Binion prosecution: Lawyer may be tied to bribe plot

Wednesday, March 1, 2000 | 11:11 a.m.

Prosecutors have obtained new evidence that may tie a lawyer for Rick Tabish to a reported plot to pay off alibi witnesses in Ted Binion's slaying.

Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger, the lead prosecutor in the Binion case, disclosed in court Tuesday that Jason Lee Frazier, a Tabish friend and business associate, has turned over handwritten, jailhouse notes from Tabish outlining the alleged conspiracy.

Frazier, a 28-year-old Montana man who has been granted immunity from prosecution, has told homicide detectives the notes were given to him by Tabish's civil attorney, William Knudson, last summer when the alleged alibi scheme was hatched by Tabish at the Clark County Detention Center.

Tabish and his reported lover, Sandy Murphy, were arrested June 24 and charged with Binion's September 1998 slaying. Tabish remains in custody on no bail, and Murphy is under house arrest.

Roger plans to present the 52 pages of notes in court Thursday, when he attempts to persuade District Judge Joseph Bonaventure to allow him to introduce the evidence of the alibi conspiracy at the March 13 trial of Tabish and Murphy.

Frazier, who is in jail on a $1 million material witness bond, is expected to testify at the hearing.

Knudson this morning denied any involvement in the alibi scheme.

"I have no knowledge of any such plot, and in my opinion there was none," he said.

Knudson acknowledged providing Frazier with documents from Tabish, but he said they were related to business matters. He said the materials included power-of-attorney papers for Frazier to handle the daily banking and payroll affairs of Tabish's transportation companies in Las Vegas and Montana.

Frazier, the lawyer charged, has leveled "baseless" and "erroneous" allegations about his character as part of a campaign by prosecutors to undermine his credibility as a witness in the Binion case. Knudson has previously told reporters that he had lunch with Tabish and Murphy on the day of Binion's death.

Records, meanwhile, show that Frazier visited Tabish a half-dozen times in jail last summer.

He first saw Tabish at the detention center on June 25, the day after Tabish and Murphy were arrested, and next went to the jail on July 4 with his wife, Bobbi, who later tipped off police about the alibi scheme, records show.

And then without his wife, records show, Frazier visited Tabish on July 9, 12, 23 and Aug. 13.

Police learned of the reported bribery conspiracy from Bobbi Frazier in August, when she found notes about the scheme in her husband's briefcase.

In an interview with homicide detective James Buczek, the lead investigator in the Binion case, Frazier said it appeared to him that Knudson was acting like a courier for Tabish during the plot.

But Knudson, who conceded he was a regular Tabish visitor at the jail, denied today that he was a courier for his client.

When Frazier was asked by Buczek if it was fair to say Knudson was "knowledgeable of what was transpiring" at the time, Frazier responded: "He would never discuss it. All he would say is I have a letter from Rick."

Frazier said Knudson never asked him to pay off witnesses.

In an 81-page transcript of the interview with Frazier, the Montana man acknowledged paying the mystery man, "Ishma," $2,000 upfront to find witnesses for Tabish.

The Sun has obtained an 81-page transcript of the interview in which Frazier said he sought out Ishma at Tabish's request.

Tabish's attorney, Louis Palazzo, has said he's not very impressed with the transcript.

"It's a very vague statement that seems to have a lot uncertainty attached to it," Palazzo said. "I don't see anything there that lends credence to the notion that Rick Tabish was engaged in a plot to bribe alibi witnesses."

Frazier said in the interview that he believed Murphy knew Ishma and was aware of the scheme to find the witnesses.

Police are searching for Ishma, whom Frazier described as a slender, dark-skinned Hispanic man. His last name is unknown.

Frazier told Buczek he believed that Ishma might be a drug dealer or some sor tof "underworld" figure.

Jeff German is the Sun's senior investigative reporter. Reach him at german@ lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4067.