Final suspect in Binion case has deadline for deal

Kim Smith

Monday, Oct. 2, 2000 | 11:09 a.m.

The final suspect in the Ted Binion murder saga has until 5 p.m. to accept a deal from the Clark County district attorney's office.

Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger said John Joseph has until the end of the day to plead no contest to the gross misdemeanor crime of conspiracy to commit extortion. If he does not, his trial will move forward next month.

Should Joseph accept the deal, he faces either a $2,000 fine or 200 hours of community service, Roger said.

Joseph's guilty plea would close another chapter in a story that has commanded attention since the death of Binion on Sept. 17, 1998.

Binion's live-in girlfriend, Sandy Murphy, and her lover, Rick Tabish, were convicted of killing the wealthy gambling figure and trying to steal his fortune.

Authorities believe that Tabish, a Montana contractor, was struggling financially and needed Binion's money to buy out a Jean sand pit company he had a gravel-hauling contract with.

Police believe the plot began in July 1998. Authorities believe Tabish and Steve Wadkins kidnapped the primary shareholder in the sand pit company, Leo Casey, tortured him and forced him to sign over his share of the company to Joseph.

Then, two months later, authorities say Tabish and Murphy killed Binion by giving him an overdose of drugs and suffocating him.

The plot began unraveling, when, less than 36 hours later, Tabish, Binion's ranch hand David Mattsen and Michael Milot were caught at Binion's Pahrump ranch digging up 48,000 pounds of silver bars and coins worth $6 million.

Mattsen was the first to take one. He admitted last week the state had enough to convict him of conspiracy to commit grand larceny, a gross misdemeanor. He entered the plea agreement after he was unable to lead detectives to a missing portion of Binion's fortune and prosecutors refused to dismiss the charges against him.

Then, on Friday, Milot and Wadkins also took deals.