Murphy, Tabish enter pleas

Monday, Sept. 27, 1999 | 11:58 a.m.

All six defendants charged in crimes related to Ted Binion's murder pleaded innocent today.

District Judge Joseph Bonaventure set a March 13 trial date for four of the defendants, including the two charged with the gambling figure's death, Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish.

Murphy, Binion's 27-year-old girlfriend, and Tabish, her reported lover, are accused of pumping Binion with drugs and suffocating him on Sept. 17, 1998.

A pale-looking Murphy showed up in court today 15 minutes late. Her lawyer, Bill Terry, told Bonaventure that she was sick with food poisoning. Murphy was allowed to leave the courtroom once during the arraignment.

Murphy and Tabish will stand trial with David Mattsen and Michael Milot, two other defendants charged with Murphy and Tabish in the theft of Binion's silver fortune in Pahrump after his death. Mattsen and Milot are seeking separate trials.

The remaining two defendants, Steven Wadkins and John B. Joseph, will face charges after the murder trial, which could last up to three months. Wadkins and Joseph are charged in a Tabish-inspired plot to torture a business partner into turning over his interests in a Jean sand pit two months before Binion's death. Prosecutors believe Tabish needed access to Binion's wealth to keep the sand pit open.

Wadkins and Joseph were released from the murder case after defense lawyers, led by Thomas Pitaro, attacked the credibility of the chief witness in the torture plot, businessman Leo Casey, during last month's preliminary hearing.

Casey, who stood by his story that he was beaten and tortured, was portrayed under cross-examination as a liar and a thief.

Earlier this month Justice of the Peace Jennifer Togliatti ordered all six defendants bound over for trial following the 13-day preliminary hearing, one of the longest and most publicized in Las Vegas history.

Binion was the son of the late gaming pioneer Benny Binion, who founded the Horseshoe Club hotel-casino downtown. The younger Binion, whose estate has been valued at $50 million to $55 million, was forced to give up his interests in the Horseshoe several months before his death because of ties to organized crime figures.

Tabish was allowed to appear at the arraignment without shackles wearing a suit and tie after a request last week by his new lawyer, Louis Palazzo. However, Tabish was to wear a stun belt under his suit.

During last month's preliminary hearing, Tabish, in custody on no bond since his June 24 arrest, was forced to appear in court in his navy jail garb. The other defendants were free on bail.

Palazzo also has informed Bonaventure that he will be seeking bail for Tabish, a 34-year-old Montana contractor, in the hopes that his client might gain his freedom while waiting to be tried. A hearing on that request will be held next month.

Lawyers for both Tabish and Murphy also expect to file motions seeking to sever the murder charges against their clients from the other related charges. They plan to request separate trials for the different sets of charges.

Binion's body was discovered at his Las Vegas home next to an empty bottle of the prescription sedative Xanax.

An autopsy found heroin and Xanax in Binion's stomach, and police believe the death scene was staged by his killers.

The murder case, described by District Attorney Stewart Bell as a "complex jigsaw puzzle," has attracted national publicity over the past year.

Court TV, a national cable network, is considering covering the trial live.