Murphy, Tabish will not testify

Friday, May 5, 2000 | 11:36 a.m.

The defense was to rest today in the Ted Binion murder trial without calling Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish to the witness stand.

Murphy, a 28-year-old one-time topless dancer, and Tabish, her 35-year-old lover, are standing trial on charges of killing Binion on Sept. 17, 1998, and stealing his valuables.

Jurors will not get a chance to hear Murphy, who lived with Binion for three years, and Tabish, who befriended him several months before his death, explain why they believe Binion committed suicide with a drug overdose.

One last defense witness, former Nye County Sgt. Steve Huggins, was being recalled to the witness stand this afternoon. The defense planned to grill Huggins about his contention that Tabish told him at the scene of theft of Binion's $6 million silver fortune on Sept. 19, 1998, that Tabish was at Binion's Las Vegas home the day he died.

Throughout the trial defense lawyers played up the scenario that the "Binion money machine" had persuaded authorities to wrongly prosecute Murphy and Tabish. But in the end, the defense never called any witnesses, including Binion estate investigator Tom Dillard, to substantiate that theory.

Prosecutors, who also did not ask Dillard to testify, today planned to call Binion estate lawyers Richard Wright and Harry Claiborne as rebuttal witnesses, as well as two paramedics called to the death scene at Binion's house.

Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger said today that Wright and Claiborne would be asked to rebut defense claims that Binion was suicidal and had a loving relationship with Murphy prior to his death.

"In light of the fact the defense has submitted Ted Binion committed suicide, his house was ransacked," Roger said.

The prosecutor said Claiborne would testify that he saw Binion's safe several days before his death and that it was filled with silver and gold coins. Prosecutors have alleged that Binion's safe was looted by his accused killers.

Defense lawyers John Momot and Louis Palazzo opposed the prosecution's efforts to call the two estate lawyers to the witness stand. But District Judge Joseph Bonaventure allowed them to testify.

Wright, who testified earlier in the trial, has indicated he advised another Binion estate lawyer, James J. Brown, not to tell police the day after Binion's death that he suspected Murphy played a role in the wealthy gambling figure's death.

Brown testified last month that Binion telephoned him the day before his death and instructed him to take Murphy out of his will. Brown said Binion suggested in the conversation that Murphy might try to kill him.

Roger told Bonaventure on Thursday that Wright believed it was prudent to withhold that information from police until autopsy results on Binion were released.

Four days later, however, after Tabish was arrested digging up Binion's silver fortune in Pahrump, Wright and Brown went to homicide detectives with their concerns.

Rebuttal testimony was to wrap up today, and closing arguments were to take place on Monday and Tuesday. Roger said he planned to show the jury video excerpts of the testimony of some of his key witnesses during the trial.

On Thursday the defense called its last medical expert, Dr. Jack Snyder, a 48-year-old pathologist and toxicologist from Philadelphia.

Questioned by defense attorney Thomas Pitaro, Snyder testified that the drugs found in Binion's system were a "recipe for disaster" and that he was the victim of a "classic heroin-plus death."

He said Binion's death was the result of a "triple whammy," a mixture of lethal levels of heroin and Xanax, as well as some Valium.

Snyder also joined another defense expert, famed Pittsburgh pathologist Cyril Wecht, in attacking the prosecution's theory that Binion was pumped with drugs and then suffocated. The theory has been advanced by Wecht's good friend and equally celebrated pathologist, Michael Baden of New York.

Under cross-examination, Snyder acknowledged that he has performed only about 500 autopsies compared to the more than 25,000 done by Baden during his 40-year career, which included a long stint as New York City's coroner.

Snyder's calm demeanor on direct examination changed when grilled by Chief Deputy District Attorney David Wall about whether his experience measured up to Baden's. Snyder appeared defensive throughout his cross-examination.

At one point, Snyder testified that Baden's lengthy experience with heroin deaths was outdated.

"He's 40 years behind the times?" Wall said.

"Yes, that's exactly right," Snyder said to groans in the courtroom audience.

Last month Baden became a favorite of the jury as he testified in a fatherly, fashion about his theories of Binion's death.

Aggressive cross-examination of Baden by James Shellow, a Milwaukee attorney brought in specifically to question the well-known pathologist, did not appear to sit well with the jury.

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.