Jurors see a change in Murphy

Friday, April 14, 2000 | 11:24 a.m.

Ted Binion's estate lawyer resumed testifying today after helping prosecutors present a videotape showing a dramatic change in the demeanor of Sandy Murphy one day after the wealthy gambling figure's death.

James J. Brown, who is overseeing Binion's $55 million estate, was on the witness stand Thursday as the 20-minute tape was played for the jury in the trial of Murphy and her co-defendant, Rick Tabish, on charges of killing Binion and stealing his valuables on Sept. 17, 1998.

The 12 jurors and five alternates watched intently as they witnessed a completely different Murphy from the previous day. In less than 24 hours, she appeared to be transformed from a grieving, hysterical girlfriend to a foul-mouthed, materialistic heir looking to grab what she could from Binion's estate.

In testimony Wednesday, jurors were told how a sobbing Murphy was taken from Binion's 2408 Palomino Lane home by paramedics to Valley Hospital about two hours after reporting that her "husband stopped breathing."

Nurses who observed the 28-year-old one-time topless dancer at the hospital described her hysteria as "forced" and "almost theatrical."

After spending the evening at a Binion neighbor's home, Murphy began inquiring the next day about whether the $900,000 home she had lived in for three years with the former casino executive now was hers and whether she was the beneficiary of a $1 million life insurance premium, witnesses testified.

The videotape was made later that day inside Binion's house at her request in anticipation of a bitter fight with Binion's estate over her inheritance. Her civil lawyer, William Knudson, did the taping in Brown's presence.

Brown, a 40-year friend of Binion, testified Thursday that Binion had willed Murphy the home, its contents and $300,000 in cash two months before his death, but had instructed him the day before he died to disinherit her.

"Take Sandy out of the will if she doesn't kill me tonight," Brown said Binion told him. "If I'm dead, you'll know what happened."

Under cross-examination, Brown acknowledged that he never told police about his conversation with Binion when they were at Binion's home the day after his death.

Brown testified that he became embroiled in a confrontation with Murphy after she showed up at the home with an entourage demanding to be let inside.

Ultimately, Brown said, Murphy persuaded a police officer to let her inside, and Brown was forced to get a court order giving him control of the home.

Before forcing Murphy to leave, he said, he allowed the videotaping of the contents of the home.

From the beginning of the tape, Murphy is heard uttering obscenities and accusing Brown and Binion's 19-year-old daughter, Bonnie, of looting the house. Bonnie, who stands to inherit Binion's $55 million gaming fortune, had been at the home earlier collecting nostalgic photographs for her father's funeral.

In emotional testimony Thursday, Bonnie acknowledged taking a couple of pocket watches and other small items of sentimental value before leaving the house. The younger Binion also testified that she had a stormy relationship with Murphy, who once threatened to kill her and her father.

As Murphy continued the videotaped tour of the ranch-style home, she repeatedly disparaged Brown and Bonnie Binion.

"Don't worry," she told her friends, "they'll steal anything they can get their f ... hands on."

She even attacked the police.

When she found one of her pistols in a piano bench, she yelled: "Bet they forgot about that one because they weren't smart enough to f... look."

On at least three occasions during the tour, Murphy appeared to take items. Slow-motion reproductions of the tape show her taking what appeared to be cigarette papers from a desk in Binion's room and possibly a computer disk from a drawer in her bathroom.

The most intriguing item she may have taken was a wine glass from a kitchen counter. With her back to the camera, she is seen apparently removing the glass with her left hand and shifting it toward a large black handbag on her right shoulder.

Prosecutors believe the glass may have been used in Binion's death. They have alleged that Murphy and Tabish pumped Binion with drugs and suffocated him.

Defense attorneys, who contend Binion killed himself, are arguing that Murphy was drinking from that wine glass at the home that day.

Toward the end of the tape, after Murphy accused the estate of stealing $20,000 in cash from the house, she said: "I don't trust anyone anymore. I could only trust one person and that's my old man, and he's not around to protect me anymore."

Murphy leaned forward and put her head down on the defense table, apparently shedding tears, as she watched the tape from a monitor on the table, while jurors stayed riveted to the large television in front of them.

In his testimony, Brown said Binion's valuable coin and currency collections were missing and there was no cash in the house when he was there. Binion's daughter and ex-wife, Doris, testified that he often kept hundreds of thousands in the house in various hiding places.

Several days after Binion's death, when his safe was drilled, there was nothing but a dime inside, Brown said.

He also testified that there was nothing but a silver dollar on the floor of a an underground vault in Pahrump, where Binion had stored $6 million in silver bars and coins. Tabish and Murphy are charged with trying to steal the fortune less than 36 hours after Binion's death. Tabish and two other men were arrested after they had dug up the silver.

Under cross-examination today, Brown acknowledged that he saw a note with large lettering taped to the inside of the safe at Binion's home in the gambling figure's hand-writing saying there was no money or valuables in the safe. It was the first time the note was disclosed in the case.

Brown also acknowledged the estate launched its own investigation into Binion's death after police originally were "less than enthusiastic" about conducting their own probe.

He estimated that the estate has spent $200,000 on its investigation in the past 18 months.

Brown also said he never believed Binion committed suicide, even though police originally suggested he may have succumbed to a drug overdose.

"I thought he died of a heart attack because of years of abusing his body," Brown told Tabish's lawyer, Louis Palazzo.

Several days after his death, Brown hired private detective Tom Dillard to investigate Binion's death. Dillard's probe led to a full-fledged investigation by Metro Police homicide detectives.

Prosecutors today planned to put Binion's housekeeper, Mary Montoya-Gascoigne on the witness stand.

Montoya-Gascoigne has previously testified that Murphy told her not to come to work the morning of Sept. 17, 1998.

She also has testified that Binion led her around the house helping him remove cartridges from his guns in the days before his death because he feared Murphy might use a weapon on him.

And Montoya-Gascoigne has given police a list of missing valuables from Binion's home.

Sun reporter Ed Koch contributed to this report.

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.

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