A mix of messages from a voice in the desert

LAS VEGAS doesn’t exactly nurture the sort of snarky culture that writer Dayvid Figler has affinities for. Figler, for example, does spoken-word performances here for the small clique of people who go to such things in Las Vegas (no need for extra chairs!). And, as a local poet, his best exposure came from being one of the winners of a contest that got one of his poems turned into a placard on a Citizens Area Transit municipal bus. In fact, frequently when it comes to any sort of culture, locals are either deprived or priced out of the market.

But Figler’s voice has become known locally thanks to “Ain’t Necessarily So,” the weekly commentaries he has been doing for almost six years on Nevada public-radio station KNPR. As a commentator, Figler, 38, specializes in using his deep understanding as a near lifetime resident of the Vegas community to satirize our foibles.

Here were some thoughts Figler shared at the conclusion of last year’s massively celebrated city centennial: “Sure we love the special things here: the vibrancy, the money. But isn’t there someplace we all would rather live if we could have these conveniences and successes there? Is it pathetic or brilliant that Las Vegas is an Etch-a-Sketch city that freely encourages anyone with an agenda to turn our knobs and/or shake the scene into blankness?”

Asked about growing up here, Figler refers to a passage from “Grope,” a novella he published last year: “The thing about being a Las Vegas kid ... is that your parents try to normalize the ridiculous aspects of your surroundings by forcing very square activities into minds that are more rounded.”

Yet, as he would be the first to admit, wryness and nuance don’t always play here. And though his commentaries have sometimes made it onto national syndication through “All Things Considered,” he still can’t quit his day job: defending people facing the death penalty.

Small, wiry and witty, attorney Figler used to work in a special public-defender unit that handled only death penalty cases, but now he takes them on through his private practice. One of the most shocking murder cases in town has fallen to him. On Jan. 12, the corpse of a 3-year-old girl was found discarded in a trash bin. The girl was later identified as Crystal Figueroa, and her mother and boyfriend have been charged in connection with the murder. Last month, the district attorney’s office announced that it would not seek the death penalty against the mother in the case, but would against the boyfriend, Figler’s client, Marc Anthony Colon, 28. Colon beat the child to death while on parole for child abuse, prosecutors say.

I’ve always wondered how Figler manages to be such a beloved local character as a writer while at the same time working tirelessly on behalf of people like this man accused of killing a 3-year-old girl.

Christopher J. Lalli, the assistant D.A. in the Colon case, puts it this way:

“He is very entertaining as an NPR commentator. It is very fun and very entertaining. I don’t know that he is that same person in the courtroom. Dayvid is a very tenacious advocate.”

Figler for his part is outraged (not just a word here but an actual emotional description) that the state is seeking the death penalty against Colon: “My client is not the worst of the worst.” On the other hand, there is no crime so hideous that Figler thinks a jury could or should return death against one of his clients. “I’ve got it down. No one will get sentenced to death on my watch.”

Now, Las Vegas is a place where a former mob lawyer can become mayor and a former stripper can be elected a judge, but defending people charged with killing little girls is not going to be glamorous in any community. Figler, though, says that he faces no hostility over his vigorous defenses: “For the law to have integrity you need to have people who aren’t asleep at the defense table and who care.”

For what it is worth, Figler thinks Vegas juries are in many ways good for the defense. “There is a certain cynicism here about hype and people know here how people with power can manipulate a process to get a result. They appreciate the difference between the spectacle and the process.”

Figler is in a special position when it comes to evaluating Vegas justice, because in a remarkable twist he is also a part-time judge. He was appointed to Municipal Court by Mayor Oscar Goodman to fill out another judge’s term after Goodman secured a promise from Figler to not run for the job in the next election. So, this combination quickly made him one of the youngest retired judges in the history of the city.

If forced to choose, which job would he keep? “Writer,” he responds at once, adding, “Did I take too long to answer?” Not that the law would vanish from his world: “One thing I would like to write and talk about are the problems in the judicial system right now.”

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Life is suite

THE PALMS recently hosted a celebrity-studded opening for its jaw-dropping Fantasy Tower that features themed hotel rooms such as the Kingpin Suite (with a two-lane bowling alley) priced from $2,000 to $40,000 a night.

Palms owner George Maloof says: “Our target customer is a bachelor or bachelorette party, a couple who want a special weekend. There is a whole bunch of demand.” Maloof says someone even wants to use one for his son’s bar mitzvah.

Back in the day, the MGM never acknowledged its mansion for high rollers, suites for the ultimate VIPS, as if it were the Area 51 of the Strip. There was no reason to talk about it, because as gambling expert Anthony Curtis, publisher of the consumer newsletter Las Vegas Advisor, notes, the rooms weren’t for rent back then: “There was no way you could stay there then unless you were one of their top players.”

To Anthony Curtis, this is a shrewd move by the Palms and symbolic of an important change in Vegas: “It used to be the profit center was strictly the casino. The entire resort is profit generating now.”

Of course, Maloof is also willing to do things old-school. Asked how much gambling it would take to get a comped suite in the Fantasy Tower, he replies, “About $250,000. I’m flexible.”

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For more on what’s happening on and off the Strip, see latimes.com/movablebuffet.