers for Robert Watson, above, argued their client was not guilty by reason of insanity in the murder of Sam Burgarino, a Wisconsin sports bar owner. (Image: Patch.com<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While jurors in Will County, Ill., 35 miles southwest of Chicago, agreed that Robert Watson<\/a> was mentally ill, they rejected the public defenders\u2019 argument that he was not guilty by reason of insanity.<\/p>\n

That means Watson will have to serve his yet-to-be-determined prison sentence of between 20 and 100 years fully, although he will have access to mental health treatment behind bars.<\/p>\n

Shocking Attack<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Watson was arrested on March 25, 2019, at the Joliet Public Library, the day after he stabbed to death 76-year-old Emanuel \u201cSam\u201d Burgarino, a sports bar owner from Wisconsin and a guest at the hotel.<\/p>\n

During the two-week trial, the jury heard that Watson prowled the casino<\/a> for two days, unchallenged by staff in the leadup to the shocking attack. Burgarino was knifed 26 times as his girlfriend waited for him on the gaming floor below.<\/p>\n

\n

Public defenders argued that Watson has suffered for the past 10 years with untreated schizophrenia. This has caused him to develop a preoccupation with water, which he believes is being poisoned to control his mind.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The prosecution argued that he was faking mental illness to avoid the consequences of his crime.<\/p>\n

\u2018Makes No Sense\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

During closing arguments, Will Count public defender Shenonda Tisdale urged jurors to remember the security video from Harrah\u2019s. This showed Watson clutching his blood-stained writing papers as he ran from the casino after the attack.<\/p>\n

“He’s holding papers in his hands, more of (the) crazy thoughts … just none of it makes any sense,” she argued, as reported by Patch.com<\/em>. “This just never should have happened.<\/p>\n

There’s been no motive established. No money missing from Mr. Burgarino, and yet the state wants you to believe there was a motive when there was not,”<\/strong> she added.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Tisdale suggested Watson was delusional at the time of the killing and may have believed Burgarino was \u201csome sort of spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burgarino\u2019s girlfriend, Denise Dixon, sued Harrah\u2019s owner Caesars Entertainment for negligence in February 2021, arguing Harrah\u2019s staff failed in their duty of care to protect Burgarino.<\/p>\n

The case went to mediation. But as of June 2022, the parties had failed to agree on a settlement, according to court documents.<\/p>\n

Watson is scheduled to be sentenced on July 31.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A homeless man who stabbed a senior citizen to death in a hallway of the Harrah\u2019s Joliet Casino, apparently at random, has been found guilty of first-degree murder, Patch.com reports. While jurors in Will County, Ill., 35 miles southwest of Chicago, agreed that Robert Watson was mentally ill, they rejected the public defenders\u2019 argument that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":203921,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,21,60,18],"tags":[84632,84931,86340],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHarrah\u2019s Joliet Stranger-Killer Guilty of Murder<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Jury finds Robert Watson guilty of first-degree murder in killing of Sam Burgarino at Harrahs Joliet, meaning full prison sentence.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/harrahs-joliet-stranger-killer-guilty-of-murder\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Harrah\u2019s Joliet Stranger-Killer Guilty of Murder\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jury finds Robert Watson guilty of first-degree murder in killing of Sam Burgarino at Harrahs Joliet, meaning full prison sentence.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/harrahs-joliet-stranger-killer-guilty-of-murder\/\" \/>\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=\"2023-05-15T20:11:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-16T17:58:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/watson-e1675885788724.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"831\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\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-stranger-killer-guilty-of-murder\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/harrahs-joliet-stranger-killer-guilty-of-murder\/\",\"name\":\"Harrah\u2019s Joliet Stranger-Killer Guilty of Murder\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/harrahs-joliet-stranger-killer-guilty-of-murder\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/harrahs-joliet-stranger-killer-guilty-of-murder\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/watson-e1675885788724.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-15T20:11:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-16T17:58:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Jury finds Robert Watson guilty of first-degree murder in killing of Sam Burgarino at Harrahs Joliet, meaning full prison sentence.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/harrahs-joliet-stranger-killer-guilty-of-murder\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/harrahs-joliet-stranger-killer-guilty-of-murder\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/harrahs-joliet-stranger-killer-guilty-of-murder\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/watson-e1675885788724.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/watson-e1675885788724.jpg\",\"width\":831,\"height\":675,\"caption\":\"Lawyers for Robert Watson, above, argued their client was not guilty by reason of insanity in the murder of Sam Burgarino, a Wisconsin sports bat owner. 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