Binion witness files Calif. suit

Thursday, Feb. 22, 2001 | 11:13 a.m.

A prominent figure in the Ted Binion murder case has filed a lawsuit against California authorities over her arrest as a material witness last year.

Linda Carroll, once the subject of a nationwide search in the case, is suing Riverside County and its sheriff, Larry Smith, as a result of her Jan. 6, 2000, arrest, which she contends was prompted by a material-witness warrant filed by Las Vegas prosecutors in the Binion case.

In the 12-page complaint, her California lawyer, Chet Bennett, said Carroll has been "severely traumatized" by her experience at the Riverside County jail and has contemplated suicide.

Bennett told the Sun on Wednesday that Riverside authorities acted as "henchmen" in his client's arrest for Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger, the lead Binion prosecutor.

Roger refused to respond to Bennett's accusation.

Bennett said in the complaint that Carroll, a friend of Sandy Murphy's, one of Binion's convicted killers, suffered through much humiliation during her two-day ordeal in custody. She was strip-searched at the jail and forced to make her court appearances in handcuffs and chains, he said.

While at the jail, she was kept in lockdown conditions and not allowed to take a shower, Bennett said.

"She was denied all contact with the outside world, including her attorney and the general population inmates," he wrote.

Carroll, who lives in Riverside County, was a much sought-after witness early in the Binion investigation. She had spent time with Murphy in the hours before and after Binion's Sept. 17, 1998, death, and prosecutors believed she had intimate knowledge of the events leading to the 55-year-old gambling figure's demise.

In spring 1999, investigators looked for Carroll for weeks in an attempt to subpoena her to a Clark County grand jury probing Binion's death. The syndicated television show, "America's Most Wanted" and the Criminal Apprehension Team in Las Vegas were asked to assist in the search.

Ultimately, Carroll voluntarily agreed to testify.

On April 15, 1999, she drove up outside the grand jury room in a white limousine with Bennett and testified reluctantly for four hours. She left telling reporters she didn't believe Binion had died in a suspicious manner.

Transcripts showed that Carroll was evasive throughout her testimony, providing Roger with little information.

Although she publicly denied it, investigators believed Carroll was afraid to testify against Murphy and co-defendant, Rick Tabish. She reportedly had told several people she feared for her life.

After Carroll's testimony, prosecutors considered seeking perjury charges against her, but ultimately decided against it.

Roger filed the material arrest warrant to ensure that she would show up at the murder trial.

Both sides listed her as a potential witness, but neither ended up calling her to the stand.

"We saved her as one of our last witnesses," Roger said. "The case had gone so well for us that we decided wrestling with her testimony wasn't worth the effort."

In his complaint, Bennett said Carroll has been undergoing counseling as a result of her brief jail stay.

"She currently experiences severe anxiety, claustrophobia and nightmares," Bennett said. "She commonly experiences severe bouts of depression, which often last several days. She has often contemplated suicide during these periods."

Carroll is seeking an unspecified amount of damages in the suit.