Jury deliberation begins in Miller defamation case

Thursday, May 24, 2001 | 10:31 a.m.

Before a jury can discuss the $3 million-plus in damages former Las Vegas City Councilman Steve Miller is seeking in his defamation suit against former two-term Las Vegas Mayor Jan Jones, it has to get past one important question:

Was the error made in a 1991 Jones mayoral campaign mailer claiming that Miller was driving a car in which suspected cocaine was found "substantially false"?

The eight-member civil jury began deliberations this morning in the case that has come down to the issue of the erroneous statement that Miller "was driving" a car in which he discovered what appeared to be cocaine. Miller owned the car he had bought for his daughter, but was not driving it.

Jones apologized for the error but said she did not libel Miller nor try to make him look like a drug courier.

"Answer no to (verdict question) No. 1 and let us be done with this vendetta," said attorney Bruce Laxalt, representing Jones who now is an executive for Harrah's Entertainment, Inc.

Laxalt presented in closing arguments contrasting statements Miller made in depositions, at trial and in his comments to the media, citing at least two dozen instances in which Miller could be called disingenuous.

"He (Miller) has a difficult time telling the same story twice," Laxalt said, noting Miller on the witness stand frequently said he could not remember what he had said and had to refer to what he had been recorded as saying. "A truth-teller does not have to see the tape to see what he said. A truth-teller can easily recall what he has said."

Sam Harding, attorney for Miller, who served on the city council from 1987 to 1991, said this case does not come down to just a couple of minor erroneous words.

"It put him (Miller) in the vehicle with cocaine and that simply was wrong to do," Harding said. "It was malicious, intentional and defamatory."

Miller is claiming the mailer ruined his life. He has since failed in four attempts at office, including a return to the City Council and a shot at lieutenant governor. He says the drug issue followed him in those races.

The Jones mailer featured a 1988 Sun story that both sides have conceded was accurate. The erroneous part of the mailer was a red-inked summary of the story written by the Jones camp.

Harding maintained that the claim rises to the level of reckless disregard, because Jones and at least three of her campaign workers failed to catch the error by proofreading what they knew was an "11th hour hit piece" sent to 85,000 voters just days before the May 1991 election that Jones won handily.

Miller is seeking tens of thousands of dollars for the 1991 campaign debt he was unable to retire by fund-raising and punitive damages. Miller also says he would have made $3 million in the last 10 years working as an executive for a local cab company, a job he claims he lost because of the flier.

However, Miller's claim took a serious blow when the cab company's owner testified that no job was ever formally offered. The taxi company owner had provided Miller with a letter saying he would not hire Miller because of the report of drugs in the car, which was used as evidence in the trial.

Laxalt maintained in closing statements what he had argued throughout the trial, that this was not a case about defamation but about revenge.

For the past 10 years, "Steve Miller has whacked Jan Jones like a bucket of golf balls," Laxalt said. "(He) set out to politically destroy Jan Jones. ... He said (in 1998) he would ding her for $3 million."