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Man convicted in Aspen-linked bomb plot

The Denver Post
Aspen, CO Colorado

TUCSON, Ariz. – Jurors in Tucson, Ariz., deliberated for 12 hours Wednesday before finding Ronald Young guilty in the 1996 murder-for-hire plot that prosecutors said was orchestrated in Aspen by the victim’s ex-wife, socialite Pamela Phillips.

Prosecutors claimed Phillips paid Young $400,000 to kill her ex-husband, wealthy Tucson real-estate developer Gary Triano.

Triano was killed when a pipe bomb planted in his Lincoln Town Car exploded in November 1996, as he was leaving for a party to celebrate his 53rd birthday.



Phillips was a fugitive until she was arrested in Austria in December. She is awaiting extradition from Europe. In addition to murder charges, she also faces a $10 million judgment to Triano’s adult children from another marriage; they filed a wrongful death suit against her in 2007.

Young, 67, faces life with the possibility of parole when he is sentenced on May 3.




Phillips moved to Aspen in 1993, after she divorced Triano. They had married in 1986. In Aspen she met Young, who was her neighbor, prosecutors said.

E-mails, voice-mails and financial records Young recorded and kept linked Phillips to Young in the killing, according to testimony in the trial that began Feb. 23.

At the time of the bombing, Young was under investigation for business fraud and later served three years on those charges.