Ex-JP Thomas barred from bench for DUIs

Monday, Sept. 27, 2004 | 9:38 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A former justice of the peace in the tiny community of Gerlach in Washoe County has been barred from ever seeking another judicial office after being convicted of drunken driving three times within one month.

The Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline also issued a public censure on Thursday to Philip Thomas, who is no longer on the bench.

But the commission, through a spokesman on Friday, kept secret whether or not it took any action in the case of District Judge Joseph Bonaventure, accused of showing bias in the Ted Binion murder trial.

In the Gerlach case, Thomas was arrested in August 2003 in Washoe County and pleaded guilty Jan. 29, 2004, to drunken driving. He was arrested Sept. 18, 2003, in Alpine County, Calif., for DUI and he pleaded guilty to the charge on Feb. 2, 2004. He was also arrested Nov. 26, 2003, in Livermore, Calif., for drunken driving and was convicted on Feb. 13, 2004.

Thomas entered into a stipulation to accept the punishment and agreed to never again run for judicial office.

On the Bonaventure complaint, David Sarnowski, executive director of the commission, said the rules do not allow comment on cases if they are pending. But Sarnowski said the commission has never in the past ruled that a sitting judge must disqualify himself from a pending case.

Steve Miller, a former Las Vegas city councilman, said he filed a complaint with the Judicial Discipline Commission more than two years ago, alleging Bonaventure took sides in the trial when he signed copies of the book "Murder in Sin City," an account of the Binion case by Jeff German, a columnist for the Las Vegas Sun.

Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish are accused of killing Binion. Their first conviction was overturned by the Nevada Supreme Court. Bonaventure is presiding over the retrial.