Analysis: Binion murder case being fought on five fronts

Thursday, Oct. 14, 1999 | 12:07 p.m.

Ted Binion was found dead more than a year ago, but the mystery over his demise continues to take on a life of its own.

With the filing of a wrongful death lawsuit this week against the two people charged in his killing, five fronts involving five different judges now have been opened in the court system in one of the most publicized murder cases in Las Vegas history.

The biggest front is the criminal case in the courtroom of District Judge Joseph Bonaventure against Binion's 27-year-old girlfriend, Sandy Murphy and her reported lover, Rick Tabish, a 34-year-old Montana contractor.

Both Murphy and Tabish, who denied killing Binion, were arrested June 24 and charged with the gambling figure's slaying nine months after his body was found at his home next to an empty bottle of the prescription sedative Xanax.

Last week the criminal case spread to federal court, where David Mattsen, who is charged with helping Murphy and Tabish steal Binion's silver fortune in Pahrump after his death, was indicted on 11 firearms charges. U.S. District Judge Philip Pro has been assigned the case.

Mattsen's lawyer, James "Bucky" Buchanan, said Wednesday he believes Clark County prosecutors pushed for the federal indictment to pressure Mattsen to cooperate in the murder case.

"There was an indication that there would be a favorable disposition of the federal case if he testified in the state case," Buchanan said.

Tom Dillard, a private detective investigating Binion's Sept. 17, 1998, murder for his estate, acknowledged that the federal charges put Mattsen in a "more precarious position."

Prosecutors believe Mattsen can provide information about Binion's death. They have cellular phone records that show he talked to Tabish and Murphy in the immediate hours before and after Binion's slaying.

Buchanan said his client plans to fight the new charges in federal court, but he left the door open for a possible deal with prosecutors down the line.

"You can't rule it out," Buchanan said. "Now the stakes are a lot higher."

Mattsen, who was managing Binion's 125-acre Pahrump ranch at the time of his death, faces as much as five years of prison time if found guilty on the firearms charges.

He has asked Bonaventure to try him separately from Murphy and Tabish.

Beyond the criminal case is the third front, the battle between Murphy, who lived with Binion for more than three years, and his $50 million estate. That front is being played out in the courtroom of District Judge Michael Cherry.

In December, months before her arrest, then-District Judge Myron Leavitt awarded Murphy Binion's $900,000 home, its contents and $300,000 in cash. The estate, however, which claims Binion cut Murphy out of his will, appealed the judgment to the Nevada Supreme Court.

After Cherry took over the case in February, Murphy and Tabish asserted their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination when asked on the witness stand to help the estate locate valuables stolen from Binion's home after his death. Police later charged the two with looting Binion's home and stealing more than $4 million in silver from him in Pahrump.

Cherry, who is trying to help the estate gather Binion's assets, so far has refused to allow Murphy back into Binion's home while the estate battle rages.

In May, five weeks before her arrest, Murphy, opened another front, when she filed a palimony suit seeking $2 million from Binion's estate for providing "unique and extraordinary services" to the former casino executive while living with him.

The estate contends Murphy, who once danced topless at Cheetah's adult nightclub, has no right to any of Binion's money. It has produced a co-habitation agreement Murphy signed in 1997 giving up claims to Binion's fortune.

District Judge Gary Redmond, who was assigned the case, has yet to conduct any proceedings in the palimony battle.

Then came the fifth front, the wrongful death lawsuit Binion's 19-year-old daughter, Bonnie, filed Tuesday against Murphy and Tabish. That case went to District Judge Stephen Huffaker.

Bonnie Binion accused Murphy and Tabish in her suit of carrying on a secret romantic affair while plotting her father's murder. She is seeking general and punitive damages.

Such suits on behalf of family members are not uncommon.

In civil cases, there is a much lighter standard of proof than in criminal cases. Plaintiffs don't have to prove their cases beyond a reasonable doubt, as in criminal court. All they have to do is present a "preponderance of evidence."

Attorneys for Murphy and Tabish said Wednesday they will move to bar any testimony from their clients in the wrongful death case until after the March 13 criminal trial, which is expected to last as long as three months.

That would avert the likelihood of their clients being forced to take the Fifth Amendment and hurt their standing in the civil case.

Unlike in criminal proceedings, Fifth Amendment privileges asserted in civil cases can be used as evidence by juries when reaching verdicts.

The different court fronts stemming from Binion's death, meanwhile, have the potential to take a toll on Murphy, legal experts said.

"She's got to be feeling a tremendous amount of pressure with all of this litigation stacked up against her, " one lawyer involved in the court proceedings said. "She's got to be realizing there's no end in sight to this."