Murphy asserts Fifth more than 200 times

Thursday, Feb. 11, 1999 | 11:33 a.m.

Ted Binion's girlfriend, Sandy Murphy, asserted her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination more than 200 times today in District Court when asked about valuables missing from the late gaming executive's estate.

This came as a Clark County grand jury heard testimony for the first time in an investigation into Binion's Sept. 17 death.

Murphy's attorney, Oscar Goodman, disclosed that the grand jury has launched an investigation before his 26-year-old client took the witness stand in the courtroom of District Judge Michael Cherry.

Murphy is reported to be a target of the investigation.

Goodman said the district attorney's office has refused to give Murphy immunity from prosecution so that she can testify in the estate case.

Goodman had offered to allow Murphy to be questioned about the missing items behind closed doors without asserting her Fifth Amendment right, but an agreement with lawyers from the estate could not be reached.

With Goodman at her side, a soft-spoken Murphy cited the Fifth Amendment when refusing to answer questions from the estate's lawyers more than 200 times.

Last week, Goodman had asked Cherry to delay Murphy's appearance. He said that his client was refusing to take his advice to assert the Fifth Amendment and that the two needed time to resolve their differences.

Goodman threatened to withdraw as her attorney unless she listened to him.

He said he had advised Murphy not to answer questions about the missing estate items out of fear that her answers could be used against her in the criminal investigation.

Rick Tabish, a 33-year-old Montana contractor accused of trying to steal a fortune in silver from Binion in Pahrump, reportedly also is the focus of the grand jury's probe, which is being coordinated by a team of homicide detectives.

Tabish took the Fifth Amendment 98 times last week when questioned in Cherry's courtroom by lawyers for Binion's estate. His two co-defendants, Michael Milot and David Mattsen, also refused to answer questions.

Tabish, who's free on bail, faces a preliminary hearing in Pahrump next month on the theft charges. Detectives have linked him romantically to Murphy, who stands to inherit Binion's 2408 Palomino Lane home, its contents and $300,000 in cash.

The estate's lawyers, however, plan to seek a judgment against Murphy for hundreds of thousands of dollars unless she helps them locate the missing valuables.

Drug tests show that Binion had lethal levels of both heroin and the prescription sedative Xanax in his system.

Police have been trying to determine how the deadly amounts of both drugs found their way into his system.