Attendant at gas station gets prison time in beating death

Bill Gang

Friday, April 10, 1998 | 10:30 a.m.

A gasoline station attendant, who once concocted a story that former casino owner Lonnie "Ted" Binion had threatened him with a shotgun, has been imprisoned for at least eight years for the beating death of a homeless man.

Thomas Lee Woodward could stay behind bars for up to 20 years under the maximum sentence handed down Thursday by District Judge Michael Douglas to the reduced count of voluntary manslaughter.

Woodward, who originally had been charged with murder in the slaying of the Hispanic man police still have not identified, pleaded guilty to the lesser charge in February. If he had gone to trial and been convicted of first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon, the lightest penalty he could have received would have been two life prison sentences with no eligibility for parole until he had served 40 years.

Woodward admitted he fought in March 1997 with the homeless man and "over reacted" by beating him repeatedly with a log behind a bank building near Cheyenne Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard North.

Woodward wasn't apprehended until a witness came forward months later to name Woodward as the attacker he watched kill the homeless man who was begging for his life, authorities said.

In the Binion case, Deputy District Attorney David Barker said the felony counts were dismissed against the controversial casino owner in part because of the murder charge filed against Woodward and in part because a witness has surfaced who contradicts the attendant's story.

Woodward alleged in August that Binion, 54, confronted him at the Charleston Boulevard Texaco station where he worked and then left, only to return an hour later with a shotgun.

Barker said the new witness, who was watching events from inside the gas station, 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 authorities determined the witness' story was not credible.

Binion's gaming license at the Horseshoe hotel-casino recently was revoked by state gaming regulators over an admitted drug problem and other alleged violations.