Prosecutor says he might not oppose change of venue request

Robert Macy

Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2000 | 4:32 a.m.

Could one of Nevada's most high-profile murder trials be heading out of town?

Clark County Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger said Tuesday the state might not oppose a defense motion that the trial of Sandra Murphy and Rick Tabish be moved to some other Nevada city.

Ms. Murphy and Tabish are accused of killing Ted Binion, a member of a famous casino clan, at his Las Vegas home Sept. 17, 1998.

Attorneys for Murphy and Tabish filed 40 motions Monday, including one calling for a change of venue.

The two are scheduled to go to trial March 13.

"I'm giving serious consideration to stipulating to that (venue) motion," said Roger, the lead prosecutor in the case. "The defendants have generated quite a bit of pre-trial publicity. Therefore, if it appears the state is unable to receive a fair trial here, we may stipulate to the granting of that motion."

Ironically, the defense is making the same claim, charging that Ms. Murphy and Tabish would not be able to receive a fair trial because of intense media coverage.

John Momot, the attorney for Ms. Murphy, and Louis Palazzo, who represents Tabish, have complained about the media attention. At the same time he issued the complaint last month, Momot announced that he was retaining a local public relations spokesman to handle interviews involving his client.

Roger said that while complaining about the publicity, the defendants have sought exposure.

Ms. Murphy has appeared on the television network show "20/20," in "Gentleman's Quarterly" magazine and has been interviewed on local TV while Tabish has done jailhouse interviews, Roger said.

Other motions include one asking that the 200 expected witnesses be sequestered.

The trial is expected to last two to three months.

The venue motion would not be considered until a jury pool was selected. It would be up to state District Court Judge Joseph Bonaventure to decide the issue. The question would not be whether prospective jurors had heard of the case, but rather whether they could be unbiased.

Roger cited another high profile case here, in which Jeremy Strohmeyer was charged with killing 7-year-old Sherrice Iverson in a casino restroom. A jury was selected in three days in that case. Strohmeyer pleaded guilty to murder and sexual assault charges the day the trial was to begin. Strohmeyer is now asking the court for permission to recant that guilty plea.

Roger said having the trial in a city far-removed from Las Vegas - such as Ely or Elko - would not be out of the question.

"We'd just bus the witnesses up one day, then back the next," he said.