Binion prosecutor won’t fight ruling

Thursday, Jan. 13, 2000 | 11:16 a.m.

A prosecutor said Wednesday he won't appeal a judge's decision refusing to force a Las Vegas lawyer to testify about his conversations with Sandy Murphy weeks before Ted Binion's death.

"I'm not going to file an appeal and delay this case one day," Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger said, after a hearing in the courtroom of District Judge Joseph Bonaventure. "Right now, we're preparing for trial."

Roger, who could ask the Nevada Supreme Court to take up the matter, said he doesn't believe the issue is important enough to give the defense an opening to delay the high-profile trial, which is expected to get under way March 13.

Defense lawyers for Murphy and Rick Tabish, who are charged with killing Binion in September 1998, have been positioning themselves the last several weeks for a delay, saying the massive amount of evidence (nearly 30,000 pages of documents) gathered by prosecutors has been overwhelming.

On Wednesday Bonaventure, who so far is standing firm on the March trial date, would not force attorney Chris Tilman to reveal whether he met with Murphy, despite arguments from Roger that the law mandated Tilman give up the information.

Roger was attempting to get Tilman to corroborate information from other witnesses who told investigators Murphy had sought advice from a lawyer about reaching a separation agreement with Binion prior to his death. What Murphy told Tilman was considered important to the prosecutor's efforts to prove that Murphy and Tabish had conspired to kill the former casino executive.

Tilman, however, asserted his attorney-client privilege when questioned by Bonaventure about Murphy.

His partner, Ronald Rovacchi, told the judge: "He has no dog in this fight. He's here on principle alone."

Roger then asked Bonaventure to hold Tilman in civil contempt.

"I don't take any kind of joy in making this kind of request," Roger said. "However, I think the case law on this subject is pretty clear."

But Bonaventure said the prosecutor did not provide enough evidence to warrant an intrusion on the attorney-client privilege, one of the legal profession's highest codes.

Murphy's lawyer, John Momot, used the Tilman hearing to step up attacks on the prosecution.

"I see intimidation on the horizon and a chilling effect on the defense in this case," he said.

Momot said prosecutors in recent weeks have resorted to scaring reluctant witnesses into cooperating with them.

He cited the case of Linda Carroll, a Murphy friend who was arrested in Southern California last week on a material witness warrant. Earlier this year Carroll, expected to be a key witness at the trial, had evaded prosecutors looking to subpoena her to testify before a county grand jury probing Binion's death. When she voluntarily went before the panel, she appeared evasive to investigators.

Bonaventure, meanwhile, also refused to allow prosecutors to view a computer disk and hear two micro-cassette tapes seized from a Henderson apartment Murphy and Tabish shared.

Bonaventure said the items were protected under the work product provisions of the attorney-client doctrine.

Murphy told Bonaventure the disk contained biographical information that had been requested by her former lawyers, Mayor Oscar Goodman and David Chesnoff.

Chesnoff made a brief appearance at the hearing to corroborate Murphy's testimony.

Bonaventure said one of the micro-cassettes was blank, but the other one contained a discussion between Murphy and Tabish about their mounting legal troubles.