Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2004 | 11:03 a.m.
A complaint alleging that the judge in the Binion murder trial displayed bias by attending a book-signing along with others involved in the case is scheduled to be addressed on Thursday, according to a letter from the state Commission on Judicial Discipline.
The commission has been investigating the complaint against District Judge Joseph Bonaventure, according to the letter, dated July 2, from David Sarnowski, the commission's general counsel and executive director, to Steve Miller, the former Las Vegas city councilman who filed the complaint.
The complaint, filed more than two years ago, charges that Bonaventure took sides in the case when he signed copies of the true-crime book "Murder in Sin City" by Jeff German at Binion's Horseshoe in 2001. German is a columnist for the Sun.
Bonaventure's offense was twofold, according to Miller. First, by signing the book the judge was implicitly endorsing its "subjective" account of the case, which "demonized" defendants Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish, Miller claims.
Second, by appearing at the Binion-owned establishment along with prosecutors and Binion relatives, Bonaventure showed bias, the complaint charges.
Sarnowski, of the discipline commission, could not be reached for comment this morning.
Murphy and Tabish were convicted in 2000 of killing 55-year-old casino heir Ted Binion and sentenced to more than 20 years in prison, but their convictions were overturned and a retrial is scheduled to begin next month.
Similar bias allegations were made by Tabish's lawyer in April 2002, prompting Bonaventure to file an affidavit defending his actions. Bonaventure claimed he appeared at the autograph party only accidentally -- he had gone to the Horseshoe merely to buy a book when he was waylaid by autograph-seekers, and he did not sit with the other signers, he claimed.
The 2002 charge was thrown out by Chief District Judge Mark Gibbons.
Bonaventure's assistant said the judge was unaware of the disciplinary proceedings, but his position on the allegations had not changed since he responded to the charges two years ago.
Miller said today that Bonaventure should not preside over the retrial of the case. "He needs to recuse," said Miller, who described his interest in the case as that of "an observer."
Miller said he had little hope that the Judicial Discipline Commission would soon hear the matter, which he said has been tabled five times over 28 months. The commission is more concerned with protecting judges than policing them, he contended.
Miller is also protesting the rule that holds filers of complaints about judges to strict confidentiality, calling it unconstitutional. The state American Civil Liberties Union has taken up that issue in a lawsuit that is pending in federal court.
"The idea that judges have to be protected by secrecy is very troubling," Nevada ACLU General Counsel Allen Lichtenstein said. According to the First Amendment's free speech guarantee, people are free to openly criticize government, he said.
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