Defendant seeks to be tried separately

Tuesday, Oct. 5, 1999 | 10:23 a.m.

One of two defendants accused of killing gambling figure Ted Binion is asking that she be tried separately in the case.

Sandy Murphy filed motions late Monday asking that her trial be separated from that of co-defendant Rick Tabish.

The two are charged with the Sept. 17, 1998 murder of Binion, a member of a prominent casino family.

Murphy was Binion's live-in girlfriend. She was also Tabish's reported lover in the weeks leading up to the Binion murder.

Murphy is also asking that she be tried separately on different charges arising from Binion's death.

The motion said a joint trial with Tabish and two other defendants would limit her defenses.

In other motions filed Monday, Tabish asked that he be allowed bail. He has been held without bail since his arrest earlier this year.

Murphy also asked that her cash bail be reduced from the current $300,000 to $100,000 and that she be released from a house arrest provision.

Prosecutors have until Oct. 11 to respond to the motions.

Judge Joseph Bonaventure will consider the motions Oct. 15.

Six people have been charged in connection with three incidents linked to the Binion case. Only Tabish and Murphy are charged with murder.

Prosecutors allege Binion was suffocated and/or forced to ingest lethal doses of heroin and the prescription drug Xanax.

Tabish, Murphy, David Mattsen and Michael Milot are accused of the attempted theft of some $7 million in silver that Binion had buried in a vault in Pahrump, Nev. The three men were arrested at the site two days after Binion was found dead at his Las Vegas home.

Tabish, Murphy, Steven Wadkins and John Joseph are accused of a July 1998 extortion plot in which a businessman said he was tortured until he agreed to sign certain documents.

Tabish, Murphy, Mattsen and Milot are scheduled for trial March 13. Wadkins and Joseph face trial at a later date.