Murphy is focus of phony flier

Thursday, May 11, 2000 | 11:26 a.m.

Jurors in the Ted Binion murder trial today resumed deciding the fate of Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish.

This came as the wife of former City Councilman Steve Miller acknowledged Wednesday that she received then faxed a bogus flier to all 19 district judges announcing a "victory" party Sunday for Murphy.

The 12 jurors, nine women and three men, began their deliberations about 2 p.m. Wednesday after getting the last word from Chief Deputy District Attorney David Wall, who alleged Murphy and Tabish killed Binion out of lust for each other and the wealthy gambling figure's money.

Murphy, Binion's 28-year-old girlfriend, and Tabish her 35-year-old lover, a married contractor from Montana, are standing trial on charges of killing Binion Sept. 17, 1998, and stealing his valuables.

Before their deliberations the jurors chose their foreman, a retired aerospace company supervisor from New York. Known only as Juror No. 7, he is white and in his 60s who has lived in Las Vegas the past seven years. He has three daughters, one of whom is a former public defender.

The new foreman was observed jotting down notes regularly as witnesses testified during the trial.

Jurors deliberated for about six hours, until 8:15 p.m. Wednesday and resumed this morning poring over thousands of pages of testimony and hundreds of exhibits presented during the seven-week trial.

Meanwhile, Miller's wife, Lisa, said she received the phony flier, which bears the fax number of the law office of Louis Palazzo, who represents Murphy's co-defendant, Rick Tabish, a couple of days ago and thought it was legitimate.

She said she was outraged and decided to send it to the judges and the district attorney's office.

"I did it because I thought it was not proper to have a party before she was acquitted," she said.

The flier describes the victory party for Murphy as "a night to remember."

Miller acknowledged sending the fax to the judges after District Judge Joseph Bonaventure, who is presiding over the trial, launched an investigation Wednesday to identify the source of the fax. Bonaventure was among those who received the flier.

Bonaventure stressed in court outside the presence of the jury Wednesday that Palazzo and his law firm had nothing to do with the flier that identifies several prominent Las Vegans, former Mayor Jan Laverty Jones, singer Phyllis McGuire and Elaine Wynn, the wife of Steve Wynn, as planning to attend the party.

Palazzo's partner, Rob Murdock, said he expects to file a defamation suit against whoever is responsible for the flier.

"It makes us look terrible," he said. "It's one of the most obnoxious things I've ever seen. Two people's lives are at stake here, and we don't think that's funny."

Steve Miller -- who has publicly attacked Jones and the Wynns for years and in recent weeks has lambasted Palazzo because of his ties to City Councilman Michael McDonald, a political adversary -- at first denied any involvement with the flier.

He continued to deny any role even after the Sun told him that the Sprint Telephone Co. had traced the origin of the faxes received at the courthouse to his number.

Miller later telephoned the Sun to say his wife, who doesn't like Murphy, had faxed the flier as a joke.

"She said she had no idea where it came from," Miller explained. "She thought it was funny. My wife has a very strange sense of humor."

Miller said he was embarrassed by what his wife did and planned to have a "discussion" with her about it.

A few minutes later Lisa Miller telephoned the Sun to admit to sending the fax, but she said she did not consider it a joke. She added she thought the party for Murphy really was being planned, and she was angry about that.

A similar hoax involving several of Miller's well-known foes, including Jones and McDonald, occurred last September.

A phony flier, billing itself as "a night to remember," was faxed around town as a parody to an annual benefit for the Gay and Lesbian Community Center. That flier claimed that McDonald, Jones, City Councilman Gary Reese, Siegfried & Roy and Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa were among the honorees.

The source of the fax was never identified.

Bonaventure so far does not expect to take any further action in the latest hoax unless it's determined the flier has influenced the jurors deliberating the fate of Murphy and Tabish.

Efforts, however, are under way to find out the original source of the flier.

Jeff German is the Sun's senior investigative reporter. He can be reached at (702) 259-4067 or by e-mail at german@lasvegassun.com.