Defense lawyers in Binion case grill private detective on stand

Tuesday, Feb. 29, 2000 | 11:22 a.m.

Private detective Tom Dillard, who many credit with breaking open the Ted Binion murder case, returned to the witness stand today.

Dillard, who has been investigating Binion's September 1998 slaying for his estate, testified for the second day in a row in a pre-trial hearing before District Judge Joseph Bonaventure.

He was questioned this morning by Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger, the lead prosecutor in the murder case.

Bonaventure is hearing arguments on 42 defense motions, some of which are aimed at getting the evidence gathered by Dillard and homicide detectives tossed out before the start of the March 13 murder trial of Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish.

On Monday defense lawyers, hoping to persuade Bonaventure to suppress evidence Dillard helped police gather, grilled the private detective on the witness stand for nearly two hours.

Dillard explained how he was hired by Binion's estate a week after Binion's slaying and began working closely with Roger and homicide detectives.

From the beginning of the investigation, Dillard has acknowledged being close friends with Roger, and he has said his orders from the estate were to cooperate fully with homicide detectives.

Last month attorneys John Momot and Louis Palazzo, who represent Murphy and Tabish, filed a motion challenging the evidence Dillard has collected for police.

"Essentially wearing twin hats of state investigator and private detective, Dillard was the primary individual through which the Las Vegas police department and district attorney developed their case," the attorneys said in their motion.

That unusual relationship, the lawyers charged, resulted in the "contamination" of the death scene at Binion's 2408 Palomino Lane home and violated the constitutional rights of Murphy and Tabish. Murphy had been living with Binion for three years prior to his death.

Dillard, the attorneys alleged, was able to pursue evidence in the case without the normal constraints placed on police.

But Dillard today, under questioning from Roger, testified that police never asked him to search for evidence at Binion's home.

Roger has defended Dillard's role in the police investigation and has said he expected it to stand up to the defense scrutiny.

Prior to Dillard's testimony, Bonaventure heard a defense motion seeking to force prosecutors to turn over evidence of wiretaps or other electronic surveillance in the murder investigation.

Defense lawyers suggested there might have been secret recordings of a December 1998 meeting between Tabish and Binion's sister, Horseshoe Club owner Becky Behnen.

FBI agents secretly monitored the meeting, which took place at Behnen's home.

The Sun first disclosed the meeting in which Tabish, who at the time had not been charged in Binion's slaying, asked Behnen to help him work out a deal to provide information to the FBI.

Roger, who said he was not aware of any recordings of the meeting, used the defense request to state in open court that it appeared that Tabish was trying to become a "snitch" for the FBI.

That drew a laugh from Tabish and a denial from his lawyer.

Tabish, though he told Behnen that he planned to talk to the FBI, never contacted agents.

Behnen had asked FBI agents to come to her home because she didn't want to meet alone with the man authorities were investigating in her brother's death.

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