[tonypaladino]

1st of all, the muck does not have a magical power that makes hands dead. If the cards touch the muck but are clearly identifiable, the hand should not be dead automatically. The ruling should reflect the best interest of the game.

If it was his intent to muck the hand, then I would say it was dead. In this case the player clearly intended to table his hand, and just made a mistake. No reason for a dead hand to be called.