Circus-like sideshow surrounded trial figures

Monday, May 22, 2000 | 9:26 a.m.

The sideshow outside the Ted Binion murder trial was almost as sensational as the fireworks inside the courtroom.

From the very beginning the defense made an effort to test public opinion. It ran unprecedented television ads soliciting public input.

The ad was the brainchild of William Cassidy, a California private investigator who took a leave of absence as an aide to Mayor Oscar Goodman to work on the defense team.

But a week into the trial Cassidy began releasing results of the polling that showed the two defendants, Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish, were faring much better in the eyes of the public than prior to the trial.

Courthouse observers speculated the disclosures were aimed at influencing the jury as prosecutors opened their case. Many considered the polling a defense stunt.

In court in the absence of the jury, Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger lambasted Cassidy for making public what he said were "fraudulent numbers," calling the conduct "unethical." District Judge Joseph Bonaventure, expressing his own concerns, asked defense lawyers to persuade Cassidy to stop releasing the polling results to the public.

Cassidy later became embroiled in more controversy when Tom Dillard, a private investigator for Ted Binion's estate, accused Cassidy of threatening his life.

The alleged threat was conveyed to Dillard by another defense investigator, Mike Wysocki. Dillard sought a restraining order to keep Cassidy away from him. The case was put on hold until after the trial.

Midway through the trial, in what was perceived as another defense stunt, a public seance was held at the Psychic Eye Book Shop to reach out to Binion's spirit.

The purpose of the highly publicized spiritual gathering was to find out from Binion himself what had led to his death. Binion, however, never showed up, and the 11 psychics on hand concluded by an 8-3 vote that Murphy and Tabish were guilty, but would not be convicted. The seance was arranged by publicists for the defense team.

About the same time, a veteran Golden Nugget bellman wound up in hot water with Bonaventure after word got back to the judge that the bellman had shouted, "They're not guilty," to the jury when it went into the downtown hotel for lunch.

An irate Bonaventure hauled the bellman, Richard Sueno, a 20-year employee of the resort, to court and threatened to hold him in contempt for trying to influence the jury. Then he gave Sueno a blistering lecture and warned him not to talk to the jury again. Sueno was immediately suspended by the Golden Nugget and later fired.

Throughout the trial, defense lawyers John Momot and Louis Palazzo made regular appearances on national television shows to blast the case against their clients.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, shied away from the media and refused to grant interviews while their courtroom adversaries were slugging away on the television airwaves.

Cassidy, a regular at the defense table at the start of the trial, was nowhere to be seen in court the last several weeks of the lengthy proceeding.

Even before the trial there was a circus-like atmosphere in this case, the most publicized in Las Vegas history.

In July, five weeks after her arrest in Binion's slaying, Murphy filed a palimony suit against the estate seeking $2 million for "unique and extraordinary services" she had provided Binion while living with him.

Three months later in October, Bonnie Binion, the victim's 19-year-old daughter and chief heir, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Murphy and Tabish, accusing them of carrying on a romantic relationship while plotting her father's death.

A week later Murphy was booked into the Clark County Detention Center for violating the terms of her house arrest. She was released back to house arrest a week later following a scolding from Bonaventure, only to be taken into custody again in March for another violation. This time, Bonaventure decided to hold her in jail through the duration of the trial.

The second arrest was the result of an unauthorized trip by Murphy to buy furniture for a new luxury apartment she was moving into at the Regency Towers at the Las Vegas Country Club.

Murphy created another stir in November when she and Momot filed court papers accusing jail officials of stealing her panties during her temporary October incarceration.

The panties never were found, and following a hearing Bonaventure ordered prosecutors -- without first informing him -- not to conduct any scientific tests on the underwear if they did turn up.

The year ended with Momot taking the unusual step of adding publicist Mark Fierro to the defense team to deal with the crush of local and national reporters following the case.

About the same time, Palazzo filed a motion on Tabish's behalf seeking to exhume Binion's body to look for more physical evidence relating to his death. The motion, which did not sit well with Binion's family, ultimately was withdrawn by Palazzo.

Murphy also went on national television to profess her love for Binion and deny killing him. When her trial got under way at the end of March, however, Murphy acknowledged her romantic involvement with Tabish at the time of Binion's death.

Controversy also swirled around Tabish, who had remained in jail on no bond since his June 24 arrest on the murder charges.

In November the Sun reported that reputed Chicago mob associate Joseph Cusumano was working on a movie deal with Tabish. Cusumano reportedly promised Tabish help with his legal fees in return for a piece of his movie rights.

Palazzo denied any deal was in the works. But Tabish, it turned out, received a November jailhouse visit from another reputed Chicago mob figure with ties to the movie industry.

This year, Jason Frazer, a former Tabish business associate, told prosecutors that Tabish once bragged that he expected to earn $200,000 to $300,000 from selling the rights to his story.

In January, jail officials decided to place Tabish in protective custody after receiving word about a possible threat on his life at the jail. The threat was never substantiated, but Tabish agreed to remain in protective custody.

That same month, Linda Carroll, a close Murphy friend, was arrested in Southern California on a warrant naming her as a material witness for the trial.

Carroll, who spent time with Murphy during the hours immediately after Binion's death, had testified reluctantly before a county grand jury probing the demise of the former casino executive.

Meanwhile, a deal with David Mattsen, who was charged with Murphy and Tabish in the theft of Binion's silver fortune in Pahrump, collapsed shortly before the start of the trial.

Mattsen's own lawyer, James "Bucky" Buchanan, told reporters his client "went off the deep end" during talks with prosecutors aimed at securing his cooperation against Murphy and Tabish.

Prosecutors opted against reaching an agreement with Mattsen out of fear he had hurt his own credibility as a witness.

Mattsen was willing to testify about his knowledge of Binion's death. But his version differed slightly from the one prosecutors pieced together.

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