Choice against death penalty could aid prosecutors

Wednesday, Sept. 22, 1999 | 11:45 a.m.

Prosecutors could benefit at trial from Tuesday's decision not to seek the death penalty against Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish in Ted Binion's murder.

Without the death penalty hanging over the heads of the two defendants, prosecutors might find a jury more willing to return a conviction in the circumstantial case, legal experts said.

Murphy, Binion's 27-year-old girlfriend, and Tabish, her reported lover, also won't be able to receive an additional attorney at state expense to battle the prosecution during the trial, which is expected to last three months.

And District Judge Joseph Bonaventure, courthouse sources said, may be less likely to grant a request for separate trials to the four other defendants charged in crimes related to Binion's Sept. 17, 1998, murder.

The decision also appeared to please Binion's sister, Horseshoe Club President Becky Behnen, who was the first to suggest foul play in her brother's death.

"I don't know what their reasoning was, but I'm happy about it because being Catholic I'm against the death penalty," Behnen told the Sun this morning.

District Attorney Stewart Bell said Tuesday a committee of his top assistants had decided this was not an "appropriate case" to seek the death penalty.

Bell and Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger, the lead prosecutor in the case, would not disclose why the panel opted against the death penalty.

But legal experts said trial strategy may have played a role in the decision.

Roger said Bell's committee had to consider three questions before seeking the death penalty.

The panel had to ask itself whether the death penalty was a fair punishment, whether a jury would return a verdict of death and whether such a verdict would stand up on appeal, Roger said.

If the answer was no to either one of those questions, Roger said, the panel was obligated to decline to seek the death penalty.

Murphy and the 34-year-old Tabish are scheduled to be arraigned with the four other defendants -- David Mattsen, Michael Milot, Steven Wadkins and John B. Joseph -- in Bonaventure's courtroom at 8:30 a.m. Monday.

At the arraignment, Tabish is expected to appear with his new lawyer, Louis Palazzo, who is replacing Steve Wolfson.

Murphy said last week that she planned to bring in additional defense help. There was speculation at the courthouse that she was not getting along with her lawyer, Bill Terry. But as of this morning, Terry, who could not be reached for comment, still was listed as her attorney of record.

Famed Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz, part of O.J. Simpson's defense team, was retained by Murphy and Tabish several months ago to help with their defense strategy.

Last week, Justice of the Peace Jennifer Togliatti ordered Murphy and Tabish to stand trial following a widely publicized 13-day preliminary hearing, one of the longest in Las Vegas history.

Binion's body was discovered at his home next to an empty bottle of the prescription sedative Xanax in a scene prosecutors believe was staged by his killers.