Binion estate awaits its shot in civil court

Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2000 | 11:14 a.m.

Ted Binion's estate lawyers will go after his convicted killers in civil court following sentencing this week in the wealthy gambling figure's death.

Sandy Murphy and her lover, Rick Tabish, are to be sentenced at 9:30 a.m. Friday for their roles in the murder of the 55-year-old Binion.

The estate's attorneys, James J. Brown and Bruce Judd, said Monday they plan a three-pronged legal attack against Murphy and Tabish once the attorneys obtain certified copies of the convictions. It usually takes a week to obtain such documents following a sentencing.

"Friday will be a big step toward closure," Brown said.

The estate's first priority, Brown said, is to move to cut Murphy out of Binion's multimillion-dollar will.

Brown and Judd said the estate also will ask for the dismissal of Murphy's $2 million palimony lawsuit, and they will seek a judgment against the convicted killers in the estate's wrongful death suit.

All of the civil action has been consolidated in the courtroom of District Judge Michael Cherry, who is overseeing the disbursement of Binion's $55 million estate.

In May Cherry said state law is clear that Murphy's murder conviction prohibits her from receiving any of Binion's assets.

That makes the estate's push to disinherit Murphy, a 28-year-old one-time topless dancer, a mere formality, legal observers said.

Two months before his death, Binion had added Murphy to his will, giving his live-in girlfriend of three years his $900,000 home, its contents and $300,000 in cash.

In December 1998 a district judge declared the will valid above the objections of Brown, who contended that Binion had telephoned him the day before his death to instruct him to remove Murphy.

Brown alleged that Binion predicted in that conversation that Murphy might try kill him. But Binion died the next morning before Brown could amend the will.

Whether or not Binion wanted Murphy out of his will now has become moot with her murder conviction, the estate lawyers said.

Brown said that once Binion's 6,000-square-foot home at 2408 Palomino Lane home officially is in the hands of the estate, it will be put up for sale.

"It's been a major expense keeping it up and guarding it," Brown said.

The estate, Brown said, has spent several hundred thousand dollars maintaining the grounds and providing 24-hour security at the sprawling home the past two years.

The sale also will accommodate the wishes of Binion's daughter and chief heir, Bonnie, who no longer plans to make Las Vegas her primary home, Brown said.

Bonnie Binion, who has been living temporarily with her mother, Doris, in Dallas this summer, plans to be on hand for Friday's sentencing in Bonaventure's courtroom.

Prosecutors plan to ask Bonaventure for additional jail time for Murphy and Tabish at the sentencing. The jury that convicted the defendants recommended life in prison with the possibility of parole after 20 years on the first degree murder charge.

The estate, meanwhile, is gearing up to put a halt to Murphy's palimony suit seeking $2 million from the estate for providing Ted Binion with "unique and extraordinary services" while she lived with him.

The suit was filed about five weeks before the June 24, 1999, arrests of Murphy and Tabish, a 35-year-old Montana contractor.

Both Bonnie Binion and the estate later filed a wrongful death suit against Murphy and Tabish, accusing them of "engaging in a secret sexual relationship" while plotting Ted Binion's death.

Estate lawyers now intend to seek a summary judgment in that case, as well a punitive judgment for damages against the two convicted killers.

The punitive judgment, Brown said, will seek to ensure that Murphy and Tabish don't profit from any book or movie deals over Binion's death. Tabish once bragged that he was going to earn between $200,000 and $300,000 for the rights to his story.

Brown said he expects to wrap up most of the estate's affair in the next six weeks.

"I'm hopeful that within the next 45 days, we'll be able to put the Sandy Murphy episode behind us," he said.