Testimony reveals Murphy danced topless at nightclub

Tuesday, April 4, 2000 | 11:42 a.m.

Sandy Murphy's topless dancing exploits took center stage Monday on the first day of testimony in her trial on charges of killing her boyfriend, wealthy gambling figure Ted Binion.

Murphy, 28, and her new lover, Montana contractor Rick Tabish, are charged with killing Binion Sept. 17, 1998, and stealing his valuables.

For more than 18 months, since she became the focus of the homicide investigation, Murphy has denied that she danced topless at Cheetah's adult nightclub, where she met the 55-year-old Binion in March 1995.

But on Monday, Josh Landish, a lawyer for Binion's ex-wife, Doris, testified that Murphy acknowledged dancing at Cheetah's in a sworn deposition on Feb. 15, 1996.

The 102-page deposition, which was obtained by the Sun in October, was taken as part of the divorce proceedings between the Binions. Doris Binion testified before Landish took the stand Monday that she left Binion in April 1995 after learning he was having an affair with Murphy.

Landish, who conducted the 1996 deposition in the presence of both Ted and Doris Binion, testified that Murphy admitted dancing at Cheetah's for about two weeks to earn back $13,000 she had gambled away at Caesars Palace.

Murphy has denied dancing topless despite an October Sun story disclosing details of her deposition. She recently gave a television interview in which she said she was never employed by Cheetah's.

Asked in the deposition whether she had obtained a work card to dance, she replied, "No nothing like that. I never even asked Cheetah's if it was OK for me to work. I took it upon myself to do what I wanted, and I did it. Nobody said anything to me."

Landish said Murphy testified that she tried to earn her money back helping a friend, Linda Carroll, sell costumes to dancers at the club, but soon found it more lucrative to dance.

She said she made more than $13,000, all in cash, in the two weeks she worked.

Asked in the deposition what kind of costume she wore, she said: "I looked exactly like a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader, exact replica."

Landish testified that Murphy acknowledged dancing topless on stage and even doing table dances for Cheetah's customers during her brief stint at the club.

A couple of weeks after meeting Binion there, she moved in with the millionaire former casino executive.

Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger asked Landish to recall another portion of the deposition in which Murphy was asked if Binion ever beat her up.

Murphy replied no, saying she worked out five days a week.

"I would seriously doubt that Mr. Binion could ever do me any physical harm. Not that he ever would, I mean," she said.

Murphy is contending in the trial that she was a victim of domestic abuse while living with Binion in the three years leading to his death.

But in the 1996 deposition, she described Binion as a "kind, generous and loving" man.

In other testimony Monday, Steve Morris, a Binion friend and former baccarat supervisor at the Horseshoe Club, said Binion told him he would "never marry the bitch."

Morris testified that Murphy repeatedly told him in the months before his death that Binion was on a course of destruction and was going to die of a drug overdose.

But he said he never saw any signs of that himself.

Other witnesses testified that Murphy bought nearly $1,200 in designer clothes for Tabish at Neiman Marcus days before the two went off on a romantic tryst at the Beverly Hills Hotel the weekend of Aug. 8, 1998.

The couple spent another $1,400 at the posh California resort staying in a deluxe room with a king-size bed, a hotel executive testified.

In his opening statement Friday, Murphy's lawyer, John Momot, acknowledged for the first time that Murphy and Tabish were romantically linked when Binion's death occurred.

The two defendants publicly had been denying their relationship the past 18 months.

Other witnesses testified Monday about the 35-year-old Tabish's financial troubles at the time of Binion's death. Tabish, the witnesses said, had IRS liens against him and was in danger of having the trucks repossessed at one of his companies, MRT Transport.

Prosecutors have alleged that Murphy and Tabish both had financial motives to kill Binion.

Jeff German is the Sun's senior investigative reporter. He can be reached at (702) 259-4067 or by e-mail at german@lasvegassun.com.