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Manipulator's Wife Sentenced
Tuesday, Jill Rockcastle, 50, was sentenced to 10 to life in a Nevada prison for the murder of her husband, professional poker player William "The Manipulator" Gustafik. Clark County District Court Judge Michael Villani presided over the sentencing.
Rockcastle pleaded no-contest Sept. 16 to stabbing Gustafik, 44, 15 times last year in their condo on the 23rd floor of the Panorama Towers in Las Vegas. The plea effectively acknowledged that state prosecutors could prove their case for second-degree murder.
Rockcastle's public defense lawyer, Joseph Abood, made the case that Rockcastle was a battered wife. The defense also cited several details in a suicide note penned by Rockcastle, which claimed that Gustafik had hired a hitman to kill his first wife, that he regularly took performance-enhancing drugs and that the couple underwent cosmetic surgery in order to sell fake real estate. But State Proscutor Sam Bateman contended that there was no evidence of domestic violence prior to the stabbing.
At the sentencing, Rockcastle evinced contrition for stabbing Gustafik, saying that she'd loved her husband and "just lost control."
- Phill Provance