Judge to announce decision on new trial Sept. 8

Lisa Snedeker

Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2000 | 4:51 a.m.

LAS VEGAS - Convicted killers Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish will learn Sept. 8 whether they will get a new trial in the murder of gambler Ted Binion.

District Judge Joseph Bonaventure closed a four-day evidentiary hearing Wednesday with a promise to rule after reviewing testimony and evidence.

Bonaventure described the seven-week trial that resulted in the murder convictions of Murphy and Tabish as "a piece of cake" compared with the hearing.

"In my 22 years on the bench, I've never had a case where I had to subject a jury to examination," he said, adding that while he understood it was necessary, it was distasteful.

The judge held the hearing after the defense filed motions for a new trial alleging juror misconduct and improprieties by the prosecution.

Defense attorneys in closing arguments reiterated their allegations.

Murphy's attorney John Momot said jurors used an incorrect definition of "depraved indifference," which swayed the final outcome to convict. He said the jurors defined depraved indifference as standing around doing nothing to stop someone from dying.

"It was used by multiple people on multiple occasions," Momot said paraphrasing one of the juror's testimony.

Prosecutor David Roger disputed Momot's assertion but said that even if it were true, the defense should not be able to use jury deliberations as evidence in seeking a new trial.

"All comments about depraved indifference should be stricken because they are private," he said.

The defense once again said prosecutors failed during the trial to turn over a critical FBI report, which revealed that organized crime members had plans to rob and kill Binion while making it looking like a heroin overdose.

But prosecutors blasted the defense, saying the attorneys for Tabish and Murphy knew about the alleged plot before the trial but never had any intention of using alternate suspects in their defense because Murphy was in the home she shared with Binion when he died. Tabish, Roger said, also would have been forced to respond to his own ties to the mob.

"I knew there would be a motion for a new trial," Roger said. "I wanted them to have it all!"

Prosecutors said Murphy and Tabish forced Binion to ingest a lethal cocktail of heroin and the prescription drug Xanax, then suffocated him. The defense claims Binion died of an accidental overdose or suicide.

Murphy, 28, and Tabish, 35, were convicted in May of killing Binion and stealing his silver fortune in September 1998. The jury recommended the pair spend life in prison with a possibility of parole after 20 years.

If the judge denies their bid for a new trial, Murphy and Tabish will be sentenced Sept. 15.