Columnist Jeff German: Good week for Binion players

Sunday, April 30, 2000 | 10:47 a.m.

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.

A lot of people were smiling when the Ted Binion murder trial recessed last week.

Prosecutors clearly were pleased with the circumstantial case they had presented against the wealthy gambling figure's accused killers, Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish.

In less than a month, Chief Deputy District Attorneys David Roger and David Wall called only 90 witnesses to support their theory that Murphy and Tabish pumped the 55-year-old Binion with drugs and suffocated him at his home on Sept. 17, 1998, and then stole his valuables.

Prosecutors, who had listed a total of 276 potential witnesses at the start of the trial, were determined not to repeat a mistake made in the lengthy O.J. Simpson case in Los Angeles. That trial lasted so long that the jurors had a tough time sorting out the evidence. Simpson ultimately was acquitted.

Last week Roger and Wall seemed pleased with the performance of their key witnesses -- Kurt Gratzer, Leo Casey, Tanya Cropp, Dennis Rehbein, Jason Frazer and Dr. Michael Baden.

But the prosecutors weren't the only happy campers at the county courthouse. Defense lawyers John Momot and Louis Palazzo were excited to finally get a chance to present their case that Binion, a known heroin user, was not a victim of a homicide, but rather a self-induced drug overdose.

The defense attorneys have alleged throughout the 6-week-old trial that Murphy, a 28-year-old one-time topless dancer, and Tabish, her 35-year-old lover, have been railroaded by the "Binion Money Machine." Now the lawyers are getting a chance to back that up with evidence.

Maybe the happiest of all by week's end was District Judge Joseph Bonaventure, who is presiding over the most well-publicized murder case in Las Vegas history. The trial is being televised live on Las Vegas 1, a cable news channel, and Court TV.

Bonaventure is earning a local and national reputation as a fair-minded, but tough jurist who has total control over his courtroom.

Unlike the previous week, there were no outside distractions -- no seance seeking Binion's spirt and no wisecracks made to the jury during lunch.

Though he has demonstrated a short temper at times, Bonaventure for the most part has conducted the trial with a steady hand. His sense of humor has made him a favorite of the jury and eased tensions during the high-stakes proceeding.

It is Bonaventure who deserves credit for moving this trial along at a fast pace and saving taxpayers much money in the process.

Whatever verdict the jury renders, the losing side will be hard-pressed to say it didn't get a fair trial.

Others who probably were happy last week were Tom Dillard, the Binion estate private investigator who was not called to the witness stand by the prosecution, even though he is credited with breaking open the case.

And defense lawyers, who've been rapping Dillard throughout the trial, have indicated they're not likely to ask him to testify.

Binion's sister, Horseshoe Club President Becky Behnen, also seems to have gotten a pass. It was Behnen who first raised the specter of foul play in her brother's death. And it was Behnen who played a key role behind the scenes for prosecutors in gathering evidence against Binion's accused killers.

Also escaping the witness stand was Murphy's good friend, Linda Carroll, who gave prosecutors fits with her lapse of memory during her grand jury testimony a year ago.

And nowhere to be seen was David Mattsen, an alleged co-conspirator in the theft of Binion's silver fortune in Pahrump. Prior to the trial, prosecutors had hoped to strike a deal with Mattsen, who says he has much knowledge about Binion's demise. But talks fell through.

Mattsen, a longtime Binion friend, won't be happy until he gets whatever he wants to say off his chest.

He has told me he knows who killed Binion.