Prosecutors won’t oppose exhuming Binion’s body

Monday, Dec. 27, 1999 | 11:23 a.m.

Prosecutors won't oppose a move by defense attorneys to exhume Ted Binion's body if the attorneys provide more supporting evidence that new tests are needed.

Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger, the lead prosecutor in the Binion murder case, planned to outline his position in court papers today.

Binion's family members, including his sister, Becky Behnen, who last week voiced opposition to the exhumation, said they supported the prosecution's decision.

"They take the position it's the district attorney's call," said Harry Claiborne, who represents Binion's 19-year-old daughter and chief heir, Bonnie Binion. "Whatever the DA decides is all right with them."

District Judge Joseph Bonaventure, who is presiding over the trial of Binion's accused killers, Rick Tabish and Sandy Murphy, has scheduled a 9:30 a.m. hearing Tuesday to decide whether to allow the exhumation.

Tabish's lawyers, Louis Palazzo and Robert Murdock, have requested that the body be exhumed to test the suffocation theory of Binion's death advanced by the prosecution's chief forensics expert, Dr. Michael Baden.

Behnen, president of the Horseshoe Club, the Binion family's downtown hotel-casino, said she was told that Baden, a well-known New York pathologist, planned to be present during the examination.

"If Dr. Baden is there, I'll feel much better about it," Behnen told the Sun.

Baden, who has worked on many high-profile cases, including the O.J. Simpson murder trial, testified in court last August that his review of tissue slides and autopsy photos found evidence that Binion had been suffocated.

He said blood vessels under Binion's eyelids appeared ruptured, and abrasions around his mouth may have been the result of pressure being exerted by someone using a pillow.

His testimony contradicted Dr. Lary Simms, Clark County's chief medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Binion's body. Simms testified that he believed Binion had died of lethal doses of heroin and the prescription sedative Xanax.

Some criminal defense attorneys following the Binion case have suggested the move to exhume Binion's body has potential to be a major blunder for the defense because it will give Baden a chance to back up his suffocation theory with first-hand evidence.

Murphy's lawyer, John Momot, has not joined in the motion by Palazzo and Murdock and has declined to comment on it.

The 55-year-old Binion, whose body is entombed at a local mausoleum, was killed more than a year ago. Murphy, his 27-year-old girlfriend, reported discovering his body on the floor of his den at 3:55 p.m. on Sept. 17, 1998.

Murphy, meanwhile, was spotted shopping at the Fashion Show Mall on Christmas Eve with her latest benefactor, 81-year-old William Fuller, a wealthy mining industry executive.

Murphy, who has been under house arrest, had sought permission from jail officials to go shopping for the holidays. Tabish, 34, remains behind bars on no bail.

When Behnen first heard about the push to exhume her brother's body last week, she said she found it disturbing.

"He's been gone a year," she said. "I believe in letting him rest in peace."

But Palazzo and Murdock said in court papers that it was "imperative to the administration of justice" to re-examine the body.

Lawyers for both Tabish and Murphy previously have suggested that Binion, a known heroin user, killed himself, either by accident or suicide.

Though they disagreed on how Binion died, both Baden and Simms said they believed Binion was the victim of a homicide.