Murphy trips may threaten house arrest

Friday, March 17, 2000 | 11:18 a.m.

Clark County Detention Center officials today recommended that Sandy Murphy be kicked out of the house arrest program after she was taken into custody for violating more rules.

"We don't want to put her back in house arrest," Sgt. Barry Payne, who runs the program, told the Sun this morning. "She's really a challenge."

The 28-year-old Murphy, charged in the 1998 slaying of wealthy gambler Ted Binion, was arrested about 4:30 p.m. Thursday at her new Regency Towers apartment at the Las Vegas Country Club for lying to jail officials about her whereabouts a month ago, Payne said.

It was the second time in five months that Murphy was jailed for violating the terms of her house arrest.

Payne said Murphy told officials Feb. 17 that she was at her attorney's office, but witnesses placed her at Walker Furniture that day. She had permission to move into the Regency Towers that evening.

Walker employees indicated Murphy was at the furniture store Feb. 17 on two occasions, Payne said.

"She lied to us," he said.

District Judge Joseph Bonaventure was to meet with Murphy's attorney, John Momot, and Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger, the lead prosecutor in the Binion murder case, this morning to discuss what to do about Murphy's latest arrest.

"If she violated house arrest, then she should remain in custody," Roger told the Sun this morning. "She's been given way too many chances."

Momot said his client was taken into custody Thursday while on "her hands and knees" scrubbing the floors of her new apartment.

"This is incredible," Momot said. "I think my client is being discriminated against."

Murphy, he said, told him at the jail Thursday night that she had no idea why she was arrested.

Jail officials also refused to give him specifics about her alleged house arrest violation, he said.

Momot insisted Murphy has complied with all of the house arrest rules.

Murphy was jailed Oct. 21 on another violation after officials discovered she had left her then Henderson apartment all day without notifying them. She maintained that she was at her lawyer's office.

While away, Murphy had lunch at the upscale Aristocrat restaurant with her civil attorney, William Knudson.

At an Oct. 22 hearing, Bonaventure ordered Murphy back into the house arrest program, but not before scolding her about her "cavalier attitude" toward authority.

"You think you're something special -- you're above the rules," Bonaventure said. "Well, you're not, Ms. Murphy."

Bonaventure also banned Murphy from dining at the Aristocrat.

But since then, she has been seen at other gourmet restaurants, such as Piero's, a favorite of the movers and shakers.

Murphy also has been observed helping her latest benefactor, 81-year-old William Fuller, pick out a new Mercedes.

Payne said jail officials have received numerous "Murphy sightings" around town, but until the incident at Walker Furniture, they were unable to confirm any of them.

In mid-October prior to her first arrest, homicide detectives watched Murphy going into a tanning salon a couple of times, according to surveillance reports obtained by the Sun.

Detectives had kept her under surveillance briefly while secretly investigating a tip that Murphy was planning to flee to the Philippines.

As part of the probe, a judge allowed detectives to install a pen register on Murphy's phone until Feb. 14 to keep track of her incoming and outgoing calls.

Bonaventure, meanwhile, has several options in the wake of Murphy's latest arrest, as her March 27 trial approaches.

He can keep her under house arrest over the objections of jail officials, increase her $300,000 bail, or order her detained on no bond.