Pathologist suggests Binion committed suicide

Robert Macy

Thursday, May 4, 2000 | 2:33 a.m.

A nationally known forensic pathologist suggested Wednesday that gambling figure Ted Binion committed suicide, and was not slain as authorities contend.

Dr. Cyril Wecht, coroner of Allegheny County, Pa., said he believed the cause of Binion's death was drug overdose, and that it could have been accidental or suicidal.

"As a coroner, I would opt for suicide," Wecht said, citing facts such as Binion purchasing 12 balloons of heroin and 160 Xanax tablets the day before his death, as well as his business and personal problems.

Wecht said an autopsy revealed Binion's lungs were twice the weight for a person his size, suggesting pulmonary congestion and edema, or an abnormal buildup of fluid. He said such conditions go "hand in glove with drug overdose deaths."

Wecht, a key expert witness for the defense, countered the findings of Dr. Lary Simms, Clark County Chief Medical Examiner, who conducted the autopsy after Binion was found dead at his Las Vegas home Sept. 17, 1998.

Simms ruled death was caused when Binion was forced to ingest a lethal dose of heroin and the prescription anti-depressant Xanax.

Another key prosecution witness, Dr. Michael Baden, disagreed with that theory in testimony last month, saying Binion was suffocated. The prosecution has tried to explain the discrepancy by speculating Binion was forced to ingest the lethal dose, then was suffocated when the mixture didn't take effect quickly enough.

The defense contends Binion, a longtime drug user, accidentally overdosed on heroin and Xanax or committed suicide.

Binion's live-in girlfriend, Sandra Murphy, and her lover, Missoula, Mont., contractor Rick Tabish, are charged with murdering Binion and stealing his valuables.

Wecht recited a litany of credentials, including serving on a nine-member panel to review the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Baden was chairman of that panel. Wecht said he and Baden, of New York City, were "very close friends."

But he disputed Baden's contention that abrasions on Binion's body were caused by the victim struggling with his killers.

Wecht said abrasions on Binion's hands, knees and arms were nothing more than scrapes anyone might get bumping into items around a home, particularly "someone under the influence."

"Superficial scrapes, that's all they are," Wecht said, showing jurors photos taken at the scene of Binion's death and at the autopsy.

Baden testified two weeks ago that marks on Binion's wrists could have been caused by handcuffs. In a dramatic flourish Wednesday, defense attorney John Momot obtained a set of handcuffs from a court bailiff, handed them to Wecht, and asked if they could have caused the marks on Binion's wrist. Wecht said they could not.

And he disputed Baden's contention that discoloration around Binion's mouth could have been caused by efforts to suffocate him.

"I don't think this is something that could be caused by pressure," Wecht said. He said such pressure would have caused abrasions inside the lip and mouth, and none were reported in the autopsy.

He said marks on Binion's chest were likely made from someone applying cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

"These markings were produced after death," Wecht said.

Wecht was critical of Simms and the autopsy that was conducted, saying the medical examiner failed to record Binion's body temperature and neglected to take fluid from the back of his eyes, a method of testing for drug levels.

He said Simms also failed to examine the victim's small intestine, a step he claimed was vital in determining drug use.

"The small intestine tells you how much may have been ingested and when," Wecht testified.

Wecht said blood tests showed Binion tested positive for heroin, Xanax and Valium, but negative for alcohol.

He said the three drugs can depress the central nervous system and affect brain activity.

"When you have drugs that depress the brain, they will depress the heart and lungs," Wecht said. He said when two or three of the drugs are used simultaneously, they can have a multiplying effect.

"What we have here are three drugs all acting to depress the brain," Wecht said. Both heroin and Xanax are potentially lethal, he said.