Binion suspect takes the Fifth in court session

Thursday, Feb. 4, 1999 | 11:44 a.m.

The chief suspect in the theft of a fortune in silver from the late Ted Binion asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination 98 times today in District Court when asked about assets missing from Binion's estate.

Rick Tabish, a 33-year-old Montana contractor, refused to answer questions about the missing valuables in his reported romantic relationship with Binion's girlfriend, Sandy Murphy.

Murphy also was to testify today, but her lawyers, Oscar Goodman and David Chesnoff, asked District Judge Michael Cherry to delay her appearance.

Goodman said Murphy was prepared to testify about the missing items against his legal advice.

He said he needed time to settle his disagreement with Murphy and suggested that he might get off the case if Murphy continued to be willing to testify.

Last week during another hearing, Goodman told Cherry he was recommending that Murphy take the Fifth Amendment because of the ongoing criminal investigation into Binion's Sept. 17 death.

Murphy and Tabish reportedly have become the focus of the police investigation.

Tabish today read a prepared answer asserting his Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment rights from a yellow legal note pad each of the 98 times he was asked questions by the estate's lawyers. His attorney, Louis Palazzo, was at his side during the questioning.

On Wednesday, tempers flared as lawyers for Tabish and the estate clashed over the effort to force Tabish to testify about the missing valuables from Binion's 2408 Palomino Lane home.

Palazzo told Cherry that the affidavit of Binion's older brother, Jack Binion, which was used to force Murphy and Tabish to court, contained "supposition" and was filled with inaccuracies.

Palazzo charged that the estate, which the elder Binion oversees, was staging a "carnival" and abusing its power by hauling Murphy and Tabish to court.

But estate attorney Richard Wright charged that Ted Binion's underground vault in Pahrump was "looted in the dead of night" 36 hours after his Sept. 17 death.

Tabish, who was arrested in the alleged silver theft in Pahrump on Sept. 19, and Murphy were the only ones who have not cooperated with the estate as it has attempted to make an accounting of Binion's assets, Wright said.

He added that hundreds of thousands of dollars in gems, jewelry and rare coins are missing from Binion's home.

Wright told Cherry that the estate intended to seek a judgment against Murphy and Tabish if they continued to resist cooperating.

That judgment could affect Murphy's inheritance.

Murphy has been awarded the Palomino Lane home, its contents and $300,000 in cash from Binion's estate.

At one point during Wednesday's heated arguments, Wright referred to Binion's death as a "killing."

Metro Police have declined to publicly call Binion's death a homicide, but a team of homicide detectives have been investigating the mysterious circumstances surrounding his demise.

Lethal levels of both heroin and the prescription sedative Xanax were found in his system.