Lawyer: Mattsen under pressure to cooperate

Wednesday, Oct. 27, 1999 | 11:39 a.m.

The lawyer for a key figure in the Ted Binion murder investigation said Tuesday federal prosecutors are putting more pressure on his client to cooperate.

James "Bucky" Buchanan told the Sun that prosecutors are looking to send his client, David Mattsen, to jail while he fights federal firearms charges.

Mattsen, the 54-year-old former manager of Binion's Pahrump ranch, currently is free on his own recognizance.

"They're playing hardball now," Buchanan said. "I think they're trying to pressure him to cooperate."

He said a 10 a.m. hearing Thursday on whether Mattsen should be held without bail has been scheduled before U.S. Magistrate Lawrence Leavitt.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom O'Connell, who is handling Mattsen's case, said the hearing was set by Leavitt amid the filing of a pretrial services report on Mattsen.

The federal firearms charges are the result of a March 9 raid on Mattsen's home by homicide detectives investigating Binion's death on Sept. 17, 1998. Detectives seized several weapons from Mattsen during the court-authorized search. As an ex-felon, Mattsen is barred from possessing any guns.

Three months after the raid, Clark County prosecutors charged Mattsen with helping Binion's accused killers, Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish, steal the former casino executive's silver fortune in Pahrump. The firearms case was referred to federal authorities who specialize in such cases.

Buchanan told the Sun last week that O'Connell tried to persuade Mattsen to testify against Murphy and Tabish several weeks before they obtained his indictment earlier this month.

The deal was sought at the request of Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger, the lead prosecutor in the case, Buchanan said.

Mattsen, Buchanan said, declined to cooperate and now is intent on fighting the state and federal criminal charges against him.

County prosecutors have cellular phone records that show there were conversations between Mattsen and Tabish in the immediate hours after Binion's slaying.

Mattsen faces a Dec. 13 trial on the firearms charges.