Murphy, Tabish are getting defensive

Wednesday, Dec. 1, 1999 | 11:42 a.m.

Three months before their murder trial, Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish are starting to assert their defense in the death of Ted Binion.

At a hearing in District Court Tuesday, Tabish's lawyer, Robert Murdock, called Binion's demise the result of a "self-induced death" related to his drug abuse.

Afterwards, Murphy's attorney, John Momot, agreed.

"To me it's obvious that he (overdosed) on heroin and Xanax," Momot said "It was self-induced. There's no murder."

The defense strategy is setting the stage for a major battle at the March 13 murder trial with the prosecution, which believes Murphy and Tabish gave Binion drugs and suffocated him. Binion's body was found at his home next to an empty bottle of Xanax. His heroin use was well-known to authorities.

At the center of the battle will be forensics expert, Dr. Michael Baden of New York, who sprung the suffocation theory on the defense and contradicted Clark County's top pathologist during last August's preliminary hearing.

Baden, director of forensics for the New York State Police, testified that Binion's wrists appeared to have been restrained by handcuffs and that someone put pressure on his chest and smothered him. Ruptured blood vessels under the former casino executive's eyelids also suggested he was suffocated, Baden said.

His conclusion differed with the opinion of Chief Medical Examiner Lary Simms, who performed the autopsy on Binion's body. Simms found that Binion died after being forced to ingest lethal levels of heroin and the prescription sedative, Xanax.

"If this battle occurs at the trial, it's going to boil down to who has the most credibility," a source close to the case said.

Despite their differences, both Baden and Simms have agreed that Binion was the victim of a homicide.

Simms acknowledged at the preliminary hearing that suffocation was a possibility.

Prosecutors chose to stand behind Baden's theory because of his wealth of experience. He has conducted more than 40,000 autopsies during his 40-year career and has been involved in many high-profile cases, such as the O.J. Simpson murder trial.

But the decision has strained relations between prosecutors and Simms and his boss, Clark County Coroner Ron Flud, one of the first to pressure police into taking a hard look at foul play in Binion's Sept. 17, 1998, death.

Since the preliminary hearing, Simms, who has conducted some 3,000 autopsies, and Flud have had little contact with prosecutors in the case. But prosecutors expect to patch up relations prior to the trial. Both Simms and Baden will be called to testify.

Defense lawyers, in the meantime, can be counted on to keep the rift going.

Momot does not appear to be intimidated by Baden's credentials.

"In my opinion, there was no suffocation induced by another person," Momot said.

And in court Tuesday during a civil hearing, Murdock cited the medical examiner's overdose conclusions as if they were undisputed.

Murdock blamed Binion's neighbor, Dr. Enrique Lacayo, and the gambling figure's heroin supplier, Peter Sheridan, for his death.

Lacayo gave Binion a prescription for Xanax the day before his death without any physical examination, Murdock charged. Sheridan, he said, sold Binion 12 balloons of tar heroin that evening.

A source close to the investigation said prosecutors aren't surprised to see the defense begin to embellish the theory that Binion killed himself.

"Logically, it's their only option," the source said. "If they acknowledge that a homicide was committed, then there has to be other suspects, and no other suspects have surfaced so far."

Binion's estate, meanwhile, is pressing ahead with its own probe into Binion's death.

At Tuesday's hearing, Harry Claiborne, who represents Binion's chief heir, his daughter Bonnie, left little doubt that the estate believes Murphy and Tabish killed Binion.

Claiborne told District Judge Michael Cherry that he was moving to drop a conspiracy count in his wrongful death suit against Murphy and Tabish to clear a path to prove that both defendants were responsible for Binion's death.

Claiborne said he didn't want to bog down the case against Murphy and Tabish by including other conspirators.