Witness: Binion’s death predicted

Jeff German and Kim Smith

Wednesday, April 5, 2000 | 11:17 a.m.

Sandy Murphy's manicurist testified today that the murder defendant predicted the death of Ted Binion a week before he died in September 1998.

Deanna Perry said Murphy told her the wealthy gambling figure would die of a heroin overdose within three weeks during a Sept. 10 visit to the Niemann Marcus beauty salon at the Fashion Show mall.

Perry said Murphy told her that her relationship with Binion was "rocky" and that she was looking forward to inheriting $3 million and his house after his death.

Perry took the witness stand on the third day of testimony in the Binion murder trial.

Murphy and her reported lover, Rick Tabish are charged with killing the wealthy gambling figure on Sept. 17, 1998, and stealing his valuables.

The trial, being carried live on local and national television, is taking place in the courtroom of District Judge Joseph Bonaventure.

Prosecutors, meanwhile left the courtroom smiling Tuesday following the testimony of Steven Kurt Gratzer, a 36-year-old friend of Tabish from Montana.

Unlike his evasive and disjointed performance on the witness stand during last August's preliminary hearing, Gratzer laid out in deliberate fashion his claims that Tabish sought his assistance in killing Binion.

"He wanted to utilize my services in helping him kill this man," Gratzer said.

Tabish, he said, offered him up to $3 million for his help.

The former Army ranger, who appeared calm and collected, testified that Tabish told him he was going to dig up Binion's $6 million silver fortune in Pahrump and share a $900,000 life insurance policy with Murphy after his death.

Prosecutors had placed Gratzer's new girlfriend in the first row of the courtroom to help him stay focused during his testimony. He rarely looked at Tabish as he spoke. In August, Tabish was observed winking at Gratzer as he testified.

Under questioning from Chief Deputy District Attorney David Wall on Tuesday, Gratzer said Tabish asked him to think of several ways to kill Binion, from shooting him with a hunting rifle at his ranch in Pahrump to staging an overdose of heroin and the prescription sedative, Xanax.

Prosecutors have alleged that Murphy and Tabish pumped Binion with heroin and Xanax and suffocated him. The death scene at his Las Vegas home was staged to make it look as though he had died of an overdose, they contend.

The defense maintains that Binion intentionally took the drugs while committing suicide.

Gratzer, who acknowledged that he has several drunken driving arrests and was taking medication to help him sleep, stuck to his story under cross-examination from Tabish's attorney, Louis Palazzo.

He said he made contradictory statements during August's preliminary hearing because "from the time I was a little boy I was taught not to rat on my buddies."

Gratzer was worried at the preliminary hearing that prosecutors might seek the death penalty against Tabish, sources close to the case said. But following the hearing Gratzer was assured that the death penalty had been ruled out as an option.

He acknowledged that when he testified in August that Tabish did not discuss killing Binion, it was only partially true.

"There was no discussion," Gratzer said Tuesday. "He said he was going to kill him. There was no two ways about it. I tried to talk him out of it, but he said he hated him."

Gratzer said that he was trying to help Tabish during the preliminary hearing, prompting Palazzo to sarcastically ask if that meant he was trying to help the prosecution now.

"I'm not helping anyone, I'm telling the truth," Gratzer said.

Palazzo asked if it was true that the "truth" would be decided by prosecutors and his deal for immunity relied upon their impressions of his truthfulness.

"I think the truth will be determined by the jury," Gratzer replied.

As for the immunity deal, Gratzer said "I'm not worried about that one iota."

After Gratzer left the stand, prosecutors called a handful of witnesses to corroborate Gratzer's story. A trio of Missoula, Mont., residents testified that Gratzer told them in the days before Binion died that Tabish had asked him for assistance in killing a man in Las Vegas.

A fourth Montana resident, pharmacist Jon Berman, testified that Gratzer called him sometime between March 1998 and September 1998 to ask him what the lethal doses were for two drugs.

Berman said he couldn't remember the specific drugs Gratzer inquired about, but one of them was an opiate. He added that he couldn't tell Gratzer the lethal dose for that drug because it depends upon past usage and people's tolerances.

As for the other drug, Berman said he couldn't find it in his reference material and when he offered to do some more research, Gratzer said never mind and hung up abruptly.

When cross-examined, Berman told Palazzo the conversation could have taken place in late September and admitted Gratzer often called with strange questions.

Convenience store owner Terry Sweeney told jurors he and Gratzer were at a Montana festival on Sept. 19, 1998, when he learned of Tabish's alleged desire to see a Las Vegas man killed.

Gratzer never gave him a name, Sweeney said, but told him Tabish wanted his help in killing the man because he had been cheated out of some money and because he, Tabish, had a relationship with the man's girlfriend.

"My response was, 'You wouldn't do something like that would you?' and he paused a minute and said 'No, probably not. I just hope Rick doesn't do anything stupid,' " Sweeney said.

Early the next morning, Sweeney said he learned from Gratzer of Binion's death and Tabish's possible involvement.