Binion’s family pleased about expected end of exhumation efforts

Monday, Jan. 3, 2000 | 11:17 a.m.

Those who were close to Ted Binion said today they're pleased that lawyers for one of his accused killers likely will drop efforts to exhume the gambling figure's body.

In the wake of public criticism, attorneys Louis Palazzo and Robert Murdock, who represent Rick Tabish, informed District Judge Joseph Bonaventure late last week that their own forensics expert concluded obtaining new evidence would be difficult because Binion's body was cleaned and embalmed.

Murdock declined comment today.

But courthouse observers expect the lawyers to formally abandon their push to conduct new tests when they meet in court with Bonaventure on Wednesday.

"I'm glad they didn't feel it was necessary," Binion's sister, Horseshoe Club President Becky Behnen, told the Sun. "There wouldn't be any justice coming from it. This gives me peace."

Added attorney Harry Claiborne, who represents Binion's daughter and chief heir: "It was no surprise to me. I fully expected them to drop it, and I'm glad they did."

Both Claiborne and Bonaventure were critical of Palazzo and Murdock at a hearing last week for bringing the motion just before Christmas without supporting evidence.

Claiborne said today the motion created a "pall" over the Binion family during the holiday season and never should have been filed.

Even Binion's other accused killer, his girlfriend, Sandy Murphy, was reported to be unhappy that her co-defendant was pushing to re-examine Binion's body, which is sealed in an airtight crypt at a local mausoleum.

Murphy's lawyer, John Momot, said late last week that he wouldn't support the motion unless it was possible to discover new evidence.

Momot, meanwhile, disclosed that he has hired publicist Mark Fierro, a former campaign aide to Mayor Oscar Goodman, to handle the crush of reporters covering the murder case.

Momot said he's paying Fierro out of his own pocket to field media calls so that he can devote his attention solely to defending Murphy on charges of killing the 55-year-old Binion in September 1998.

Murphy and Tabish are set to stand trial March 13, in a case that is expected to receive much local and national attention.

News of Fierro's hiring followed a Sun report that Bonaventure declared both Murphy and Tabish "indigent" and eligible to receive up to $40,000 in taxpayer money for their legal expenses.

In separate orders last month, Bonaventure said he found that Murphy and Tabish had a right to as much as $20,000 a piece in taxpayer funds, even though they both have private lawyers.

Bonaventure acted as a result of a December 1998 Nevada Supreme Court decision that found that criminal defendants who have private lawyers are "entitled to reasonable defense services at public expense" if they can show they are indigent.

In a two-page Dec. 20 order obtained by the Sun, Bonaventure said Murphy's legal fees to Momot were being paid by a third party, making her eligible for the public assistance.

Bonaventure did not identify the third party in his order, but it is believed to be William Fuller, an 81-year-old Irish-born mining executive who posted Murphy's $300,000 bail in July.

On Dec. 22 Bonaventure also declared Tabish, the son of a wealthy Montana businessman "personally indigent."

Tabish's father, Frank Tabish, has said he was paying for part of his son's legal costs.