Judge warns parties on high-profile libel trial

Friday, April 27, 2001 | 7:38 a.m.

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A District Court judge Friday warned attorneys of feuding ex-public officials Steve Miller and Jan Jones "don't forget we are dealing with human beings," and indicated that neither of them should be unduly hurt during what is expected to be a high-profile, two-week defamation trial starting Monday.

"We don't want to throw the baby out with the bath water," District Court Judge Michael Cherry said, noting this will be the first libel trial he has presided over since becoming a judge in 1998.

Former Las Vegas City Councilman Miller's libel suit against Jones stems from their 1991 campaign for Las Vegas mayor and centers on a controversial political flier Jones' campaign sent out just days before she won the election.

The case has floundered in the court system amid 10 years of political wrangling. Eight local District Court judges recused themselves for conflict of interest reasons, some taking several months before deciding to step aside.

Cherry, a longtime Las Vegan who knows both parties, accepted the case and said during a motions hearing Friday that he encourages a "goose-gander" exchange between the parties, but will keep a close eye on all evidence and testimony for relevance and the avoidance of repetition.

Cherry's reference to goose-gander means that what is good for one side is proper for the other. And Cherry warned that the plaintiff's reputation could come under as much scrutiny as the defendant's.

"She has opened herself up too," Cherry said of Jones in response to a statement by Miller's attorney Samuel Harding, regarding his plans to show Jones' "pattern of conduct," including "dirty late-minute tactics" in political campaigns.

Cherry told Jones' attorney Bruce Laxalt that he doesn't want his side surprised "when they (Miller's side) blast the crap out of her."

"I honor the First Amendment (right of free speech), but I will not let the plaintiff be destroyed by a defendant or a defendant be destroyed by a plaintiff," Cherry said.

Cherry said he will allow both sides to present a limited number of newspaper articles, television videos and radio tapes both positive and critical of Miller's years in office. But he would not allow a four-inch thick notebook of critical newspaper stories and columns of Miller's public career offered by Laxalt.

Laxalt said such newspaper articles are allowable in defamation cases because they show the jury whether the plaintiff indeed had a good reputation that he claims was destroyed by the defendant.

Among the columns that Laxalt will offer are pieces by longtime Sun senior investigative reporter and columnist Jeff German and former Las Vegas Review-Journal and current Sun columnist Jon Ralston and others who in print called Miller a "human gasbag," "venomous," "self-serving loose cannon," "phony," "hypocritical," "paranoid," "unstable" and "a man who slashes and burns with no regard of the facts," among other comments.

Harding said the defense is trying to cloud the case and that the trial should center on whether Miller's reputation was destroyed by the May 3, 1991 flier that accused Miller of "giving false information in a report concerning cocaine found in a car Miller was driving."

"It was simply out-and-out false," Harding told Cherry. "He (Miller) suffered greatly then and he is still suffering (over the alleged insinuation in the flier) that he was some drug peddler.

"It was a negative, dirty trick in the late stage of the campaign when Mr. Miller could not respond."

Harding said he intends to present witnesses who will testify that Jones committed a similar act when she unsuccessfully ran against Bob Miller -- no relation to Steve -- for governor in the mid-1990s.

Harding admitted Steve Miller "stirred the pot" when he was in office and "either you liked him or hated him -- you were not on the fence." Still, Harding, argued that "many people admired the good deeds this man did."

Four days before the May 7, 1991, election, Jones' campaign staff distributed a flier that included a reproduction of a Sun story that said Miller had informed police a small amount of what appeared to be cocaine had been discovered in a Porsche he had bought for a family member.

The substance was discovered while the car was in a body shop, and Miller told the shop owner not to touch anything until police arrived. The Sun article quoted Metro Police Detective Ken Wellington as saying he believed Miller was dishonest by giving false information.

The story also reported that Wellington's superior stated he thought Wellington had "read too much" into his conservation with Miller. That part of the newspaper article, which had been favorable to Miller, was deleted from the campaign flier.

Ed Koch is a reporter for the Sun. He can be reached at 259-4090 or by email at koch@lasvegassun.com.