Nye County sheriff set to take stand

Tuesday, Aug. 31, 1999 | 11:13 a.m.

Defense lawyers were expected to put Nye County Sheriff Wade Lieseke on the hot seat today as the preliminary hearing for Ted Binion's accused killers nears its end after more than two weeks.

Two Nye County police sergeants have raised questions in court about Lieseke's conduct the day three men were arrested in Pahrump trying to steal Binion's silver fortune after his Sept. 17 murder.

The silver theft, which occurred Sept. 19, is part of the murder scheme prosecutors contend was carried out by the former casino executive's girlfriend, Sandy Murphy, and her reported lover, Rick Tabish.

The other aspect of the alleged conspiracy to kill Binion is the alleged kidnapping and extortion of Leo Casey, a 64-year-old Jean sand pit operator, two months before Binion's murder.

Prosecutors concluded their case Monday after Leo Casey, who claims Tabish and a business partner tortured him into turning over his interests in the sand pit, spent seven hours on the witness stand under intense cross-examination.

Tabish, prosecutors have alleged, killed Binion to get to his money to keep the struggling sand pit open.

Casey stuck to his story, even sparring at times with defense attorneys, who portrayed him as a shady businessman who stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from his partners, listed a mail box drop as his address and never filed income taxes.

"They put the fear of hell in me," said Casey, who testified that he withdrew more than $200,000 from the bank the day after the July 28 attack and left Las Vegas with his girlfriend.

Justice of the Peace Jennifer Togliatti has scheduled closing arguments at 1 p.m. Wednesday.

Togliatti said she will issue a decision in court next Tuesday on whether Murphy, Tabish and four other defendants charged in the crimes related to Binion's murder should stand trial.

Lieseke has acknowledged receiving several telephone calls from Tabish before the 34-year-old Montana contractor was arrested for digging up 48,000 pounds of silver Binion had buried in an underground vault.

But the sheriff has said Tabish did not inform him he was going to remove the silver, which Binion's estate has estimated is worth $4 million.

Last week, however, Nye County police sergeants Ed Howard and Steve Huggins, who participated in Tabish's arrest, testified that they became suspicious of their boss as Tabish and his associates were taken into custody.

Howard, expected to be recalled to the witness stand today, said Lieseke wasn't acting normal and appeared agitated.

And Huggins, who has since left the department after falling out of favor with Lieseke, testified that Tabish told him at the scene that Binion wanted him to give the sheriff $100,000 for allowing him to take the silver.

Tabish, who built the vault, contends Binion told him to dig up the silver in the event of his death, turn it into cash and put it in a trust for his 19-year-old daughter, Bonnie Binion, the chief heir to the gambling figure's $50 million estate.

Both Howard and Huggins said Lieseke participated in a jailhouse interview of Tabish after his arrest and commandeered the tape of the interview. At the time, Lieseke was embroiled in a bitter re-election campaign.

Lieseke has denied any knowledge of the theft, but Binion's lawyers, James J. Brown and Richard Wright, both testified last week that the sheriff had asked them after Binion's death if he was in his will.

Defense attorneys, meanwhile, grilled Casey extensively Monday about his shoddy business practices.

Casey acknowledged under cross examination that he had no records to prove he didn't siphon off money from companies owned by the men he accused of kidnapping and beating him.

He said his records were stolen from his girlfriend's home after his torturers forced him to leave town.

When pressed to explain questions about his business dealings, Casey repeatedly told defense lawyers he couldn't recall specific transactions.

Casey testified last week that Tabish and co-defendant Steven Wadkins drove him at gun point to the Jean sand pit on July 28, then beat him over the head with a telephone book and stuck a pocket knife under his fingernails until he agreed to turn over his interests in the pit. The kidnapping, Casey said, was ordered by another Tabish co-defendant, John B. Joseph, the pit's chief owner.