Palazzo issue a key element in hearing

Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2000 | 11:08 a.m.

The stage has been set for potential fireworks at the upcoming hearing on whether Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish deserve a new trial in the slaying of Ted Binion.

Just how explosive the hearing will be hinges on whether District Judge Joseph Bonaventure decides to waive the attorney-client privilege between Tabish and his former lawyer, Louis Palazzo.

Bonaventure has promised a decision Friday morning before the start of the three-day hearing.

Chief Deputy District Attorney asked that the privilege, which prohibits lawyers from discussing private communications with clients, be waived so that he can defend Palazzo's professional conduct during the murder trial.

In his motion for a new trial last month, Tabish's current lawyer, William Terry, alleged that Palazzo gave poor legal advice to Tabish.

Terry charged that Palazzo refused to allow Tabish to take the witness stand and call key witnesses who would have portrayed his client in a more favorable light.

Palazzo "abandoned" the interests of Tabish in favor of those of the lawyer's mentor, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, a former Murphy attorney whose testimony became relevant to the defense toward the end of the trial, Terry alleged.

Terry said that Goodman's now-suspended top political aide, private investigator William Cassidy, was allowed to call the shots for the defense.

Cassidy, hired as a consultant for Murphy, was suspended last week from his City Hall job in part because he used a city cellular phone and ran up a large bill while working for the Binion defense. The suspension followed a Sun story disclosing that Cassidy reportedly talked about wanting to break into the homes of key prosecution players in the Binion trial. Cassidy called the story "fiction."

The allegations of ineffective counsel, which aren't likely to be heard by Bonaventure until next week, are just part of Terry's motion for a new trial.

On Friday Bonaventure plans to hear testimony from several of the 12 jurors who convicted Murphy and Tabish of killing Binion about accusations they rendered a verdict based on documents not brought into evidence.

Those allegations were raised by juror Joan Sanders in an interview with defense investigators and rebutted by 10 of her colleagues, including foreman Arthur Spear, Jr., in sworn affidavits given to prosecutors.

On Tuesday, Terry filed court papers opposing Roger's efforts to persuade Bonaventure to waive the attorney-client privilege.

Terry urged Bonaventure to allow Palazzo to testify about his conversations with Tabish on a limited basis only.

But Roger said this morning state laws allow the waiver so that an attorney can defend himself.

"It seems to me that when you're suggesting that Tabish was talked out of testifying, there are a lot of factors that go into that decision," Roger said. "There may be some skeletons within the defense that Palazzo didn't want to come out."