Prosecutor says no one had “license” to kill Ted Binion

Robert Macy

Monday, May 8, 2000 | 4:48 a.m.

Ted Binion might have had more problems than most but he was not suicidal and no one had a "license" to kill him, a prosecutor said Monday during closing arguments in the gambler's six-week murder trial.

Clark County Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger disputed defense suggestions that Binion committed suicide with a lethal dose of drugs.

He sought to reinforce prosecution contentions that Binion's live-in girlfriend Sandra Murphy and her lover Rick Tabish forced Binion to ingest heroin and Xanax on Sept. 17, 1998. Murphy and Tabish are charged with killing the well-known gambler by forcing him to ingest the drugs, then suffocating him.

"It wasn't Ted Binion who sucked down the Xanax pills," Roger said. "It was these two killers over here."

Roger told jurors that defense attorneys had suggested Binion, the dysfunctional member of a famous casino clan, "is not worth your time." During the trial, defense attorneys cited numerous problems plaguing Binion - 18 years of drug abuse, spousal abuse, divorce, and the loss of his gambling license because of drugs and associations with a mob figure.

The defense suggested those problems led Binion to overdose accidentally or commit suicide.

Roger disagreed, citing testimony of Binion's longtime friend and attorney, Richard Wright, who said suicide wasn't in the gambler's nature.

"He was down, but he wasn't out," Roger said. "He had the ability to turn any defeat into a victory."

And Roger recounted testimony from former Las Vegas Mayor Jan Jones, who visited Binion the day before his death to pick up a campaign contribution in her race for Nevada governor. She said she found Binion "in a good mood."

"No one had a license to kill Ted Binion," Roger told the jury of nine women and three men.

"Ted Binion, for whatever he was, was entitled to the same rights as the defendants," Roger said. "We heard on occasion what a rotten person he was. So what? He was a human being and that's all that matters."

Roger said Tabish, a Missoula, Mont., contractor, targeted Binion's money to save his failing business. And he said Murphy was fearful of being cut out of Binion's will, in which she was to receive $300,000 in cash, his $900,000 home and its contents, and a $1 million insurance policy.

The prosecutor said the defendants wanted to "live the prince and princess life" by latching onto a piece of Binion's estate, estimated at $55 million.

Murphy and Tabish also are charged with attempting to steal $7 million in silver that Binion had buried in a vault in Pahrump, Nev.

The prosecutor said Murphy stood to earn the insurance money, her share of the will, and "Oh, by the way, she gets her Prince Charming as well."

The prosecution produced witnesses earlier in the trial who testified Binion had learned of Murphy's love affair with Tabish and ordered her cut out of his will "if she doesn't kill me first."

He was found dead at his home the next day.

Roger charged Binion's killers gave him "a lethal cocktail of Xanax and heroin," then sat on his chest and covered his mouth to suffocate him and speed the death when they learned a gardener was working around the home.

Defense attorneys contend marks around Binion's mouth were caused by him shaving.

"Ted Binion didn't have a bad day shaving," Roger said Monday. "He had a bad day because someone was killing him."

Before the start of Monday's closing arguments, District Court Judge Joseph Bonaventure issued jurors a set of 70 instructions for guidance in deliberating the case.

The case is expected to resume Tuesday with one of the defense attorneys offering closing arguments and go to the jury sometime Wednesday after both sides conclude.