Miller: Verdict is a victory

Kim Smith

Wednesday, May 30, 2001 | 10:47 a.m.

Despite losing a 10-year court battle with former Las Vegas mayor Jan Laverty Jones Tuesday, Steve Miller said he has no regrets over his libel suit.

After 2 1/2 days of deliberations, six members of an eight-member jury said Miller failed to show that a flier Jones mailed to voters days before the 1991 mayoral race was "substantially false."

Miller, a former City Council member, had hoped to show that the "11th-hour hit piece" cost him the mayoral race and ruined his reputation.

The trial allowed him to clear his name and, if given the chance, he would go through it again, Miller said.

"It's not a blow," Miller said after the verdict was announced. "It's a victory. I see it as a victory for me and my family."

Miller said he does not intend to appeal the verdict, in part because he believes a message has been sent to those politicians who might consider running a negative campaign.

It simply isn't fair to send out a flier in the waning days of a campaign and not give your opponent a chance to respond, Miller said.

Jones was out of state at a graduation and not available for comment, her attorney, Bruce Laxalt, said.

The flier in question was filled with headlines from Las Vegas' two daily newspapers, including articles and excerpts.

One of the articles was written by Sun reporter Jeff German in 1988. In it, German reported that Miller had found a substance believed to be cocaine in a vehicle.

However, people in Jones' campaign included a synopsis of the article that read, "A police detective accuses Miller of giving false information in a report concerning cocaine found in a car Miller was driving."

According to court testimony, the substance Miller found was never confirmed to be cocaine.

Furthermore, Miller wasn't driving the car.

Jones told jurors the synopsis should have read it was a car Miller "owned," but she insisted it was simply a mistake over which she apologized publicly and privately.

Jury forewoman Judith Osterman said most of the jurors felt Miller and his family had been through a painful ordeal, but didn't believe it was entirely the result of the flier.

Miller behaved inappropriately during the campaign, both before and after the flier was released, Osterman said.

Osterman said she personally wasn't impressed with Miller's testimony on the stand, which "meandered" and was self-serving.

"He liked it up there, he liked it up there a whole lot," Osterman said.

Jones, on the other hand, was professional, clear and concise, she said.

Osterman said the jurors want residents of Las Vegas to know they don't believe Miller was involved in cocaine. They also hope to send the message that dirty campaigns are unacceptable.

Dan Leach, one of the two jurors who thought Miller had been libeled, said the flier could have been worded truthfully and still furthered Jones' cause.

"When it said he 'was driving,' it put him in the proximity of illegal drugs, and that was unfair to Mr. Miller," Leach said.

Leach said someone with Jones' background and education could not possibly have missed the error in the flier.