Binion action to await high court

Friday, May 10, 2002 | 11:17 a.m.

District Judge Joseph Bonaventure today stayed all proceedings in the Ted Binion murder case, including whether to remove the lawyer for one of the gambling figure's convicted killers until the Nevada Supreme Court rules on the appeal in the case.

Bonaventure expressed his displeasure with the conduct of Rick Tabish's attorney, J. Tony Serra of San Francisco, but said he had no authority now to take action against the lawyer.

The judge said Tabish, one of two people convicted of killing Binion, used "poor judgment" in hiring Serra. And he accused Serra of showing a "lack of candor" with the court.

Last month Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger accused Serra of misleading Bonaventure about his disciplinary record with the California State Bar Association when applying in February to represent Tabish.

Roger said Serra did not inform Bonaventure about a Jan. 3 public rebuke from the California bar. The sanction stemmed from a complaint against Serra for revealing over the Internet the addresses and phone numbers of key prosecution witnesses in the Los Angeles bombing trial of his client, Sara Jane Olson, a onetime member of Symbionese Liberation Army in the 1970s.

"Defendant's lack of candor displayed to the court and the bar association should be grounds for revoking Mr. Serra's privilege to practice in this state," Roger wrote.

Serra today denied misleading Bonaventure, and appealed to the judge's "equitable conscience."

"I meant no wrong," Serra said. "I did no wrong. I ask humbly for your empathy."

Serra said he would never come into this jurisdiction and deliberately spoil his 40-year reputation in the legal community.

The San Francisco lawyer created a stir last month when he filed a motion accusing Bonaventure of being biased against Tabish because the judge signed books at an August book signing for a paperback account of the case.

Serra alleged the book did not portray Tabish in a flattering light, and he asked that Bonaventure be removed from hearing further matters in the case.

Bonaventure stepped aside to allow Chief District John Mark Gibbons resolve the matter.

Gibbons later ruled that it was too late in the case for Serra to file the motion, and he allowed Bonaventure to go back on the case.

The Supreme Court has scheduled oral arguments on the appeals of Tabish and convicted co-defendant Sandy Murphy for June 27 in Carson City.