Murphy defense revives its case

Tuesday, May 1, 2001 | 11:26 a.m.

Sandy Murphy's defense team is pressuring key prosecution witnesses in the Ted Binion murder case to help the convicted killer win a new trial.

Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger, who obtained the convictions of Murphy and her lover, Rick Tabish, in Binion's September 1998 slaying, said Monday he was bothered by the latest defense tactics, which appear to be orchestrated by Murphy's wealthy benefactor, William Fuller.

"I am concerned that the defendants' agents may be violating state law by performing investigative activities without a license," Roger told the Sun.

"Once again from their jail cells the defendants are attempting to manipulate witnesses."

State law prohibits anyone earning a living as a private investigator from working in Nevada without a license.

Roger said he has received calls from several key witnesses who complained that individuals representing Murphy were badgering them for interviews.

"I'm very troubled by the propriety of these phone calls," Roger said. "I question their motives."

Roger's concerns heightened Monday after he received a call from Jason Frazer, who testified that Tabish tried to involve him in a plot to pay off alibi witnesses. Frazer and Tabish were business partners in Missoula, Mont.

Frazer played the messages left on his voice mail in Missoula from Murphy's father, Kenneth Murphy, and Las Vegan John Prendeville, who said he was a "friend" of Fuller's. The messages were recorded April 24 through Sunday.

According to a transcript of the recordings put together by the district attorney's office, Prendeville first telephoned Frazer at 5:57 p.m. April 24.

"I was asking could you please give me a call, and I wanted to talk to you for a few minutes," Prendeville said. "I am a friend of Mr. Fuller, Bill Fuller, and he indicated that you might be interested in talking to us a little bit.

" ... I would also appreciate any help you can give us. We'll do whatever we can to make this work out for the better all around. But obviously things will improve there (for) you back in Montana."

Prendeville called Frazer again at 12:03 p.m. on Wednesday, saying Fuller wanted to talk to him and that he was hoping Frazer would "get back to us."

At 12:20 p.m. Kenneth Murphy left a message asking Frazer to call him.

"Pretty much Rick and Sandy will be out on appeal in about a year and a half," Murphy said. "But you know we're putting something together, and you know, we'd like to see if you could help.

"I don't want to put any pressure on you to help or not. It would be up to you ... If you're worried about any repercussions, you know, we've got the backing to take care of you and any problems that come up. Because there's some serious people looking into the way things went down here. So you'd be surprised who's going to take a fall from this."

Murphy then asked Frazer to let him know whether he would be comfortable talking about the case "so I don't keep bothering you."

At 9:11 a.m. Friday, Murphy called again, saying he still hadn't heard from Frazer.

Prendeville telephoned Frazer at 8:34 p.m Sunday, again urging him to talk to Fuller.

"I have something for you that might help you, and I just thought if you get a chance to talk, at least we could talk about it and see what we can do," Prendeville said.

Prendeville denied that he was telephoning witnesses to get them to change their story.

"Absolutely not," he said.

But he referred any further comments to Sandy Murphy's new appeal lawyer, Herb Sachs.

Kenneth Murphy said he merely was calling Frazer as a friend to see if he could help with the defense's case.

He also referred a reporter to Sachs, who said this morning he's looking into allegations of prosecutorial misconduct in the case.

Sachs acknowledged that Prendeville is working for the defense. But he said he never instructed anyone to pressure witnesses into talking or dangle incentives for them to cooperate.

"There's no need for that stuff," he said. "It was not authorized by me, and if it's happening, it will immediately cease."

Fuller, an 84-year-old mining executive who has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on Murphy's defense, could not be reached for comment.

Roger said he has heard from other witnesses within the past two months complaining about receiving calls from Murphy defense investigators wanting to talk to them.

Clothing salesman Christopher Hendrick, who provided important testimony about Murphy's state of mind prior to Binion's slaying, said private investigator Ted Gunderson telephoned him wanting to arrange a meeting to discuss the case.

"Hendrick said he felt it was inappropriate and did not want to speak with Gunderson," Roger said.

Gunderson, a former Los Angeles FBI chief who ran for president as the Independent American Party candidate in 1996, also contacted Peter Sheridan, the man who supplied Binion with 12 balloons of black tar heroin the night before his death.

Prosecutors alleged at last year's trial that Murphy, 29, and Tabish, 36, pumped Binion with heroin and Xanax and then suffocated him at his posh 2408 Palomino Lane home on Sept. 17, 1998. Murphy was Binion's live-in girlfriend at the time.

Roger said Gunderson and another defense investigator, Jim Thomas, tried to visit Tabish's friend, Steven Kurt Gratzer, in jail in Missoula. Gratzer, who testified that Tabish tried to involve him in the plot to kill Binion, is facing drug possession charges in Missoula.

Roger said two trial witnesses, hair stylists Georgia Gastone and Michelle Gilliam, also reported receiving calls from Gunderson to District Judge Joseph Bonaventure, who presided over the well-publicized Binion trial.

The two hair dressers corroborated Murphy manicurist Deanna Perry, who testified that Murphy predicted Binion would die of a drug overdose a week before his slaying.

Gunderson, who is not licensed as a private investigator in Nevada, could not be reached for comment Monday or today.

Sachs acknowledged that Gunderson also is a member of Murphy's defense team.

"I did not retain him, but he's our investigator," Sachs said.