Michael balsamo casino

CARSON CITY -- A convicted slot cheat from Las Vegas will stay in prison, but 15 of more than three dozen of her convictions have been tossed out.

The Nevada Supreme Court threw out the convictions of using a cheating device charges against Stephanie Balsamo, who was part of a family arrested in on charges of cheating on slots in Southern Nevada casinos.

The court ruled those convictions for use of a cheating device were invalid because prosecutors failed to show the devices were in her possession on some of the dates she was accused of cheating.

But the court ruled that other cheating convictions, along with nine convictions for burglary and numerous others against Balsamo, 49, should stand.

Even with the 15 convictions removed, Balsamo still has 22 other, one-year to four-year convictions for which she is serving time at the Nevada Women's Correctional Center in North Las Vegas, Department of Corrections records show.

Balsamo; her husband, Michael; her mother, Lavonna Wallace; and son Derrick Bowman were arrested in on charges they used devices to trick slot machines into paying more coins. Michael Balsamo's name has been placed in Nevada's Black Book of people banned from casinos.

In the decision made Monday, the Supreme Court noted that Ray Gentry, director of security for Nevada Landing, the Gold Strike and Whiskey Pete's casinos, testified he saw Stephanie Balsamo on May 30, , with a device that she put into a slot payout bin and then appeared to be manipulating the machines.

Purported cheating devices later were seized from Balsamo's home.

According to the court, they were equipped with lights or places for lights to attach to batteries.

While the court found prosecutors improperly led witnesses during their testimony and gave opinions in the closing argument, these errors did not affect the verdict since sufficient other evidence of cheating was presented to the jury.

"We conclude that the cumulative effect of the errors did not deny Balsamo of a fair trial and no relief is warranted," other than tossing out the 15 convictions, the justices concluded.