Murphy’s panties may be found

Thursday, Nov. 4, 1999 | 10:53 a.m.

Clark County Detention Center officials said this morning they may have found Sandy Murphy's missing panties.

Capt. Henry Hoogland said jail workers came across several pairs of unclaimed black panties during the normal course of operations Wednesday.

"We're trying to identify who they belong to at this time," Hoogland said.

On Tuesday, Murphy's lawyer, John Momot, filed court papers demanding officials return the panties they "illegally seized" from her during the week she spent at the detention center.

A Nov. 15 hearing on the matter was set before District Judge Joseph Bonaventure.

Murphy, a 27-year-old onetime topless dancer, and her reported lover, Montana contractor Rick Tabish, are charged in the September 1998 slaying of Ted Binion. Prosecutors have alleged the two defendants pumped Binion with drugs, suffocated him and stole his valuables.

Last week Mommot complained that jail officials treated Murphy in an "oppressive" manner while she was behind bars for violating the terms of her house arrest. She was released on Thursday.

In his motion, Momot explained how Murphy's underwear turned up missing.

He said the panties were placed in a clear plastic bag with the rest of her clothes when she was booked into the detention center Oct. 21 and given jail garb.

But when Murphy was set free Thursday, Momot said, the panties were not in the bag.

In another development, Momot and Tabish's attorney, Robert Murdock, filed papers in District Court Wednesday seeking to dismiss a wrongful death lawsuit against their clients.

The suit was filed Oct. 12 by Binion's 19-year-old daughter, Bonnie Binion.

It accused Murphy, who was living with Binion, and Tabish of "engaging in a secret sexual relationship" while plotting the wealthy gambling figure's slaying.

In their papers, Momot and Murdock described that reference as belonging in a "Melrose Place" script, not in a "pleading in the state of Nevada."

The lawyers attempted to lay blame for Binion's death on his brother, Jack Binion, sister Becky Behnen, and lawyers Richard Wright and Harry Claiborne.

Momot and Murdock said all four knew about Binion's heroin habit and did nothing to help him prior to his death.

The lawyers also accused Binion's neighbor, Dr. Enrique Lacayo, of improperly giving Binion a prescription for 120 tablets of the sedative Xanax, the day before the former casino executive died.

They charged that Lacayo and Binion's heroin supplier, Peter Sheridan, who sold Binion 12 balloons of the street drug the night before his death, should be named "parties" to the lawsuit.

An autopsy found heroin and Xanax in Binion's stomach.

Momot and Murdock also said Claiborne should be disqualified as Bonnie Binion's attorney in the suit because he will be a witness.