Jones takes stand in defense against Miller defamation suit

Kim Smith

Friday, May 4, 2001 | 10:10 a.m.

Ten years after former Las Vegas City Councilman Steve Miller filed a defamation suit against her, former two-term mayor Jan Laverty Jones took the stand to face her accuser Thursday.

Jones, who is now an executive for Harrah's Entertainment Inc., spent all day on the stand and came back again this morning for more questioning from Miller's attorney, Samuel Harding.

Miller alleges that a flier distributed by Jones in the final days of the mayoral race in 1991 cost him the election and his reputation.

The flier, which was mailed to voters, was filled with headlines and excerpts from Las Vegas' two daily newspapers.

Miller took issue with a 1988 Sun headline that said he had reported finding cocaine in a vehicle, but he was more irate over a synopsis of the story that appeared in red on the flier.

The synopsis said, "A police detective accuses Miller of giving false information in a report concerning cocaine found in a car Miller was driving."

Miller filed a defamation suit against Jones when she won the mayoral race by a 2-1 margin, claiming she knew the mailer contained false information.

The substance Miller found was never confirmed to be cocaine because it was thrown away before it could be tested. Furthermore, he wasn't driving the car, Miller said. It was a car he bought for his daughter, and the substance believed to be cocaine was found while the car was in the shop.

Harding called Jones to the stand Thursday morning to explain herself to the eight-member jury.

Jones testified that she called Brian Greenspun, editor and president of the Sun, before the flier was prepared to make sure Miller had never asked for a retraction on any of the articles she planned to use.

Greenspun, who is expected to testify on Jones' behalf next week, told her "no," Jones said.

She first became aware of a letter addressed to the Sun demanding a retraction of the headline just two days ago, Jones said.

"If the letter was printed, we were never told that by the Sun," Jones said.

Jones admitted that the synopsis of the drug-related article was in error, however. It should have said the substance was found in a car Miller "owned" instead of a car he "was driving."

Jones repeatedly said the error was unintentional. She also resisted Harding's attempts to get her to say she ran the synopsis to imply that Miller was a drug user.

The idea of such a thing is silly, Jones said.

"I don't know of any drug users who would call the police to report drugs had been found in their vehicle," Jones said.

The purpose of the synopsis was to show Miller was "disingenuous at best and dishonest at worst" when he spoke to the police about the substance, Jones said.

Harding repeatedly asked Jones about the true purpose behind the synopsis, but Jones repeated the same answers. She also told Harding that if he or Miller were upset with the cocaine allegation rather than the allegation he was driving the car, they should have said so.

Instead, Jones pointed out that the only problem they had with a retraction letter she sent to them was that it hadn't been released to the public. That letter, Jones said, only addressed the issue of "driving" vs. "owned" and was ultimately released to the media.

Under questioning from her own attorney, Bruce Laxalt, Jones identified the letter Harding wrote her in response to her retraction letter. In it, Harding only complains about the fact it hadn't yet been released to the public.

Jones also identified several newspaper articles that appeared before the flier was distributed that were critical of Miller. She said she believes Miller's reputation was already suffering before the flier.

In fact, Jones said, she had a 2-1 vote advantage when the absentee ballots were counted. Those votes were cast prior to the mailing of the fliers.

Jones also said Miller agreed to end the disagreement between them at a breakfast meeting prior to trial. She then got a call back saying he and his attorney were willing to have a joint press conference announcing the end of the animosities -- if she gave them $100,000.

Despite the fact Miller impugns her character whenever he gets the chance, Jones said, she has never filed a lawsuit against him because "when you're a public figure it's a part of what you have to accept."