Expert disputes claim of suffocation

Tuesday, May 2, 2000 | 11:09 a.m.

A veteran medical expert hired by the defense testified Monday that it is premature to call Ted Binion a homicide victim.

"There's not anywhere near enough information to call it a homicide," said Dr. Robert Bucklin, an 83-year-old pathologist whose career has spanned 60 years.

Bucklin, who served as a deputy medical examiner for Clark County from 1995-98, spent four hours on the witness stand ripping into the prosecution's top forensic witnesses, Chief Medical Examiner Lary Simms and famed New York pathologist Michael Baden.

Simms concluded that the 55-year-old Binion died of forced lethal doses of heroin and the prescription sedative Xanax. But Baden testified that the wealthy gambling figure was suffocated by the 17th century method of "burking" in which pressure is put on the victim's chest and his mouth and nose are covered. Both prosecution experts classified the manner in which Binion died as a homicide.

Bucklin, who has conducted more than 25,000 autopsies, testified Monday that he believed Binion died of a drug overdose. But he said he would have called his death undetermined, leaving open the possibility it was an accident or suicide. That was Simms' original conclusion until he took into account several months of additional investigating by Metro Police homicide detectives.

Binion's live-in girlfriend, 28-year-old Sandy Murphy, and her lover, 35-year-old Montana contractor Rick Tabish are standing trial on charges of killing Binion on Sept. 17, 1998, and stealing his valuables.

Prosecutors have alleged that Murphy and Tabish pumped Binion with drugs he obtained a day earlier and then suffocated him to make it look as though he had overdosed.

The nationally and locally televised trial, now in its sixth week, is taking place in the courtroom of District Judge Joseph Bonaventure.

Bucklin's testimony is serving as a warm-up for the defense's star witness, well-known Pittsburgh pathologist Cyril Wecht, who has concluded Binion committed suicide by taking the drugs himself. Wecht, who like Baden has been involved in some of the country's biggest murder trials, is expected to take the witness stand later this week.

Bonaventure gave the 12-member jury the day off today so that prosecutors could do research on Dr. Paul Nausieda, an expert witness called at the last-minute by they defense.

Bucklin, who now lives in Florida, testified that he found no evidence that Binion was suffocated, as concluded by Baden, an expert in heroin deaths and suffocation cases.

Using large blown-up photos of Binion's face, Bucklin disputed Baden's claim that there were ruptured blood vessels under the former casino executive's eyes and that there were abrasions over his mouth and nose. He said the reddened areas in Binion's eyes were merely congestion and the discoloration around his mouth and nose could have been the result of shaving.

But Bucklin left open the possibility of foul play when he agreed with Baden that marks on Binion's chest and wrists -- which Baden had testified were the result of his struggle with his accused killers -- could have occurred before his death.

Bucklin also gave prosecutors a major opening when he testified under cross examination from Chief Deputy District Attorney David Wall that those marks may have occurred only 10 minutes before Binion died.

That played into the hands of the prosecutors who contend Binion was restrained and suffocated long before Murphy telephoned police at 3:55 p.m. on Sept. 17, 1998, to report that she had discovered Binion's body.

The Florida pathologist also appeared to contradict himself when he acknowledged under cross examination that Binion would have been unconscious much longer than 10 minutes had he died of a drug overdose.

Later when questioned again by Murphy's lawyer, John Momot, Bucklin said it was possible the marks could have been left as early as an hour before Binion's death.

But he acknowledged that he had created a credibility problem for himself on the witness stand with his earlier testimony.

Bucklin also testified that he believed Binion died between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Baden and Simms have concluded he was killed between 9 a.m. and noon.

In earlier testimony Monday, Paul Dougherty, a Californian criminalistics expert, testified that Metro Police allowed the death scene at Binion's 2408 Palomino Lane home to be contaminated when they turned it over to the estate the day after his death.

Dougherty said police should have waited until the cause of Binion's death was known before relinquishing control of the house.

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.