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Young, in phone recording, threatens Triano's ex-wife
Mar 12, 2010 (The Arizona Daily Star - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
Jurors in Ronald Young's murder trial saw him give a police interview on Wednesday.
On Thursday, they heard him threaten the woman who is accused of hiring him to kill her former husband.
Young, 67, is on trial in Pima County Superior Court on charges of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the pipe-bomb killing of commercial real estate developer Gary Triano, 52, in November 1996.
Prosecutors contend Triano's former wife, Pamela Phillips, hired Young to kill Triano for $400,000 -- one-fifth of the $2 million she received from Triano's life insurance policy.
Young's attorneys say Young didn't kill Triano and the thousands he received over the years from Phillips were blackmail payments.
On Thursday afternoon, Deputy Pima County Attorney Shawn Jensvold played a recording of an undated conversation between Young and Phillips that was seized after Young's arrest in November 2005 in an unrelated case.
Because Young was the one making the recording, he is easier to hear than Phillips, said Keith Parise, the technical expert with the U.S. Secret Service who downloaded the recording to compact disc.
Young tells Phillips he is on his deathbed and needs money to get to Mexico for surgery.
Phillips promises Young she'll give him as much as she can when she can, but Young keeps pressing her. At one point, Young says, "I'm glad for you that the 1.6 was tax-free."
And at another point, he asks, "Have you sent my principal yet?"
Phillips repeatedly tells Young she has to get off the phone to make an appointment, but the two continue to argue.
"I am not going to send you more and more money unless I know you're going to honor our agreement," Phillips says at one point.
Moments later, she says, "Right now I want to know that we're capping it at four."
Young tells Phillips he wants it as soon as possible, but they'll discuss the final figure when he gets back from Mexico.
"We'll come up with a figure. Maybe I'll agree to four," Young said.
Phillips continues to say she wants the issue settled, but Young says they should discuss it in a more reasonable fashion when he gets back.
"I am very serious about this," Phillips said.
"You'll be very serious when you're sitting in a women's prison for murdering ... when you're sitting in a women's prison for murder," Young replies.
Phillips tells Young she'll be back at 4 o'clock and the call ends abruptly.
Young and Phillips were indicted in Triano's death in October 2008, and Young was arrested immediately in California.
Phillips was arrested in Austria in December 2009 and is awaiting extradition.
Judge Christopher Browning is presiding over the trial.
Contact reporter Kim Smith at 573-4241 or kimsmith@azstarnet.com
To see more of The Arizona Daily Star, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to
http://www.azstarnet.com. Copyright (c) 2010, The Arizona Daily Star, Tucson
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