Murphy must remain behind bars

Friday, March 24, 2000 | 11:25 a.m.

District Judge Joseph Bonaventure today ordered Sandy Murphy to stay behind bars on no bail.

That means the 28-year-old Murphy will have to remain at the Clark County Detention Center during her trial on charges of killing wealthy gambler Ted Binion.

Murphy and her reported lover, Montana contractor Rick Tabish, are set to stand trial in Binion's September 1998 slaying beginning on Monday in Bonaventure's courtroom.

"The situation you now find yourself in is a result of your own doing -- your own contemptuous actions," Bonaventure told a stern-faced Murphy during a hearing this morning.

Bonaventure said he was concerned that Murphy had shown a repeated "disregard for the instructions of the judicial system."

"To claim now on the eve of trial that you will somehow be prejudiced if you are in custody is without merit," he said.

On Wednesday Bonaventure revoked Murphy's house arrest privileges and ordered her held at the Clark County Detention Center on no bond until he decided her final fate today.

Murphy was taken into custody March 16 at her new apartment at the Las Vegas Country Club after jail officials accused her of violating house arrest rules. Officials said Murphy reported that she was at her lawyer's office Feb. 17 while she actually was shopping for furniture.

Last week's arrest was the second in five months for Murphy since she was placed in the house arrest program in July.

Bonaventure said Wednesday that Murphy's latest arrest, though not the most "egregious act," proved to him that she was "unsupervisable" under the house arrest program.

Her lawyer, John Momot, said Thursday he was hoping Bonaventure would allow Murphy to post what he described as a "reasonable increase" in bail. A $300,000 bond previously had been put up for Murphy.

"Whatever the judge thinks to compensate for the house arrest conditions will be fine," said Momot, who contended Murphy's release was necessary to help prepare her defense.

Prosecutors had pressed Bonaventure to keep Murphy behind bars, saying she has shown a disregard for the rules and remains a flight risk.

"It is as though she does not comprehend the multiple life sentences that she's facing and that everyone else facing multiple life sentences are sitting in jail," Deputy District Attorney David Wall told Bonaventure on Wednesday.

In court papers, Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger, the lead prosecutor in the case, said Murphy's own misconduct has landed her back in jail.

"Now, the defendant must suffer the consequences during the remaining months of this litigation," he wrote.

Jeff German is the Sun's senior investigative reporter. He can be reached at (702) 259-4067 or by e-mail at german@lasvegassun.com.