Tabish friend takes stand

Tuesday, April 4, 2000 | 11:41 a.m.

Steven Kurt Gratzer was back in Las Vegas today testifying in the Ted Binion murder trial.

Gratzer, a childhood friend of murder defendant Rick Tabish, took the witness stand this morning as testimony resumed in the trial of Tabish and Murphy on charges of killing the wealthy gambling figure in Sept. 17, 1998.

The trial, one of the most well-publicized ever in Las Vegas, is being carried live on local and national television from the courtroom of District Judge Joseph Bonaventure.

When Gratzer testified at the preliminary hearing for Murphy and Tabish in August 1999, he gave prosecutors a difficult time. He was evasive and even once was spotted winking at Tabish.

At the time, Gratzer was said to be concerned that Tabish could receive the death penalty. Prosecutors later assured Gratzer they would not ask to put Tabish to death if he were convicted.

With Tabish's life not hanging in the balance, Gratzer was expected to be more cooperative today. His testimony was to last most of the day.

Gratzer acknowledged last August that Tabish had approached him about finding ways to kill the 55-year-old Binion.

In a March 19, 1999, statement to homicide detectives, the 36-year-old Gratzer, who lives in Montana, said Tabish told him prior to Binion's death that he planned to kill the former casino man and steal his valuables.

Tabish described Binion to Gratzer as "pretty much of a monster who was beating up his girlfriend" and "needed to be done away with."

Gratzer said in the 62-page statement obtained by the Sun that Tabish sought his advice about killing Binion, among them staging a drug overdose.

Police have alleged that Murphy and Tabish pumped drugs into Binion's body and suffocated him to make it look as though he had died of an overdose.

Gratzer was supposed to be the prosecution's leadoff witness this morning, but his appearance was pushed back because he showed up late at the courthouse.

Instead, prosecutors called Jerry Keenan, an Oregon jeweler once in business with Binion, as their first witness.

Keenan testified that he had a telephone conversation with Murphy in August 1998, a month before Binion's death, in which she said Binion was killing himself on heroin.

Murphy told him she was only getting $1 million from Binion in the event of his death and "that's not enough," he said.