Defense claims of informant rejected

Friday, Feb. 18, 2000 | 11:20 a.m.

District Judge Joseph Bonaventure today found no merit to claims prosecutors planted a jailhouse informant next to murder defendant Rick Tabish to steal his confidential notes.

Bonaventure denied a request from Tabish's attorney, Louis Palazzo, to dismiss the murder charges against Tabish in Ted Binion's slaying because of the activities of the informant, David Gomez.

"The defense has not met its burden," Bonaventure said. "The defense has shown this court supposition upon supposition and inference upon inference."

Bonaventure said that after two days of hearings, he found no evidence of misconduct on the part of prosecutors.

He said he also found nothing in the record that demonstrated jail officials intentionally enlisted Gomez to infiltrate Tabish's cellblock.

Earlier this week Palazzo acknowledged in court that he had no "smoking gun" to prove that prosecutors had placed Gomez with Tabish.

And Bonaventure suggested that Tabish could have "made up" the story to embarrass the prosecution, as his March 13 murder trial approaches.

Gomez, a reputed member of the Mexican Mafia in Southern California, asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination on the witness stand Monday and refused to answer questions about the theft of Tabish's papers.

Palazzo today sought to bring Gomez back to testify, arguing that he had waived his Fifth Amendment right by giving television interviews on the reported theft. But Bonaventure refused to allow Gomez back on the stand.

Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger, the lead prosecutor in the case, insisted throughout the two days of hearings that he did not ask jail officials to put Gomez next to Tabish.

Roger also scolded Palazzo for raising the allegations and questioning his ethics before investigating the claims made by his client.

Intelligence detectives, Roger said, learned that Gomez was in the same protective custody area as Tabish, when Gomez reported to jail officials that he had information Tabish was plotting to kill Binion's gardener, Tom Loveday, a key witness in the murder case.

Gomez claimed to have a hand-written note from Tabish indicating he was willing to pay $200,000 to have Loveday killed.

But Roger said detectives concluded the note was not written by Tabish, and they dropped the matter.

Bonaventure today also refused to reconsider granting bail for Tabish after Roger provided more details in court about an alleged plot by Tabish to pay witnesses to provide him with an alibi on the morning of Binion's Sept. 17, 1998, slaying.

Roger told Bonaventure the reported scheme demonstrates that Tabish does not deserve to be released on bail.

"When defendants attempt to manipulate the justice system and manipulate witnesses, there's something wrong with that," Roger said.

The prosecutor said information he has received from Jason Lee Frazier, a 28-year-old Tabish friend and business associate, "casts a certain cloud" over Tabish's alibi in Binion's slaying.

Frazier was arrested Monday in Missoula, Mont., on a material witness warrant for the upcoming Binion murder trial.

While in custody, he confessed to participating in the alleged plot with Tabish to pay the witnesses.

Prosecutors promised not to charge Frazier in the conspiracy in return for his testimony against Tabish at the March 13 trial.

Despite his cooperation, Frazier was ordered held on $1 million bail because of concerns he might flee the country to avoid testifying.

Palazzo accused Roger today of using heavy-handed tactics in having Frazier arrested.

He contended prosecutors have "zero evidence" linking Tabish to the scene of Binion's death.

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