Tabish lawyer’s motion divides defense team

Tuesday, April 9, 2002 | 10:47 a.m.

A San Francisco attorney's motion to disqualify District Judge Joseph Bonaventure in the Ted Binion murder case has created another rift within the defense team representing the gambling figure's convicted killers.

J. Tony Serra filed the motion on behalf of defendant Rick Tabish last week, accusing Bonaventure of being biased against his client, because he signed books at an August book signing for "Murder in Sin City," written by Sun reporter Jeff German.

Serra, recently hired by Tabish to challenge his murder conviction in District Court, alleged the book did not portray Tabish in a flattering light, and he wanted Bonaventure removed from hearing further matters in the case.

This morning Tabish's Las Vegas lawyer, William Terry -- who persuaded Bonaventure last month to allow Serra to work with him as co-counsel -- filed court papers saying the motion caught him by surprise and he did not support it.

Terry said he now wanted to withdraw from the District Court proceedings by the April 30 hearing on that motion, but remain as Tabish's attorney in his appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court.

Terry's request will be heard April 18 by Chief District Judge Mark Gibbons, who will also consider Serra's motion.

That could jeopardize the legality of the motion. Out-of-state lawyers must associate with in-state ones to be heard in Nevada courts.

Herb Sachs, who represents Tabish's co-defendant, Sandy Murphy, said he also was unhappy with Serra for not letting him know beforehand that the motion was going to be filed.

"I'm upset, because it might have an impact on what I'm doing," Sachs said. "He should have discussed it with me. He should have shown me the papers before he filed them."

Sachs has been preparing a motion to dismiss the murder conviction against Murphy because of prosecutorial misconduct.

The flare-up is the latest in a series of tiffs plaguing the defense team since the well-publicized murder trial in 2000.

Murphy and Tabish were convicted in May 2000 of killing the former Horseshoe executive at his home on Sept. 17, 1998. Both are serving more than 20 years in prison.