Jury hears DA’s closing arguments

Monday, May 8, 2000 | 11:34 a.m.

Closing arguments began today in the Ted Binion murder trial, as the case entered its seventh week.

Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger, the lead prosecutor in the well-publicized case, was first at bat before a packed courtroom.

Roger was to spend most of the morning explaining to the 12-member jury the state's theory of how defendants Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish killed Binion on Sept. 17, 1998, and stole his valuables. Prosecutors presented about 90 witnesses against the two lovers during the trial, which has been carried live on local and national television.

Murphy, Binion's 28-year-old live-in girlfriend, and Tabish, a 35-year-old Montana contractor, are charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the wealthy gambling figure's death. They also are charged with robbery in the looting of his safe at his Las Vegas home and burglary in the theft of his $6 million silver fortune in Pahrump.

Tabish faces several additional felony charges related to the alleged torture of Las Vegas businessman Leo Casey two months before Binion's death.

District Judge Joseph Bonaventure this morning read a lengthy list of 70 instructions to the jurors to help them reach a verdict.

Before doing that, the judge denied last-minute defense motions aimed at striking key instructions relating to the slaying that were sought by prosecutors.

The most important instruction defense lawyers wanted tossed said jurors did not have to return a unanimous verdict on the manner in which Binion died if they believed he was murdered.

Prosecutors have presented two theories -- one alleging he was given lethal doses of heroin and Xanax and the other suggesting he was suffocated.

"It is the state's theory that these two defendants murdered Mr. Binion," Chief Deputy District attorney David Wall said this morning. "It is not necessary they agree unanimously as which one caused his death."

Bonaventure, expressing his anger at the defense for raising the motions at the 11th hour, agreed with prosecutors and refused to change the instructions.

"I don't like the defense tactics on this," Bonaventure said. "I'm not really happy about it."

Following Roger's closing argument, John Momot, who represents Murphy, was to address the jury. Momot has contended that Binion, a known heroin abuser, killed himself with an overdose.

On Tuesday, Louis Palazzo, who has been defending Tabish, was expected to deliver his closing argument, followed by a final rebuttal argument by Wall.

From there the case was to go to the jury for deliberation.

Late Friday, after testimony had concluded, tempers flared in the courtroom when defense lawyers protested a bid by prosecutors to use video excerpts of testimony from key witnesses during today's closing arguments.

Roger blasted Momot and Palazzo for pressing Bonaventure to deny his ground-breaking effort.

"It's not my responsibility to help these gentleman prepare for their closing arguments," Roger told Bonaventure. "If they didn't spend so much time talking to Geraldo Rivera and Court TV, they would have been prepared for their closing arguments, and they weren't."

Those remarks were aimed at the many national television appearances by the defense lawyers during the trial. Prosecutors have shied away from commenting publicly on the case.

Roger also accused Murphy of trying to "dig out a tear" when she laid her head down on the defense table and sobbed a day earlier, as her lawyer played a tape of an emotional police interview with her shortly after Binion's death.

Bonaventure opted against allowing Roger to show the excerpts, saying he didn't want to make this a test case.

This morning Bonaventure decided against dismissing a juror for "joking" outside the courtroom about writing a book after the trial.

On Friday Bonaventure expressed concerns about the juror's comment.

Word had gotten back to the judge that the juror had said she was unemployed and might be able to make some money writing a book on the Binion case.

At a meeting with the judge and the lawyers in chambers, the juror described the remark as "flippant." Neither side said it wanted her removed from the panel.

Today, after questioning the juror in court, Bonaventure found that the woman was not biased against the defendants or the prosecution.

The juror told Bonaventure she has no intention of writing a book.

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.

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