Murphy took ‘stolen’ coins to Goodman

Tuesday, June 13, 2000 | 11:15 a.m.

Days after Ted Binion's slaying, one of his convicted killers took bags of silver coins believed to have been stolen from the wealthy gambling figure to the law office of Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, the Sun has learned.

Sandy Murphy, convicted with Rick Tabish last month of killing Binion on Sept. 17, 1998, showed the coins to Goodman and his partner, David Chesnoff, who was representing the one-time topless dancer, courthouse sources said.

The lawyers briefly took possession of the coins, which included rare silver dollars, after telling Murphy they needed to inventory them, the sources said.

But Murphy reportedly took back the coins several days later before the inventory was completed.

Some of the coins, courthouse sources said, later ended up in the hands of Tabish's brother-in-law, Dennis Rehbein, in Missoula, Mont., in November 1998. Rehbein provided authorities with 100 pounds of coins that he said Tabish had given him as collateral for a $25,000 loan. Murphy had written a seven-page inventory of those coins a week after Binion's death.

Prosecutors, who also obtained convictions against Murphy and Tabish for stealing Binion's valuables, weren't aware of Murphy's visit to Goodman and Chesnoff until informed this week by the Sun.

During the murder trial, prosecutors had accused the two defendants, who were lovers, of stealing bags of coins from Binion's safe on the day of his slaying.

Murphy, a 28-year-old transplanted Southern Californian who had lived with Binion for three years, told Goodman and Chesnoff that Binion had given her the coins before he died, the courthouse sources said.

But sources close to Murphy and Tabish said the defense now is claiming Murphy took the coins from Binion's 2408 Palomino Lane home the day after his death while James J. Brown, the lawyer for Binion's estate, was distracted.

That was the day Murphy, who believed she was to inherit the $900,000 home and its contents, instructed her civil lawyer, William Knudson, to videotape the inside of the house.

Murphy, sources said, first took the coins to Knudson's house, where she was living temporarily.

Knudson, whose name has surfaced throughout the Binion murder case, said this morning that some items of value were taken from Binion's home by Murphy on Sept. 18, 1998. But he refused to confirm or deny that the coins were among them. He also would not discuss whether he knew that Murphy had taken the coins to his house.

Knudson said he was advised by his Los Angeles lawyer, Arthur Barens, to be guarded in his public comments because of talk that the district attorney's office is interested in continuing the criminal investigation into Binion's death.

Binion's $55 million estate also is resuming its own probe of Binion's murder in conjunction with its wrongful death lawsuit against Murphy and Tabish.

"We are very interested in Bill Knudson," said private detective Tom Dillard, who is investigating Binion's death for the estate. "We're interested in what he knows and his interaction with Murphy and Tabish after Binion's death."

Knudson said he is cooperating to the "full extent that the law will allow us" with an estate subpoena asking for records of his legal fees from Murphy and Tabish. Goodman's law firm and Murphy's and Tabish's criminal defense lawyers also have received subpoenas seeking records of their legal fees.

The estate wants to know whether Murphy and Tabish financed their defense out of cash and other assets stolen from Binion.

Brown, a longtime Binion friend, said this morning that he suspects Murphy and her friends removed items from the house while they were there in the late afternoon on Sept. 18. Still missing is a $300,000 collection of rare coins and currency.

"I'm sure they took things that day without my knowledge," he told the Sun. "They were in there for about two hours with her car parked in the garage."

Brown said Murphy had several people in her entourage, including her mother and good friends, Tanya Cropp and Linda Carroll.

"There were four or five different people there, and I wasn't physically there all of the time," he said. "I still was kind of in a daze."

Brown said Murphy and her friends had access to the house without him from 3:30 p.m. until 5:30 p.m. while he was seeking a court order to gain temporary possession of it.

He said it took him another 45 minutes to negotiate to get inside the home after he had gotten the court order. The videotape, he said, was done in his presence from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Brown added that he was interested in finding the rest of the silver Murphy reportedly brought to Goodman and Chesnoff.

"I'm sure we will pursue this," he said.

Sources close to Murphy and Tabish said Murphy removed the coins from Binion's house because she feared Brown and Binion's estate were looting his residence.

Murphy made it clear to Goodman and Chesnoff that Binion had willed her the home and its contents when she took the coins to their law office, the courthouse sources said.

She reportedly was hoping that the two attorneys would accept the coins for legal fees. At the time, Murphy anticipated a legal battle over Binion's estate and was becoming the focus of an intense homicide investigation into Binion's death.

After the coins were returned to Murphy, the lawyers eventually were paid by check for their legal assistance. Murphy's latest benefactor, Nevada mining executive William Fuller, testified in court last year that he loaned Murphy $125,000 to pay Goodman and Chesnoff.

Goodman declined comment Monday.

"I'm the mayor, and I had nothing to do with the case," he said.

Chesnoff was in Europe and could not be reached for comment.

Goodman represented Murphy briefly during the homicide investigation, but dropped out in March 1999 when he announced his candidacy for mayor. Chesnoff, who had been Murphy's lead attorney, withdrew from the case several weeks later.

Chief Deputy District Attorney David Wall, who helped obtain the murder convictions against Murphy and Tabish last month, said he wasn't surprised to hear that Murphy had surfaced with the coins after Binion's slaying.

"Not a whole lot she does surprises me," Wall said. "It's always of interest to us to know the location of stolen property that hasn't been located."

Wall added: "I obviously don't think that Oscar Goodman and David Chesnoff would knowingly possess property that they knew or had reason to believe was stolen."

The sources close to Murphy and Tabish said the coin incident with Goodman and Chesnoff has been a subject of discontent within the defense team and could spill over into the public in motions that the two convicted killers file for a new trial.

Tabish, the sources said, was unhappy with his lawyer, Louis Palazzo, for not letting him take the witness stand to testify about the coins. Tabish, the sources said, wanted to stress that the silver was taken the day after Binion's death, which would have undercut the prosecution's theory of the thefts.

The defense was prepared to call other witnesses, including Goodman, to the stand to discuss the coins, but it never did.

The Sun has previously reported that Tabish also was angry with defense team investigator, William Cassidy, who was said to be running "interference" within the defense. Cassidy had taken a leave as a political operative for Goodman to work on the defense.

Some within the defense team have suggested that Cassidy, who is back working at City Hall, was attempting to protect Goodman from any embarrassment in the case.

Cassidy was said to be on the outs with Murphy and Tabish the last two weeks of the trial.

Records show that Cassidy and Palazzo paid an unusual 7 p.m. visit to Murphy at the Clark County Detention Center on May 23, the evening before Murphy delivered emotional testimony in the penalty phase of her trial. Cassidy and Palazzo then went to see Tabish, records show.

Murphy's lawyers, John Momot and Thomas Pitaro, arrived at the detention center about an hour after Cassidy and Palazzo had left Murphy, records show.

Momot, who declined comment, later sent jail officials a note asking them to bar Cassidy from visiting Murphy. Momot also asked that no lawyers other than himself and his partner, Bill Tidwell, be allowed to see his client.

Cassidy and Palazzo previously have said that they were in good standing within the defense team.

Attorney Bill Terry, meanwhile, is said to be closer to formally taking over the duties of representing Tabish from Palazzo. Terry is expected to file a motion for a new trial for Tabish by the end of the month.

Famed Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz has been retained to help Murphy and Tabish appeal their convictions. Their sentencing is Aug. 11. The jury that convicted them already has recommended life in prison with the possibility of parole after 20 years on the first degree murder charge.