Casino Murder On B/W Camera?

Brian Rhodes

WARNING: The footage below shows people being shot:

The gunman allegedly was upset over the cost of a cover charge.

1. I was surprised to see that this footage is in monochrome, not color, despite plentiful light indoors.

2. What does Bally's gain by releasing this video to the public? Guys getting wacked out at Casinos are good in Scorsese movies, but it seems pretty pointless and in poor taste to release this video to news outlets, especially when the suspect is already caught.

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John Grocke

12/15/13 06:25pm

The casino probably turned the video over to law enforcement who then released it to the media.

Brian Rhodes

IPVMU Certified | In reply to John Grocke | 12/15/13 06:31pm

Thanks Grocke. That's interesting, but then why did the police release it to the media? Doesn't it make jury selection more difficult? I'm genuinely curious.

Carlton Purvis

In reply to Brian Rhodes | 12/15/13 10:14pm

The video was most likely released by the police not the casino. The reason for that is once it becomes evidence, it also becomes public record and once it becomes public record, it can be requested by the media (or anyone in the public). Sometimes law enforcement will go ahead and release video/911 calls etc. because they know they will get a lot of media requests for the footage, especially with murder cases.

It's pretty hard to get private entities to release video footage directly.

As far as tainting the jury pool, that can happen, but it's on the defense to request a change of venue. Although, sometimes the judge will go ahead and do it.

Carl Lindgren

12/15/13 06:45pm

Brian,

Two points:

1. Was the video actually released to HLN by Bally's or by some other entity like the police?

2. I'm not surprised at seeing monochrome video from a casino. Many factors come into play here:

Casinos, especially corporate-owned, resist spending money replacing Surveillance equipment until it dies.
There are a relatively large number of old timers who remember how poor the low light capabilities of early color cameras were and prefer to stay with B&W cameras.
B&W analog cameras tend to have higher resolution than their color equivalents.

My first boss claimed he could tell the color of a female customer's dress on our monochrome cameras. A subsequent test proved him wrong but he stilled maintained his position ;-o

Ben Wilks

12/15/13 06:55pm

I think a lot of people would be surprised to hear that the cameras used in casinos in las vegas are old and monochrome in a lot of cases. The area in question would not be a good place for a color shot. Casinos have lots of light and dark areas right next to each other, and I sometimes prefer a monochrome shot. That being said, most of the time it's due to the unwillingness of casinos to upgrade their equipment, which is unfortunate.

I agree with your thought on the pointless release of the video. It is more of the senseless human fascination with such actions.

John Honovich

IPVM | In reply to Ben Wilks | 12/16/13 04:49am

Ben, why would this 'not be a good place for a color shot'? What's the issue with light and dark areas that monochrome can handle but color cannot? It seems like a fairly straight up application for true WDR?

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