Raymond Davis Poker Jail
Prominent Las Vegas poker pro Raymond Davis has reached a plea deal with Nevada authorities to resolve sex-related charges that could have resulted in a lengthy prison stint. Instead, after already spending more than a year behind bars, he has been released with a time-served sentence, though he could still face a one-to-six-year term should. LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A high profile poker player has pleaded guilty after he was accused of sex crimes, and this is a case with many twists and turns. Raymond Davis spoke with the I-Team from a Las Vegas jail last November. Vanessa Murphy: “Have you paid underage girls for sexual acts? The law minister of Punjab province, Rana Sanaullah, made the announcement hours after Davis appeared at a makeshift court in the jail where he was being held. Davis was freed under the Islamic.
Asia
CIA contractor Raymond Davis has been released after families of the two Pakistanis he killed pardoned him in exchange for compensation. Davis' case has placed a serious strain on US-Pakistan ties.
Raymond Allen Davis, a CIA contractor, indicted for two counts of murder is released
A CIA contractor Raymond Davis, indicted earlier in the day on two murder charges in Pakistan, has been acquitted and released after a deal to pay blood money to families of the two Pakistani men he killed.
The deal ends a long-simmering diplomatic standoff between Washington and Islamabad.
Pakistani police escort arrested US citizen Raymond Davis, who claims he acted in self-defence
Following a lengthy court hearing on Wednesday at the Lahore jail where Davis had been detained under tight security, and where a media blackout had been imposed, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah has confirmed to Reuters that “the court acquitted him in the murder case.'
Earlier on Wednesday the court had charged Davis on two counts of murder. 'The court first indicted him but the families later told the court that they have accepted the blood money and they have pardoned him,' said Sanaullah.
Deal to pay blood money
Blood money, or 'diyat' is a provision commonly used under Pakistani and Islamic sharia law in which compensation can be paid to the relatives of those killed to secure a pardon.
Supporters of Pakistani religious party Jamat-e-Islami rally against Raymond Davis
Such payments are sanctioned by Islamic law and are common in some parts of rural Pakistan as a way to settle disputes. 'He has been released from jail. Now it is up to him. He can go wherever he wants,' Sanaullah told private Geo television.
Lawyers for the families of the two men who were shot dead said they were present for four hours at the jail court where Davis was being tried on Wednesday, but had not been allowed to witness proceedings.
'We were not allowed to leave the prison,' one of the lawyers, Asad Manzoor Butt, told AFP. Butt claimed that the families of the men had agreed with authorities to accept blood money over the deaths the previous night.
Another laywer for the families, Nauman Atiq, confirmed that the lawyers were held at the court and ordered not to speak to media.
US-Pakistan stand-off ends
Raymond Davis, 36, a former special forces soldier, had been in jail since he shot dead two Pakistani men in the eastern city of Lahore on January 27. Davis has always claimed he acted in self-defence and has been backed by US authorities who say he was an embassy employee with full diplomatic immunity.
Banner in native language read 'Raymond Davis should be hanged publicly'
The Davis case until now has created tension in relations between the United States and Pakistan, a vital ally in the US-led campaign against Taliban militants in Afghanistan.
It also strained ties between the CIA and Pakistan's main Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency which said it was unaware Davis was working in Pakistan.
Author: Sherpem Sherpa (Reuters/AFP/dpa)
Editor: Grahame Lucas
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Raymond Davis, founder of the RealGrinders poker site that has almost 18,000 members on Facebook, has given an interview from jail as he faces serious sexual abuse charges that could see him spend 35 years in prison.
The 52-year old Wisconsin-born pro, who now lives in California, was arrested this year, some two-and-a-half years after a warrant was issued in connection with several accusations of sexual crimes against minors.
The details of the charges include one of masturbating while watching two minors shower, while also paying one of the minors to give him oral sex, after grooming them on Facebook.
In an interview this week from a Las Vegas jail, Davis claimed to 8NewsNow:
“I have never, never in my life, paid a girl, underage woman, girl for sex.'
The news station’s I-Team investigative reporters quizzed him on why the police had taken so long to execute the arrest warrant, Davis only arrested after a completely unrelated traffic stop.
Davis claimed:
“They never made an effort to come to my house. They never came to my store. I’m very high profile; anybody, a 10-year-old Boy Scout can find me.”
The RealGrinders group founded by Davis also has a bricks-and-mortar lounge in Las Vegas, close to the Rio Casino, Davis explaining it would have been easy enough for police to find him.
'I got a big following. I’m on social media. My whereabouts is there. I got a custom red Camaro, my name on it, my business RG on it.”
The crimes allegedly occurred in 2014, with several posters on the Poker Fraud Alert website referencing even earlier accusations of sexual abuse dating back as far as 2004, which were eventually dropped – but coincided with his divorce.
Of the current charges, Davis told the I-Team’s Vanessa Murphy:
“If there was an arrest warrant, and I was a danger to the community, why wouldn’t they come and get me?”
He added:
“If they would have sent me a subpoena saying I had a warrant, I would have just went downtown or turned myself in, went to court, paid bail, whatever.”
Raymond Davis Poker Jail Search
The court, however, has raised his bail from $25,000 to $500,000 –with ‘house arrest’ and ‘high-level monitoring’ included in the conditions.
That occurred after Davis represented himself in court, accusing the judge and others of various misdeeds and causing his impending trial to be postponed.
Davis later apologised to the court, but was ordered to undertake a psychiatric evaluation. Davis will now stand trial in February 2020 and faces up to 35 years in prison.
Raymond Davis has $1,663,459 in live cashes recorded on the Hendon Mob, the biggest being a $177,600 payout at the 2008 WSOP.
Raymond Davis Poker Jail Roster
His 10th place in that year’s $50k HORSE bracelet event was ahead of notables such as Daniel Negreanu, Phil Ivey and Doyle Brunson, with the tournament eventually being won by Scotty Nguyen.
RealGrinders includes Mike 'The Mouth' Matusow, Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan and Brian Hastings among its Team pros.