Jail officials eager to be free of Murphy, Tabish

Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2000 | 11:16 a.m.

Clark County Detention Center officials are looking forward to turning over convicted killers Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish to the Nevada prison system after Friday's sentencing.

The 28-year-old Murphy and Tabish, her 35-year-old lover, two of the highest-profile inmates ever in Southern Nevada, are to be sentenced Friday for their roles in the September 1998 slaying of wealthy gambling figure Ted Binion.

Jail officials plan to unload Murphy and Tabish as soon they obtain a certified copy of the convictions from District Court, which could take up to a week.

"I'm not disappointed that they're leaving," Deputy Chief Bill Young, who oversees Metro's Detention Services Division, said Tuesday. "They were a challenge for us."

Young described Murphy and Tabish as high-maintenance inmates who attracted publicity and gave corrections officers nothing but grief.

For the past several months the two have been held separately at the detention center's second-floor protective custody unit for prisoners who merit special handling.

Murphy, a one-time topless dancer, has been in custody since March 16, when she was picked up for violating the terms of her house arrest. Tabish, a Montana contractor with a criminal past, has been jailed on no bond since both were arrested June 24, 1999, and charged with killing Binion.

Young said dealing with Murphy and Tabish presented jail officials with "a lot of new issues we haven't dealt with."

The two defendants, for example, were given rare furloughs outside the detention center at taxpayer expense more than a dozen times to meet with their lawyers to prepare for trial.

"It was the first time in recent memory that we had so many office visits," Young said.

Additional corrections officers had to accompany the two on each of those visits, taking officers away from their duties at the detention center, he added.

The trips were approved by District Judge Joseph Bonaventure, who presided over the well-publicized murder trial.

"Judge Bonaventure was in my view extremely careful in ensuring that all of their constitutional rights were met," Young said. "We understood exactly what the judge was trying to do."

Young said Murphy created a stir in March when her family brought 10 different outfits to the detention center for her to wear at the trial. That included various matching belts and shoes.

"I was told by staff that they had never encountered an inmate with such an extensive wardrobe," Young said.

Ultimately, he said, Bonaventure was asked to intervene. The judge instructed jail officials to keep only three of Murphy's outfits at the center at a time.

Murphy, who has a reputation for wearing expensive designer clothes, also gave jail officials fits during a brief stay at the detention center in October. She was picked up for violating house-arrest conditions, when she had lunch at the upscale Aristocrat restaurant without notifying jail officials.

Upon her return to house arrest, she accused her jailers of stealing her panties and later forced Bonaventure to hold a hearing on the matter.

Before setting Murphy free, the judge banned her from dining at the Aristocrat, and he gave her a stern tongue-lashing, saying she wasn't "above the rules."

In March, after Murphy was arrested a second time for violating her house arrest terms, Bonaventure said she had shown a repeated "disregard for the instructions of the judicial system," and he ordered her jailed on no bond like Tabish. Murphy was taken into custody then for not telling jail officials she had gone furniture shopping for her new Regency Towers luxury apartment.

During her current incarceration, a corrections officer overheard Murphy telling her step-mother that she planned to rip up her jail-issued panties every day so that she could receive fresh pairs.

Officials later moved Murphy out of a cell with two other high-profile inmates, Margaret Rudin and Jessica Williams, after Rudin reportedly complained that Murphy was carrying on an intimate relationship with Williams.

Tabish also has caused headaches for jail officials during his two-year stay.

He stirred up much animosity in February when he alleged that corrections officers conspired with prosecutors to plant a jailhouse snitch next to him to steal his confidential defense notes prior to the trial.

But Bonaventure found no merit to the allegations after the informant, David Gomez, a four-time convicted felon with reputed ties to the Mexican Mafia, took the Fifth Amendment on the witness stand.

Tabish and his lawyers raised the allegations again after Tabish's May 19 murder conviction in an attempt to win a new trial. But once more, Gomez refused to testify, and Bonaventure tossed out the claims.

Young rapped Tabish's lawyers for "throwing up smoke" and falsely questioning the integrity of jail employees.

"Those were cheap shots and not deserved by the staff," Young said. "The correctional staff have the most thankless job in law enforcement. You couldn't find a better bunch of people. The abuse they've put up with has been incredible."

Young said there was "no doubt in his mind" that Murphy and Tabish created situations at the jail to attract attention.

Life for both defendants likely will be different at the much larger state prison system, he said.

"They're certainly not going to have the same high profile as they have in Las Vegas," he said. "If they're smart, they'll just blend in."

Glen Whorton, chief of classification and planning for the prison system, said Murphy and Tabish likely won't get any special attention.

"Their issues are not that unusual," he said. "They'll each be just another inmate to us."

The prison system has many high-profile criminals among its population of 9,980 inmates, he said.

Whorton said Murphy and Tabish also aren't likely to have much freedom to give media interviews.

"We reserve the right to decide whether a person talks to the media," he said. "In many instances where there are high-profile cases, we don't allow it."

Murphy likely will be housed at the Southern Nevada Womens Correctional Facility in North Las Vegas, Whorton said.

Tabish, he said, will be evaluated initially at either the Southern Desert Correctional Center or the new High Desert State Prison at Indian Springs.

Tabish could be moved to one of several institutions in Northern Nevada, including the Ely State Prison, a maximum security facility.