Murphy awaits Thursday release

Monday, Oct. 25, 1999 | 11:17 a.m.

If she behaves, Sandy Murphy will be released from the Clark County Detention Center on Thursday and go back under house arrest.

District Judge Joseph Bonaventure Friday ordered the 27-year-old Murphy, charged in the slaying of Ted Binion, to remain behind bars for one week to give her time to think about her "cavalier attitude" toward authority.

Murphy, a onetime topless dancer, was taken into custody Thursday for violating the terms of her house arrest at her Henderson apartment.

She had spent eight hours away from her apartment Wednesday meeting with attorneys without properly documenting her whereabouts for detention center officials. At one point, Murphy went to lunch at the upscale Aristocrat restaurant with her civil lawyer, William Knudson, without notifying authorities.

When Donna Bryant, the Metro corrections officer supervising her, sought an explanation of her whereabouts that night, Murphy got into a confrontation over the telephone with the officer.

"What you've got here is a woman who just doesn't get it, or else doesn't care" Deputy District Attorney David Wall told Bonaventure in court Friday when opposing her release.

Bonaventure decided to release Murphy this week, but not before giving her a stern lecture.

"You think you're something special -- you're above the rules," Bonaventure told Murphy. "Well, you're not Ms. Murphy."

Murphy, in a rare opportunity to speak in court, apologized for her actions and said her flap with the corrections officer was the result of a personality clash.

But the judge didn't appear to buy her explanation, telling her she needs to understand the seriousness of her situation.

Murphy and her co-defendant, Rick Tabish, both are facing life in prison if convicted of killing Binion, a well-known gambling figure. Tabish is in jail on no bail.

Police believe Binion's killers pumped his body with drugs and suffocated him at his home on Sept. 17, 1998. At the time, Murphy, who was living with Binion, was reported to be romantically involved with the 34-year-old Tabish.

After the hearing, Murphy's new lawyer, John Momot, said he was thankful Bonaventure had decided to release Murphy back into the house arrest program while she prepares for her March 13 trial.

Momot predicted a change in Murphy's attitude.

"I think (the judge) instilled the fear of God in her," he said.

Momot, a friend of Binion's, had agreed to represent Murphy after her previous lawyer, Bill Terry, withdrew from the case. Terry had replaced two other lawyers, David Chesnoff and Oscar Goodman, who was elected mayor of Las Vegas earlier this year.

Before agreeing to release Murphy, Bonaventure told her she could no longer dine at the Aristocrat, a gourmet restaurant Murphy began frequenting during her days with Binion.

During Friday's hearing, there was testimony that Murphy once answered the door of her apartment wrapped only in a towel while letting in a male corrections officer.

She was assigned a female officer after that incident.