Columnist Jeff German: Binion decision at hand

Sunday, May 7, 2000 | 8:38 a.m.

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.

At long last, the biggest murder trial in Las Vegas history is coming to an end.

After six weeks of grueling testimony, all of the evidence in the Sept. 17, 1998, death of wealthy gambling figure Ted Binion has been presented to the 12-member jury. Lawyers on both sides now must interpret that evidence in closing arguments, which in many respects may be the most important part of this highly publicized trial.

District Judge Joseph Bonaventure has set aside Monday and Tuesday as the time for closing arguments by prosecutors and lawyers for Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish, the two lovers charged with killing Binion and stealing his valuables.

After that, the nine women and three men on the jury will deliberate the fate of Murphy and Tabish, two Las Vegas outsiders who've contended they've been railroaded by the "Binion Money Machine."

Prosecutors David Roger and David Wall have alleged that the 55-year-old Binion was pumped with drugs and then suffocated by Murphy, his live-in girlfriend who once danced topless at Cheetah's adult nightclub, and Tabish, a Montana contractor and convicted felon who comes from a well-known Montana family.

But Murphy and Tabish, with the help of their defense lawyers, John Momot and Louis Palazzo, have suggested Binion committed suicide in a drug overdose.

Both sides have presented credible evidence to support their theory of death.

Prosecutors are relying on Dr. Michael Baden, a celebrated New York pathologist, who has opined the suffocation theory in contrast to the conclusion of the prosecution's other key forensic expert, Clark County Chief Medical Examiner Lary Simms, who testified Binion died of a forced drug overdose.

Baden and Simms, who performed the autopsy on Binion's body, both agree that the former casino executive was the victim of a homicide.

Topping the defense list of medical experts is Baden's longtime friend and fellow celebrity pathologist, Dr. Cyril Wecht of Pittsburgh. Wecht testified last week that Binion committed suicide by taking lethal doses of heroin and Xanax. But he was forced to acknowledge that the defense neglected to give him testimony from dozens of witness who have alleged Murphy and Tabish schemed to kill Binion.

Defense lawyers are hoping they've presented enough medical evidence to create a reasonable doubt about Binion's death in the minds of the jurors. That may be why they opted against the risky strategy of putting their clients on the witness stand.

Prosecutors, on the other hand, expect to stress the nonmedical conspiracy evidence in their closing arguments. The testimony of such star witnesses as Kurt Gratzer, Tanya Cropp, Jason Frazier and Dennis Rehbein, all of whom were very close to the defendants at one time, will be revisited.

Still to be determined is whether Murphy will become the prosecution's best witness without even taking the stand. Prosecutors spent time playing a videotape of Murphy that showed how her demeanor changed from Binion's grieving girlfriend to his foul-mouthed heir less than 24 hours after his death.

While Tabish was a model defendant showing little emotion in court, Murphy was all over the place -- sometimes laughing, sometimes crying. She remained active at the defense table until the end, even pulling off a stunt or two. Remember the time she stood up in court as if to take the witness stand when her mother, who goes by the same name, was summoned to testify?

Last week there was a feeling the defense erred when it played a police tape of an emotional Murphy at the hospital after Binion's death. Some have questioned the sincerity of Murphy's hysteria that night. Murphy sobbed in court as the tape was played, causing many to wonder whether that, too, was an act.

We'll know what the jury thinks when the verdict is returned.