Charges dropped against Binion in alleged gas station altercation

Bill Gang

Tuesday, Dec. 2, 1997 | 10:11 a.m.

Criminal charges have been dropped against suspended casino owner Ted Binion over a purported altercation with a gasoline station attendant who has since been charged with murder.

Deputy District Attorney David Barker said Monday the felony counts were dismissed in part because of the murder charge filed against Thomas Lee Woodward and in part because a witness has surfaced who contradicts the attendant's story.

"This wasn't even a close call," Barker said of the decision that came after Woodward's claim of having been a victim crumbled amid the new information.

Woodward alleged in August that Binion confronted him at the Charleston Boulevard Texaco station where he worked and then left, only to return an hour later with a shotgun.

Woodward told police he had to wrestle the shotgun from Binion, 54, and spray him with pepper spray.

Binion, the son of the late Horseshoe Club's founder Benny Binion, has denied ever threatening Woodward with the weapon.

Barker said the new witness, who was watching events from inside the gas station, supports Binion's story.

According to the prosecutor, the new witness said Woodward is the one who yanked the shotgun from inside Binion's vehicle during the verbal altercation and doused Binion with pepper spray after he tried to retrieve his weapon.

Although a second witness had corroborated Woodward's version, Barker said investigators have determined that witness lacks credibility in light of Woodward's latest legal troubles over the March beating death of a homeless man.

That man, who police have been unable to identify, was beaten to death with a log behind a bank near Cheyenne Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard North.

Although it has been months since the slaying, a witness only came forward last month to name Woodward as the attacker who killed the Hispanic homeless man as he was begging for his life, authorities said.

Woodward recently pleaded guilty to a 1996 incident resulting from what Barker said was "road rage" in which he impersonated a police officer and handcuffed a man over a traffic altercation.

The guilty pleas to two gross misdemeanors resulted in probation, the prosecutor said.

Binion also has had his problems with authorities, having his gaming license suspended by state gaming regulators over an admitted drug problem and other alleged violations.