Battle of experts heats up as trial opens

Monday, March 27, 2000 | 11:29 a.m.

The outcome of the Ted Binion murder trial, which began today with jury selection, may hinge on a battle of famed forensic experts.

In one corner for the prosecution is Dr. Michael Baden, a celebrated New York pathologist who has testified that he believes Binion was suffocated after his accused killers fed him drugs.

Opposing Baden is the defense's expert, well-known Pittsburgh pathologist, Dr. Cyril Wecht, a close Baden friend who has concluded that the wealthy casino executive intentionally overdosed on heroin and the prescription sedative, Xanax.

The dueling theories provide a fascinating high point to the biggest and most publicized murder case in Las Vegas history.

Jury selection is expected to last all week. The panel will be drawn from a pool of nearly 300 citizens. District Judge Joseph Bonaventure planned to question about 140 potential jurors today in an effort to seat a 12-member panel and six alternates.

Binion's live-in girlfriend, Sandy Murphy, a 28-year-old one-time topless dancer, and her reported lover, Rick Tabish, a 35-year-old Montana contractor, are charged with killing Binion and stealing his valuables on Sept. 17, 1998.

For weeks each side has been digging up dirt on the other's celebrity pathologist in anticipation of their testimony during the two-month trial that is being aired live for local and national audiences.

The expert who comes across as the most credible to the jury is likely to bring home a victory for his side.

Baden, director of forensic sciences for the New York State Police, stunned a local courtroom last August when he testified nearly a year after Binion's slaying that the gambling figure did not die of a drug overdose. He said Binion was suffocated by a 19th century method called "Burking" in which the killer sits on the chest of the victim and covers the victim's nose and mouth.

His testimony contradicted Lary Simms, Clark County's chief medical examiner who had performed the autopsy on Binion's body. Simms had concluded that Binion was given fatal doses of heroin and Xanax.

In a few short hours on the witness stand, Baden forced prosecutors to radically change a theory of death that had been maintained for months. At the same time, however, it put the defense on its heels and pressure on Wecht to come up with findings to support the overdose theory.

Wecht recently gave defense lawyers John Momot and Louis Palazzo a 17-page report concluding Binion died of "a combined heroin and Xanax overdose" as part of a planned suicide.

"I do not find any evidence to support the contention that he was suffocated," Wecht wrote. "I believe that Mr. Binion initially inhaled heroin smoke, as he had in the past, and this led to thoughts of suicide."

Wecht referred to statements made by Murphy that the gambling figure often would put a gun in his mouth after smoking heroin.

The defense contends that Binion was despondent and had returned to using heroin after he lost his gaming license at the Horseshoe Club months before his death because of ties to an underworld associate. The day before he died Binion obtained a prescription for Xanax and scored 12 doses of tar heroin.

The prosecution, however, has a long list of Binion friends, who will testify that he was in good spirits at the time of his death. He gave former Las Vegas Mayor Jan Laverty Jones a $40,000 campaign contribution on Sept. 16, 1998, and was making real estate deals and planning his return to the casino industry.

Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger, the lead prosecutor in the case, has alleged that Binion was forced to drink a liquid mixture of heroin and then was smothered to death. Both heroin and Xanax, which Binion took to get himself off of the street drug, were found in his stomach. Roger contends Binion's accused killers tried to make it look as though he had died of a drug overdose.

As the battle of the forensic experts heats up, those following the trial are likely to get a glimpse of the colorful backgrounds of Baden and Wecht, who have made a handsome living testifying at some of the country's most sensational trials.

Most of the time, the two men have been on the same side. They both worked for the defense, for example, in the O.J. Simpson trial.

In her book, "Without a Doubt," former Los Angeles prosecutor Marcia Clark described Baden as "an affable, charming man who always went out of his way to be sweet to me.

"And I have to admit," she added, "he had expert witnessing down to a science. A big man with a winning smile, he sat on the stand as if he owned it."

At the same time, Clark said Baden's "stellar" reputation took a beating at the Simpson trial under cross-examination. He was forced to back track several times about his theory of the deaths, she said.

Baden drew headlines during his testimony when he suggested that more than one person may have killed Simpson's wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. Simpson ultimately was acquitted of the killings.

Over the years, Baden a former chief medical examiner for New York City, has worked on numerous other high-profile cases, including the Claus Von Bulow murder trial and the deaths of John Belushi and JonBenet Ramsey. He also has hosted the graphic HBO series, "Autopsy."

Wecht, director of laboratory services for St. Francis Central Hospital in Pittsburgh, has had his share of notoriety, too.

The former Allegheny County coroner in Pittsburgh co-authored a revealing book on the death little JonBenet and appeared on the Fox network's controversial "Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction" program in 1995.

Wecht also wrote the book, "Grave Secrets," which shed new light on the Simpson case, the death of Vincent Foster, a close friend and aide to President Clinton, and other high-profile cases.

Wecht has dabbled in Pennsylvania politics. He once ran for the U.S. Senate and served as a county commissioner in the Pittsburgh area.