Jury tells judge deliberations are proceeding well

Robert Macy

Tuesday, May 16, 2000 | 3:10 a.m.

Jurors deliberating the Ted Binion murder trial took the unusual step Tuesday of informing the judge that the panel was "moving in the right direction."

A handwritten letter was sent to District Court Judge Joseph Bonaventure saying jurors understood the 70 instructions he gave the panel last week, and the 17 charges against defendants Sandra Murphy and Rick Tabish.

The letter said the jurors are reviewing "the hundreds of pieces of evidence, and have extrapolated from all the jurors' notes" the most credible testimony. It said the case has "a great deal of conflicting testimony, a good portion given by 'experts' in their field."

"We feel we're moving in the right direction, taking the time required to give the defendants a fair and just trial by this jury!", the letter from the jury foreman concluded.

District Court Judge Michael Cherry, who was appointed to work with the media in addressing legal questions in the high-profile trial, said the letter was "highly unusual."

"I can't imagine what prompted the foreman to write the letter," Cherry said.

"Nobody is pushing them. They haven't been out that long," said Cherry, an attorney for 26 years before becoming a district judge two years ago.

Cherry said the length of deliberations, now at five days, was not unusual, given the complexity of the case.

"You've got three trials in one - homicide, theft, extortion - two defendants, a tremendous amount of expert testimony and circumstantial evidence," Cherry said. "You have three major, major criminal trials."

"The longer it goes, the better the chance of a hung jury," Cherry said. "The time for the quick verdict is over. We're not going to have a quick guilty, a quick not guilty."

Murphy, 28, and Tabish, 35, are accused of killing Binion on Sept. 17, 1998, then ransacking his $900,000 home of cash, silver and rare coins. Murphy was the live-in girlfriend of the well-known gambler and Tabish, a Missoula, Mont., contractor, was her lover. The prosecution alleges the pair killed Binion after he learned they were having an affair and moved to cut her out of his will.

Prosecutors say Binion, 55, was forced to ingest a lethal dose of heroin and the prescription anti-depressant Xanax, then was suffocated when the drugs failed to act quickly enough.

Defense attorneys say Binion, a longtime drug user, died of an accidental overdose or committed suicide.

The jury received the case last Wednesday and has been deliberating from 9 a.m. until 8 or 9 p.m. week days.

Cherry questioned whether media speculation about what was taking so long for a verdict might have played a role in the foreman's letter. Bonaventure has given the jury strict instructions not to watch, read or listen to media reports of the trial.

"I hope it isn't a situation where they have violated Judge Bonaventure's admonition to not watch the media," Cherry said Tuesday. "I hope they (jurors) just had a sense they had better let the people know what was happening."

Cherry said Bonaventure was not concerned about the letter. Bonaventure met in chambers with defense attorneys and prosecutors to discuss the letter, which was then made public.

Twice earlier jurors interrupted deliberations, once to ask for a television and a VCR to watch one of three videotapes from the trial and to seek clarification from Bonaventure on a kidnapping charge.

The trial lasted more than six weeks and included testimony from more than 100 witnesses.