Supreme Court to take up wiretap, jackpot, cell phone cases

Tuesday, March 28, 2000 | 11:17 a.m.

The seven-member court, which holds hearings Wednesday and Thursday, also will examine whether Clark County can keep secret part of its cellular telephone records.

Also up for a review is a dispute over a $1.8 million slot jackpot that International Game Technology withheld from a California man.

In the wiretap case Wednesday, Heath M. Illiescu was charged with hiring a man for $20,000 to shoot Bruce Ray Fisher, his business partner in a sports information betting service.

Police got approval to tap the Illiescu phone. But District Judge Joseph Pavlikowski suppressed the wiretap evidence, saying police didn't cite proper grounds for getting the approval.

The Clark County district attorney's office appealed the decision to the Supreme Court.

In the open-records case, also to be heard Wednesday, the Las Vegas Review-Journal is asking Clark County to supply the telephone records of the Clark County Commission, the county manager and the director of aviation from Jan. 1, 1996, to Dec. 31, 1997.

The newspaper said it wanted the records as part of an investigation into government waste and lobbying and influence of government officials.

The county agreed to supply the cellular phone records but blotted out the last four digits of each outgoing call. The county argued that the newspaper would see the total monthly expenses, each call made that month, the length of the call, whether it was incoming or outgoing and the charge for each call.

The newspaper has maintained the records are public and should be released.

The slot machine appeal, also on tap Wednesday, involves Cengiz Sengel, challenging IGT and the Silver Legacy in Reno over a disputed $1.8 million jackpot hit on Sept. 21, 1996.

Sengel, of Belmont, Calif. was playing Quartermania when the jackpot symbols lined up and the jackpot light started flashing. IGT refused payment on grounds there was a security malfunction and the symbols were not properly lined up.

Sengel said there was a malfunction but it was on the door to the cash box of the bill validator and that had nothing to do with the reels lining up for a jackpot.