Prosecution wraps up case with key testimony

Robert Macy

Thursday, April 27, 2000 | 10:05 a.m.

Murder defendant Rick Tabish sent letters to a business associate asking that he orchestrate alibis in the death of Ted Binion, imploring "My life is on the line and we have to fight fire with fire."

"Let's get some stuff handled and pay attention to business," Tabish wrote in a letter to Jason Frazer of Missoula, Mont.

Prosecutors thought Frazer would be their best witness and they saved him for Wednesday as they put the finishing touches on their case in the murder trial of the well-known gambler - a trial that has attracted international attention.

Tabish and his lover, Binion's live-in girlfriend Sandra Murphy, are charged with killing Binion on Sept. 17, 1998 and stealing his valuables.

A second letter from Tabish to Frazer asked him to contact a man named Larry Eckert to help with an alibi for the 17th.

"Tell Larry they are trying to send me to the gas chamber and I need his help. He can be a great witness. ... If this thing comes together ... this murder case will be done on my end. This is a slam dunk if everyone sticks in."

The letter said the "rewards are huge" for those helping provide the alibis.

Frazer, who testified under a grant of immunity, said Tabish talked of "huge payouts in book and movie rights," with long-term residuals in the millions.

Frazer said he had worked with and for Tabish, a Missoula contractor, since 1994. Frazer said Tabish called him June 24, 1999, and asked him to come to Las Vegas. That was the day Tabish and Murphy were arrested at a local supermarket and booked on murder charges.

Frazer said he met Tabish the next day at the Clark County Detention Center and the two communicated with notes, rather than talking on the telephone in a visitor area.

Frazer said Tabish asked him to contact some people to help with his alibi and he made contact with them in the days that followed.

Frazer said he also talked with a man identified as Ishma, who was to testify that private investigator Tom Dillard had given money to some people to testify in the case. Dillard, a former Las Vegas Metropolitan Police homicide detective, was hired by the Binion family after the gambler's death and is credited with gathering much of the evidence that implicated Murphy and Tabish.

Frazer's testimony came as the trial reached the midway point of the fourth week. The defense is scheduled to begin presenting its case Thursday.

Prosecutors contend Binion was killed when he was forced to ingest a lethal dose of heroin and the prescription anti-depressant Xanax, then was suffocated. They claim Murphy and Tabish carried out the murder after learning she was to be cut out of Binion's will.

Defense attorneys contend Binion, a longtime drug-user, died of an accidental drug overdose or committed suicide.

Ed Guenther, a fingerprint examiner, testified an empty Xanax bottle found at the scene was clean of any fingerprints. He said he found fingerprints identified as Murphy's on a wine glass recovered at Binion's $900,000 home, where she lived with the well-known gambler. And he said he found fingerprints of both Murphy and Tabish on an inventory list of rare coins Binion owned.

Under cross-examination, Guenther agreed fingerprints could last for years on a hard surface such as a glass. Defense attorney John Momot noted that several people, including Tabish, Murphy and Binion, were on hand when the coin collection was moved from the Binion family's Horseshoe hotel-casino in downtown Las Vegas in June 1998.

Ron Faiss, former comptroller at the hotel who handled many of Binion's personal financial affairs, testified that Binion told him in early 1998 to change a $700,000 life insurance policy to make Murphy the beneficiary. Faiss said he sent the paperwork to a secretary but didn't know whether it was forwarded to Binion.

Faiss said he received a call from Murphy in October of 1998 asking that he confirm that Binion wanted her named as the policy beneficiary. He said he told the insurance company he had obtained the change-of-beneficiary papers for Binion, but didn't know whether the gambling figure had signed them.

Faiss said the policy proceeds were paid to the Horseshoe and Binion relatives, and not to Murphy.

Also on Wednesday, Delta Airlines flight attendant Denise Wieser testified she saw a very affectionate Murphy and Tabish on a flight from Salt Lake City to Las Vegas on Oct. 11, 1998, three weeks after Binion's death.