Supreme Court denies petition filed by Tabish

Tuesday, July 12, 2005 | 9:12 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The Nevada Supreme Court Monday denied a petition by Rick Tabish who sought to force District Judge Joseph Bonaventure to rule on a case involving the beating of his business partner.

The court also rejected the appeal of Jamaal Johnson, sentenced to life without possibility of parole for the killing of two men in Las Vegas.

Tabish's attorney, Joseph Caramagno, complained that Bonaventure had been sitting on motions for a new trial and a writ of habeas corpus for 18 months. Caramagno asked the court to consider the petitions, bypassing Bonaventure.

But the court said, "We are confident that the district court will resolve petitioner's habeas corpus petition as expeditiously as its calendar permits and enter a final written order containing specific findings of fact and conclusions of law."

Tabish was sentenced to 18-120 months in prison for a kidnapping and extortion conviction for the 1998 beating of his former business partner Leo Casey.

In another case Tabish and Sandra Murphy were initially convicted of the murder of casino executive Ted Binion but were acquitted in November 2004 of the murder charge at a second trial. They were found guilty of burglary and grand larceny involving Binion's coin collection and those convictions are now on appeal to the Supreme Court.

In the second ruling Monday, the court said Johnson, now 23 years old, entered an apartment at 205 W. Jackson St. with others in Las Vegas on Sept. 26, 2001, with a plan to rob the occupants of drugs and money. But Patrick Hawkins and Adrian Williams were shot to death.

Johnson maintained his confession to the police should have not been admitted at trial. He said he was waiving his rights in talking about other crimes, not the two murders.

The court upheld District Judge Jackie Glass who allowed the confession into evidence at the trial. It said that Johnson, who was 19 at the time, was momentarily confused during his admissions to detectives. But the court said one of the questioning detectives "cleared up that confusion."

The court also rejected Johnson's claim that he should be granted a new trial because of new media coverage at the time.

Members of the jury, on the last day of the trial, were exposed to print and live media coverage that discussed the murders. The coverage mentioned names of the victims and co-defendants and discussed a federal indictment of 21 members of Johnson's street gang.

But the coverage did not mention Johnson nor the fact he was on trial, the court said.

The court said "the issue of guilt was not close in light of Johnson's detailed statement regarding his participation in the planning and execution of the robbery and his presence during the homicides."

In another ruling, the court reinstated a suit by M. J. DiBiase/Simmons Contracting of Las Vegas against the Clark County School District. DiBase was a subcontractor to install gypsum board and framing at Brian and Terry Cram Middle School, the Watson Elementary School and the Rogers Elementary School.

Building inspectors for the School District told DiBiase it was to install horizontal strapping. DiBiase maintained that was not in the contract. But the company did the work that cost an extra $277,000.

DiBiase sued, but District Judge Valorie Vega granted a pre-trial summary judgment in favor of the School District.

The Supreme Court reinstated the suit, saying additional discovery is required in the District Court to determine if the horizontal strapping was required in the contract.

In a real property dispute, the court upheld District Judge Sally Loehrer who ordered Dr. N. Rao Yerramsetti to pay more than $375,000 in attorney fees for bringing "bad faith litigation" against Randle Phelps and Morningside Homes, Inc.

Loehrer also granted $64,614 in interest from the date of the 2000 judgment. The court instructed the judge to compute the interest only from October 2003, not from 2000. This was the second time the case was before the court on the issue of fees for lawyers.