Judge rules Binion Estate cannot sell Silver

Trevor Hayes

Wednesday, Dec. 15, 1999 | 3:21 a.m.

LAS VEGAS - A judge refused Wednesday to allow Ted Binion's estate to sell millions of dollars in silver hoarded by the late casino executive.

District Judge Joseph Bonaventure said the stash of silver could be needed as evidence in trials stemming from efforts to remove it from an underground vault after Binion's death.

"It goes right to the heart of the defense," Bonaventure said. "I think the jury would tend to benefit from seeing the actual silver."

The silver was buried in a vault on property owned by Binion near Pahrump, about 60 miles southwest of Las Vegas. Authorities arrested Rick Tabish and two other men as they were excavating the silver, just days after the gambling figure's September 1998 death.

Defense attorneys argue Tabish, who along with Sandra Murphy is charged with killing Binion, was carrying out Binion's request to relocate the silver in the event of his death.

James Brown, an attorney for the Binion estate, argued there was no need for the defense to have the actual silver. He said photos or video of the silver and samples would give the jury an adequate representation of what was in the vault.

Chief Deputy District Attorney David Wall said the state had no problem with the proposed sale and thought photographs would be sufficient evidence.

"If someone is caught stealing 25 horses, I don't think the jury needs to see all" 25 horses, Wall said.

Defense attorney Betsy Allen, who represents Michael Milot, one of those charged in the vault excavation, disagreed.

"No matter how good the photographer, you can't appreciate the grandeur of the Grand Canyon," she said.

John Momot, who represents Murphy - Binion's live-in girlfriend, said a cornerstone of the defense is to show the volume of the items Tabish was removing from the vault. The defense contends if Tabish was trying to steal the items he would not have risked getting caught by spending time and effort to remove very heavy but virtually worthless ammunition boxes full of pennies and nickels when he could have easily taken much smaller and highly valuable silver coins.

Prosecutors contend Binion, a member of a prominent Las Vegas casino family, was forced to ingest potentially lethal amounts of heroin and the prescription sedative Xanax and was suffocated.