Columnist Jeff German: Binion’s killers at end of line

Saturday, Sept. 9, 2000 | 2:32 a.m.

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

TO THOSE following the sensational Ted Binion murder case, it came as no surprise that District Judge Joseph Bonaventure last week refused to grant the casino man's convicted killers a new trial.

On Friday Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish now face the bleak prospect of spending the next 20 years -- and likely more -- in the harsh Nevada prison system.

The party is over.

In his thoughtful decision, Bonaventure struck down the defense claims of misconduct on the part of prosecutors and the jury that had convicted the defendants.

The two lovers, dressed in chains and Navy blue jail garb, walked into court last week looking solemn, though some observed Murphy later giggling as the judge read his decision. Murphy and Tabish knew they had little chance of overturning the jury verdict. They knew their story was wearing thin.

Throughout this well-publicized, two-year drama, both defendants have spun a web of deception in the face of solid evidence linking them to the plot to kill the 55-year-old Binion.

It all began, of course, with Binion's Sept. 17, 1998, death.

Murphy and Tabish maintained that they didn't kill the wealthy gambling figure and steal his money. They said he was a heroin addict who died of an overdose. They wanted us to believe that he had come back from the dead to leave an "R.I.P." sign above his front porch and clean out his own safe of valuables.

In the months following Binion's death, the defendants continued to spread disinformation, as receptive reporters gobbled up every word.

They insisted, for example, that they weren't romantically involved. But at the murder trial, knowing that prosecutors had much evidence to the contrary, the first thing they did was acknowledge that they indeed were lovers.

On camera, the 28-year-old Murphy claimed that she was the girl next door and had led a quiet "Brady Bunch" life in a small Southern California town before hooking up with Binion.

Murphy said that she never worked as a topless dancer at the adult nightclub where she had met Binion. But at the trial, witnesses left little doubt that she did dance topless.

Tabish, a 35-year-old Montana contractor, put the word out that he was a clean-cut family man with a wife and two small children back home. He said he was Binion's friend and tried to help him get off of drugs. But at the trial, we learned that Tabish hated Binion and wanted him dead. He also wanted his money and his girlfriend.

Throughout their ordeal, Murphy and Tabish have blamed everyone but themselves for their troubles.

Binion's family, they said, was responsible for his death. The family, even though Murphy lived with Binion the last three years of his life, should have recognized his drug problem and taken better care of him. His death also was the fault of his neighbor, Dr. Enrique Lacayo, who had given him a prescription for Xanax, and his drug supplier, Peter Sheridan, who had sold him 12 balloons of black tar heroin.

At the trial, Murphy and Tabish brought in medical experts to support their contention that Binion had died of a drug overdose.

But after their convictions, when the jury didn't buy their story, they came with a new theory. They said the mob could have killed Binion.

And when holes were poked in that theory, they bent the ear of a couple of inexperienced reporters and suggested that Binion's sister, Horseshoe Club owner Becky Behnen, had done in her brother. They probably were holding back laughs as they spoke.

Behnen politely brushed off the disparaging words as coming from two convicted killers desperate to avoid hard prison time.

In the end, we still haven't seen any remorse from Murphy and Tabish.

We'll see how that plays on Friday when Bonaventure finally hands out justice in this case.