Prosecutors unveil suffocation theory

Thursday, Sept. 2, 1999 | 11:17 a.m.

Prosecutors for the first time Wednesday laid out their new suffocation theory in Ted Binion's Sept. 17 murder.

Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger, the lead prosecutor in the high-profile case, said Binion's girlfriend, Sandy Murphy, and her reported lover, Rick Tabish, originally planned to kill Binion by pumping him with heroin and the prescription sedative, Xanax.

But when the 55-year-old Binion's longtime gardener, Tom Loveday, showed up for work at the gambling figure's 2408 Palomino Lane home, they had to change the plan and take quicker action, Roger said.

"Something unexpected happened that day, and it was Tom Loveday," Roger told Justice of the Peace Jennifer Togliatti at the close of the 13-day preliminary hearing for Binion's accused killers and four other defendants charged in related crimes.

Togliatti said she will announce Sept. 13 whether all six defendants should stand trial. Prosecutors only need a slight amount of evidence to persuade Togliatti to bind over the defendants.

Loveday testified during the hearing that he arrived at Binion's house at 9 a.m. and immediately began noticing things didn't look right. The curtains leading to the family room, which had a view of the den where Binion's body later was found, were closed, Loveday said.

Roger said investigators now believe Murphy and Tabish killed Binion while Loveday was mowing the former casino executive's lawn between 9 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.

Binion's hands were restrained with his own handcuffs, he was hastily forced to drink a liquid mixture of the tar heroin he had bought the night before, and then he was smothered to death, Roger said.

Roger said the 27-year-old Murphy melted the heroin and mixed it in a wine glass before giving it to Binion. Investigators found unidentified droppings on the carpet leading to Binion's body.

Murphy, the prosecutor said, was captured on videotape appearing to take the glass from a kitchen counter-top while giving lawyers a tour of the inside of Binion's $900,000 home in anticipation of a court battle over his estate.

The suffocation theory was advanced during the hearing by well-known New York pathologist, Dr. Michael Baden, who was a forensics expert in the death of John Belushi and the murder trial of O.J. Simpson.

Baden, who has conducted 20,000 autopsies during his 40-year career, contradicted testimony from Dr. Larry Simms, Clark County's chief medical examiner, who had performed the autopsy on Binion.

Contrary to the medical examiner's theory of death, Baden testified that he didn't believe Binion died of lethal levels of heroin and Xanax. Though heroin was found in his stomach, it wasn't enough to cause his death, Baden said.

Baden, far more experienced than Simms, who has only performed 3,000 autopsies, said congestion under Binion's eyelids and abrasions on his chest and back indicated he was suffocated.

Defense lawyers spent hours during their closing arguments attacking the credibility of the prosecution's witnesses and questioning whether the correct charges were filed against their defendants.

"This case is fraught with immunity, paid testimony, perjury and heavy involvement of interested parties," charged Murphy's lawyer, Bill Terry.

Steve Wolfson, who represents Tabish, said his client "did not commit this act.

"There's no evidence whatsoever that Mr. Tabish was at the house, so I submit to you there is no evidence that he committed this murder," Wolfson said.

Roger, meanwhile, methodically laid out the murder case against Murphy and Tabish during his two-hour closing argument.

Murphy and Tabish listened with drawn faces.

At one point, while describing the "cruel" nature of Binion's murder, Roger asked Togliatti to instruct Murphy to stop "huffing and puffing." Murphy then glanced at Roger and said she was sorry.

Roger said there is evidence that Binion had kicked Murphy out of his house the morning he was killed, and the prosecutor said Murphy may have had to get inside through a bathroom window in her bedroom.

The day before his death, Roger said, Binion told his lawyer, James J. Brown, that he was afraid Murphy might kill him, and he instructed Brown to take Murphy out of his will. She was set to inherit the house, its contents and $300,000 in cash. Binion also asked a private investigator to follow Murphy in an attempt to see whether she was having an affair with Tabish, a 34-year-old Montana contractor and two-convicted felon.

Murphy had been bragging to friends that she was romantically involved with Tabish and that Binion was going to die of a drug overdose, Roger said.

"She had a new flame in her life, and she wanted to move on based on Ted Binion's money," Roger said.

Roger said both Murphy and Tabish had a financial motive to kill Binion.

Murphy, he said, knew she would get nothing if Binion were alive. The day after his death, she telephoned another Binion lawyer, Richard Wright, inquiring about a $1 million life insurance settlement she thought she was going to receive.

Tabish was $1.1 million in debt, including more than $900,000 in IRS liens against him, Roger said.

The contractor also needed several hundred thousand dollars to keep a struggling Jean sand pit operating, Roger added. Tabish and two other men, Steven Wadkins and John B. Joseph, are charged with torturing one of the sand pit's operator's, Leo Casey, into turning over his interests in the company two months before Binion's murder.

Defense lawyers called Casey, who spent hours on the witness stand, a liar and a thief who stole more than $500,000 from the company.

Murphy and Tabish also had bragged prior to Binion's death that they were going to gain access to his silver fortune in Pahrump, Roger told Togliatti.

Two days after Binion was killed, Roger said, Tabish and two other men, Michael Milot and David Mattsen, were arrested trying to steal the silver they had dug up from an underground vault in Pahrump. Binion's estate has estimated the 48,000 pounds of silver to be worth $4 million. Others have said it has a value as high as $7 million.

Roger said the basic theory of Binion's murder hasn't changed -- that Murphy and Tabish pumped him with drugs to make it look as though he died of an overdose.

"The killers had to stage a suicide or accidental overdose to get away with the crime, and that's exactly what they did," he said.

Roger said Murphy and Tabish removed most of Binion's valuables, including a $300,000 collection of rare coins and currency, from his house before Murphy reported discovering his body to police at 3:55 p.m. on Sept. 17.

The thefts in Las Vegas and Pahrump were described by the prosecutor as "signature crimes." One silver dollar was found in the middle of the underground vault in Pahrump, and a single dime was discovered in Binion's safe at his home.

On top of that, Roger added, crime scene analysts found a Halloween decoration attached to a light fixture above the entrance to Binion's home that read "R.I.P."

"What a cruel, cruel thing to do to a dead person," Roger said.

Murphy, he said, showed her "true colors" on the Sept. 18 videotape in which she appears the opposite of the "grieving widow" the day before, as she looked to gather up as much of Binion's possessions for herself as she could.

At the scene of Binion's death less than 24 hours earlier, a hysterical Murphy had to be taken by paramedics to the hospital, Roger said.

He described that as an act on Murphy's part.

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