Judge refuses Binion silver sale

Wednesday, Dec. 15, 1999 | 11:08 a.m.

District Judge Joseph Bonaventure today refused to allow Ted Binion's estate to sell his silver fortune until after the March 13 trial of the two people charged in his death.

"I'm concerned that this goes to the heart of the defense in this particular case," Bonaventure said during a hearing.

"I think the jury would tend to benefit from seeing the silver themselves."

Defense lawyers for Rick Tabish and Sandy Murphy, who face the murder charges, argued the silver is crucial to their defense on related charges of conspiring to steal the silver.

"It's important to see, touch and feel just what this is all about," Murphy's lawyer, John Momot, told Bonaventure.

Defense lawyers were notified of the plans to sell the silver in a Dec. 6 letter from James J. Brown, the estate's attorney.

Brown told the lawyers they needed to contact him before Dec. 22 if they wanted photographs or video of the 48,000 pounds of silver bars and coins.

Earlier this week Brown said he's still waiting for a report on the inventory and has no official word on how much the silver is worth. But he previously has estimated it to be between $4 million and $5 million.

Brown said he wants to sell the silver because it has become too costly, at $200 a day, to store it in Las Vegas.

The silver became a key part of the investigation into Binion's Sept. 17, 1998, death, when Tabish was linked to a plot to steal it.

Less than 36 hours after Binion died, Tabish and two other men were arrested in Pahrump after the silver was dug up and being loaded onto a large belly dump truck.

Both Tabish and Murphy later were charged in the theft, as well as in Binion's slaying.

At Binion's direction, Tabish, a 34-year-old Montana contractor, had transported the silver from Las Vegas to Pahrump and built the 12-foot underground vault used to store it on property the former casino executive owned in the heart of the town.

Two other men, David Mattsen, a former Binion ranch manager, and Michael Milot, a top Tabish employee, were arrested in Pahrump with Tabish the night the silver was dug up. Their trial will follow the murder case, which is set to get under way March 13.